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Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
US Africa Command beefs up military support to Angola and Namibia
Regional security threats include Isis 'franchises' and an 'emerging Mexican drug cartel issue' emanating out of South Africa, says the US military. The United States Africa Command (Africom) is helping Angola and Namibia to counter threats from Isis and Mexican drug cartels emanating from South Africa and elsewhere, says Africom's deputy commander. Deputy Commander Lieutenant General John W Brennan said this in an online media briefing about his recent visits to Angola and Namibia with Ambassador Robert Scott, deputy Africom commander for civil-military engagement. They were asked what the main focus of Africom's engagement with Angola and Namibia was, since these were 'two countries where jihadist groups don't currently seem to present much of a threat'. Brennan replied that Africom's security assistance was 'really preventative. 'There are jihadist groups that operate all along the periphery of both Angola and Namibia. Isis has franchises in Mozambique, South Africa, as well as an emerging Mexican drug cartel issue that we think is … getting worse over time, that's emanating from South Africa and from coastal West Africa. 'We want to keep Namibia and Angola free of those threats as well as to prepare them for any future threats' through training, exercises and equipment. In Angola, the two officials observed joint exercises between US and Angolan special forces, and held discussions there and in Namibia with their counterparts, 'underscoring US Africa Command's continued commitment to strengthening partnerships in Africa to promote stability and collective defence through cost-effective, African-led solutions that minimise direct US military involvement', said Africom. Scott said what struck him on the visit was how 'tightly interlocked … security is with prosperity, with economic development', especially with maritime and trade issues. They heard that Namibia was planning to turn Walvis Bay into a regional hub for the transhipment of goods, and Scott noted that the US was taking the lead in helping to develop the Lobito Corridor into a transformational corridor for trade, connecting eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the Atlantic. He said the Lobito Corridor showed how security was leveraging economic development and vice versa. He noted that the upgrading of the railway line from eastern DRC to the Port of Lobito had cut the transport time for goods like copper and agricultural products from an average of 28 days to seven days. And so the military exercises which the US was conducting with Angola were helping to keep its coastline secure. Africom was also providing Angola with technology to increase its maritime domain awareness, helping its navy and coastguard to know exactly what ships are off its coastline and what they're doing. Joint military exercises Brennan said that apart from the small special forces exercises like the recent one with Angola, Africom was trying to include Angola and Namibia in the larger joint military exercises with the US, like African Lion and Obangame Express, which involved 30-50 countries and which were typically conducted several times a year. He said that the difference between the way the US operated in Africa and the way that Russia, China and some European countries operated was that African countries led the joint US-Africa exercises. Scott added that this year's Obangame Express exercise had been organised to support the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, the regional construct of rules of engagement for maritime security organised by its member states themselves, from Mauritania down to Namibia. He said Obangame also included an interesting tabletop exercise on how to combat IUUF — illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing — and stop foreign country fleets 'taking all of their fish out of the ocean'. The training included 'knowing who's out in your oceans, being able to intercept them and then having the legal ability to actually prosecute them on land'. Brennan said Africom wanted to increase the participation of other Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries in joint military exercises. Africom was already hosting high-level discussions with their militaries, such as the annual Chiefs of Defense Conference. 'So the more African countries participating, the better,' he said, adding that the US was also adding partners and allies from across the world — for example, the last Cutlass Express exercise was partly hosted in East Africa and included India, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Brazil. He noted that holding the exercises in Africa helped to lower costs for both the US and the African countries. Africom had 'started the burgeoning relationship with SADC many years ago', said Brennan. Botswana was the hub of that, and Africom wanted to expand its security partners, who also provided troops to operations like those fighting violent extremist organisations in Somalia, as well as stopping illicit drug and human trafficking. Mozambique was also a partner, and Africom had recently given it boats to interdict drug shipments off its coast. He added that drug cartels making drugs in Africa and exporting them to Europe, the US and Australia, or for local consumption, were a growing problem. Brennan said that after the US and other Western countries had been forced (by pro-Russian juntas) to remove their militaries from some African countries, it had become more difficult for them to conduct counterterrorism operations when they were not on the ground. 'Which is why we're focusing on building our partners' capacities so that they can respond to terrorist activities … that we support from afar with our partners … with things like training and equipping.' DM
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Trump has invited five African leaders to the White House
US President Donald Trump is set to meet the leaders of five African states, an invitation the White House sees as an "incredible" commercial opportunity. Trump's choice of guests include the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal - none of whom represent the major economies of the continent. The three-day summit is expected to concentrate on Trump's "trade, not aid" policy and with all of them facing 10% tariffs on goods exported to the US, they may be hoping to do deals to negotiate this rate down. Those up for grabs may include ones over critical minerals, with maritime security, migration and hosting deportees also likely to be on the table. With the exception of Gabon, they lie along routes used by migrants, as well as drug traffickers from Latin America. Some of the nations are also potentially vulnerable to the southward spread of the Islamist insurgencies that affect their neighbours further inland - so discussions on co-operation in tackling this threat are also likely. Earlier this year Gen Michael Langley, who heads the US Africa Command (Africom), warned that one of the jihadists' new objectives was gaining access to West Africa's coast - and that that also raised "the chance of threats reaching US shores". Senegal's former ambassador to Washington, Babacar Diagne, said the invitations to the African leaders reflected the recent "paradigm shift" in US policy towards the continent. After taking office in January for his second term, Trump cut US aid to the continent, saying it was wasteful and incompatible with his "America First" policy. With Trump and the Republican Party at the helm, there is also doubt about whether the US will renew later this year its African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which guarantees duty-free access for certain goods from Africa. "It's not like before with the Democrats. There were two strong points with them: poverty reduction and development issues, through Agoa and other initiatives. All that is over," Mr Diagne told the BBC. According to the former diplomat, the Trump administration's position will mirror how it has dealt with Ukraine war-time leader Volodymyr Zelensky. "Pure trade. It's give and take, win and win. We saw it with Ukraine. You sign the agreement on minerals and you'll have us on your side, otherwise, you forget everything," Mr Diagne said. Last month's peace deal signed in Washington between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic is a case in point - trade diplomacy that will potentially see the US gain lucrative mineral access. Indeed Nicaise Mouloumbi, head of a leading non-governmental organisation in oil-rich Gabon, said the Trump administration's focus on Africa was down to increasing competition from rival powers - including China and Russia - for its prized resources. "All these [invited] countries have important minerals: gold, oil, manganese, gas, wood and zircon - Senegal, Mauritania and Gabon, in particular," he told the BBC. Gabon holds around a quarter of the global known reserves of manganese - and it provides 22% of China's of the mineral, which is used in the production of batteries and stainless steel. Mr Mouloumbi added that the US might be most keen to strengthen ties with Gabon not only because it had "strategic" minerals like manganese and uranium, as well as oil, but also because it was strategically located along the Gulf of Guinea, with a coastline of about 800km (500 miles). It could host a US military base that America plans to build in the region, Mr Mouloumbi said. Mr Diagne made a similar point about piracy, saying that "maritime terrorism in the Gulf of Guinea has become an extremely important issue" for the US. Many tankers carrying oil and gas travel through the Gulf of Guinea, which has been known as a piracy hot spot for several years. For Mauritania and Senegal, migration will be central to discussions, according to Ousmane Sene, the head of the West African Research Centre (WARC), "Let's not forget that between 2023 and 2025, no fewer than 20,000 young Mauritanians left for the US via Nicaragua, along with hundreds of young Senegalese," the analyst told the BBC. "All these countries are also departure points for illegal emigration," he added. "That's an extremely important point in his [Trump's] migration policy, and every day people are turned back at the borders." Mauritania is the only one of the five countries that does not have diplomatic ties with US ally Israel - cutting them in 2009 over an offensive in Gaza - and sources have told Semafor that restoring them may be a sticking point for any would-be White House deal. Visa overstay rates are another issue to be settled - especially for Gabon and Liberia, which both have higher ones than Burundi, which last month became subject to US travel restrictions with visa overstays cited as a key reason. Liberia may also be considering a US proposal to accept people deported by the US, including criminals. The country, which has close historical links to America, was reportedly included on a proposed list of countries that the US had approached. Guinea-Bissau, which has suffered a series of coups and attempted coups over the years, is reportedly keen for the US embassy to reopen in the capital, Bissau, following its closure after the army mutinied in 1998. President Umaro Cissoko Embaló was clearly proud of the White House's invite for Guinea-Bissau, which several years ago was labelled a "narco-state" by the US and UN as it was once a major transit hub for cocaine from Latin America to Europe and North America. "Guinea-Bissau has now emerged from a state of disorder to become a real state. The Americans do not invite just any state to their country - only a well-structured state," he was quoted as saying at the airport before he left for Washington. He and his counterparts - Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema of Gabon, Joseph Boakai of Liberia, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania and Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal - will be hoping they hold some cards to do a deal with Trump. They certainly do not want a replay of May's infamous high-stakes meeting between South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump in the Oval Office, which did little to ease relations. In fact, it seems to have completely backfired as this week Africa's biggest economy found out that from next month its exports to the US are being slapped with a 30% tariff. How Trump's Africa strategy may become a double-edged sword 'My wife fears sex, I fear death' - impacts of the USAID freeze How Africa's 'narco-state' is trying to kick its habit Why Gabon's coup leader is bucking a trend by embracing democracy Four sons set out on a perilous migration route. Only one came home Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Why Trump has invited five African leaders to the White House
US President Donald Trump is set to meet the leaders of five African states, an invitation the White House sees as an "incredible" commercial choice of guests include the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal - none of whom represent the major economies of the three-day summit is expected to concentrate on Trump's "trade, not aid" policy and with all of them facing 10% tariffs on goods exported to the US, they may be hoping to do deals to negotiate this rate up for grabs may include ones over critical minerals, with maritime security, migration and hosting deportees also likely to be on the table. With the exception of Gabon, they lie along routes used by migrants, as well as drug traffickers from Latin of the nations are also potentially vulnerable to the southward spread of the Islamist insurgencies that affect their neighbours further inland - so discussions on co-operation in tackling this threat are also this year Gen Michael Langley, who heads the US Africa Command (Africom), warned that one of the jihadists' new objectives was gaining access to West Africa's coast - and that that also raised "the chance of threats reaching US shores".Senegal's former ambassador to Washington, Babacar Diagne, said the invitations to the African leaders reflected the recent "paradigm shift" in US policy towards the taking office in January for his second term, Trump cut US aid to the continent, saying it was wasteful and incompatible with his "America First" Trump and the Republican Party at the helm, there is also doubt about whether the US will renew later this year its African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which guarantees duty-free access for certain goods from Africa."It's not like before with the Democrats. There were two strong points with them: poverty reduction and development issues, through Agoa and other initiatives. All that is over," Mr Diagne told the to the former diplomat, the Trump administration's position will mirror how it has dealt with Ukraine war-time leader Volodymyr Zelensky."Pure trade. It's give and take, win and win. We saw it with Ukraine. You sign the agreement on minerals and you'll have us on your side, otherwise, you forget everything," Mr Diagne month's peace deal signed in Washington between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic is a case in point - trade diplomacy that will potentially see the US gain lucrative mineral Nicaise Mouloumbi, head of a leading non-governmental organisation in oil-rich Gabon, said the Trump administration's focus on Africa was down to increasing competition from rival powers - including China and Russia - for its prized resources."All these [invited] countries have important minerals: gold, oil, manganese, gas, wood and zircon - Senegal, Mauritania and Gabon, in particular," he told the holds around a quarter of the global known reserves of manganese - and it provides 22% of China's of the mineral, which is used in the production of batteries and stainless Mouloumbi added that the US might be most keen to strengthen ties with Gabon not only because it had "strategic" minerals like manganese and uranium, as well as oil, but also because it was strategically located along the Gulf of Guinea, with a coastline of about 800km (500 miles).It could host a US military base that America plans to build in the region, Mr Mouloumbi Diagne made a similar point about piracy, saying that "maritime terrorism in the Gulf of Guinea has become an extremely important issue" for the tankers carrying oil and gas travel through the Gulf of Guinea, which has been known as a piracy hot spot for several Mauritania and Senegal, migration will be central to discussions, according to Ousmane Sene, the head of the West African Research Centre (WARC),"Let's not forget that between 2023 and 2025, no fewer than 20,000 young Mauritanians left for the US via Nicaragua, along with hundreds of young Senegalese," the analyst told the BBC."All these countries are also departure points for illegal emigration," he added."That's an extremely important point in his [Trump's] migration policy, and every day people are turned back at the borders."Mauritania is the only one of the five countries that does not have diplomatic ties with US ally Israel - cutting them in 2009 over an offensive in Gaza - and sources have told Semafor that restoring them may be a sticking point for any would-be White House overstay rates are another issue to be settled - especially for Gabon and Liberia, which both have higher ones than Burundi, which last month became subject to US travel restrictions with visa overstays cited as a key may also be considering a US proposal to accept people deported by the US, including criminals. The country, which has close historical links to America, was reportedly included on a proposed list of countries that the US had which has suffered a series of coups and attempted coups over the years, is reportedly keen for the US embassy to reopen in the capital, Bissau, following its closure after the army mutinied in Umaro Cissoko Embaló was clearly proud of the White House's invite for Guinea-Bissau, which several years ago was labelled a "narco-state" by the US and UN as it was once a major transit hub for cocaine from Latin America to Europe and North America."Guinea-Bissau has now emerged from a state of disorder to become a real state. The Americans do not invite just any state to their country - only a well-structured state," he was quoted as saying at the airport before he left for and his counterparts - Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema of Gabon, Joseph Boakai of Liberia, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania and Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal - will be hoping they hold some cards to do a deal with certainly do not want a replay of May's infamous high-stakes meeting between South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump in the Oval Office, which did little to ease fact, it seems to have completely backfired as this week Africa's biggest economy found out that from next month its exports to the US are being slapped with a 30% tariff. You may also be interested in: How Trump's Africa strategy may become a double-edged sword'My wife fears sex, I fear death' - impacts of the USAID freezeHow Africa's 'narco-state' is trying to kick its habitWhy Gabon's coup leader is bucking a trend by embracing democracyFour sons set out on a perilous migration route. Only one came home Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Trump's Africa strategy may become a double-edged sword
With US President Donald Trump on a cost-cutting warpath since starting his second term, aid to Africa has been slashed and now defence spending is in his sights - but could these approaches cost more in the long run? The phrase his administration presses on Europe to assume more of the costs of its own defence is "burden sharing". This is the challenge that Washington is now throwing down to African armies too - and they are far less comfortably resourced to take it on. Moreover, having paid dearly in lives and money, in the struggle to hold back the spreading reach of jihadist armed groups across the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin and Somalia over recent years, they could be forgiven for feeling that they already carry much of the burden - and for the sake not just of their own continent but the wider international community too. Benin, which has lost more than 80 soldiers in jihadist attacks since the start of the year, is just one example. "The epicentre of terrorism on the globe" is how the Sahel was described a few days ago by Gen Michael Langley, who as head of US Africa Command (Africom) oversees the American military presence south of the Sahara. In briefings and interviews over the past few weeks, he has graphically outlined the threat that jihadist groups will present if their push southward towards the Gulf of Guinea succeeds. "One of the terrorists' new objectives is gaining access to West African coasts. If they secure access to the coastline, they can finance their operations through smuggling, human trafficking and arms trading. This not only puts African nations at risk but also raises the chance of threats reaching US shores." Gen Langley has admitted that the current upsurge in militant attacks is "deeply concerning". Yet he has also repeatedly hammered home a core message: the US is minded to rein back its own sub-Saharan military operations, leaving local armies to take on more of the defence burden. Some 6,500 personnel are currently deployed in Africa by the US military and a 2019 list published by Africom mentioned 13 "enduring" American bases across the continent and a further 17 more temporary facilities. But some of these installations, including the purpose-built drone base at Agadez in Niger, have already been shut down, in particular after military juntas seized power in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020. And it now looks as if the once-ambitious American operational footprint will be pruned back quite a lot more. Perhaps we will see more air power deployed from offshore to hit militant targets - Gen Langley says there have been 25 strikes in Somalia this year, double the 2024 total - but a much thinner permanent on-the-ground military presence. "Some things that we used to do, we may not do anymore," he recently told a conference in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, that brought together chiefs of defence staff and other senior officers from 37 countries. "Our aim is not to serve as a permanent crutch, but to achieve US security objectives that overlap with our partners. We should be able to help African nations build the self-reliance they need to independently confront terrorism and insurgencies." In the bluntness of his language Gen Langley reflects the stark change of outlook and policy that has come from January's change of power at the White House. "We have set our priorities now - protecting the homeland." What matters to the no-longer-so-new Trump II administration, the general made clear in a Pentagon publication last week, is fighting terrorists - particularly those who might attack the US. Other priorities are countering the spread of Chinese military influence across Africa and protecting freedom of maritime navigation through key trade choke points such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. In some respects, the focus on training and capacity building that Gen Langley now expounds is not so very different from the approach of previous American administrations, Republican as well as Democrat. He lauds the National Guard State Partnership Program, through which individual US states have been helping to build the capacity of government security forces across Africa and other parts of the world - for the past three decades. France too is pursuing this approach, with the closure of bases in Chad and Senegal, while those in Ivory Coast and Gabon have been handed over to their governments, with only small French training teams left behind to work alongside African colleagues. However, in other respects, the Trump administration's Africa strategy represents a drastic shrinkage in outlook and - critics might argue - a conscious retreat from addressing the factors that drive instability, conflict and terrorism, particularly in the Sahel, which is among the poorest regions on the planet. For under President Joe Biden the US looked far beyond the military realm alone in its efforts to counter the both the growing reach of jihadist groups and other sources of violence. And Gen Langley, as Africom chief, was an articulate exponent of this much broader thinking. Only last year, in an interview with the Associated Press news agency, he outlined what he described as a "whole of government" response to the proliferation of conflict, stressing the importance of good governance and action to tackle the fragilities of African states and the impacts of desertification, crop failure and environmental change. This approach openly recognised that recruitment by armed groups and the spread of violence is fuelled not only by jihadist ideology, but also by a host of social and economic factors, including the stresses now afflicting farming and pastoralist livelihoods. Gen Langley himself does not seem to have abandoned this analysis, recently noting how Ivory Coast had countered the jihadist threat to its northern border areas by complementing security force deployments with development projects. He could equally have pointed to the success of a similar approach pursued by the president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, before he was deposed in the July 2023 coup. But of course, these days Africom must operate within the context of a US foreign policy radically reshaped under Trump. There are even rumours that it could be downgraded to become a subsidiary of the US command in Europe and Gen Langley suggests African governments should tell Washington what they thought of this idea. Already the separate Africa unit at the radically slimmed down National Security Council at the White House is reportedly being wound up and integrated into the Middle East-North Africa section. Its director, Gen Jami Shawley, an Africa specialist appointed to the role only in March, has now been assigned to more general strategic functions. Addressing Congress this week, Gen Langley warned about China's and Russia's African ambitions: Beijing's agility at capitalising on the US's absence and Moscow's ability to seize military opportunities created by chaos and instability. Given these concerns, some might wonder if the general is discreetly signally his doubts about a slimmed down Africa strategy. Meanwhile, under the "efficiency drive" led, until recently, by tech billionaire Elon Musk, the American government's main international development agencies, USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, have been effectively shut down. The spine of the new US economic engagement with Africa is now private sector trade and investment. But business generally needs to operate in a stable and secure context - which Africa's most fragile and violence-prone regions cannot offer. And in winding up the American development agencies, the Trump administration has stepped aside from funding the rural projects and social programmes that sought to address land and water pressures and lack of economic opportunity, the key drivers of conflict - and the jihadist groups' recruitment of frustrated rural young people. For the fragile regions that are the main sources of jihadist violence the US response is reduced to the purely military, and now it is seeking to shift even most of that on to the shoulders of African states that already struggle to respond adequately to a plethora of challenges and responsibilities. Paul Melly is a consulting fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House in London. The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combined Freed captive tells BBC of life in West African jihadist base Why Trump is on the warpath in Somalia 'My wife fears sex, I fear death' - impacts of the USAID freeze Trump's tariffs could be death knell for US-Africa trade pact Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
BBC News
14-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
How Trump's Africa strategy may become a double-edged sword
With US President Donald Trump on a cost-cutting warpath since starting his second term, aid to Africa has been slashed and now defence spending is in his sights - but could these approaches cost more in the long run?The phrase his administration presses on Europe to assume more of the costs of its own defence is "burden sharing". This is the challenge that Washington is now throwing down to African armies too - and they are far less comfortably resourced to take it having paid dearly in lives and money, in the struggle to hold back the spreading reach of jihadist armed groups across the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin and Somalia over recent years, they could be forgiven for feeling that they already carry much of the burden - and for the sake not just of their own continent but the wider international community which has lost more than 80 soldiers in jihadist attacks since the start of the year, is just one example. "The epicentre of terrorism on the globe" is how the Sahel was described a few days ago by Gen Michael Langley, who as head of US Africa Command (Africom) oversees the American military presence south of the briefings and interviews over the past few weeks, he has graphically outlined the threat that jihadist groups will present if their push southward towards the Gulf of Guinea succeeds."One of the terrorists' new objectives is gaining access to West African coasts. If they secure access to the coastline, they can finance their operations through smuggling, human trafficking and arms trading. This not only puts African nations at risk but also raises the chance of threats reaching US shores."Gen Langley has admitted that the current upsurge in militant attacks is "deeply concerning".Yet he has also repeatedly hammered home a core message: the US is minded to rein back its own sub-Saharan military operations, leaving local armies to take on more of the defence 6,500 personnel are currently deployed in Africa by the US military and a 2019 list published by Africom mentioned 13 "enduring" American bases across the continent and a further 17 more temporary some of these installations, including the purpose-built drone base at Agadez in Niger, have already been shut down, in particular after military juntas seized power in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso since it now looks as if the once-ambitious American operational footprint will be pruned back quite a lot we will see more air power deployed from offshore to hit militant targets - Gen Langley says there have been 25 strikes in Somalia this year, double the 2024 total - but a much thinner permanent on-the-ground military presence."Some things that we used to do, we may not do anymore," he recently told a conference in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, that brought together chiefs of defence staff and other senior officers from 37 countries."Our aim is not to serve as a permanent crutch, but to achieve US security objectives that overlap with our partners. We should be able to help African nations build the self-reliance they need to independently confront terrorism and insurgencies."In the bluntness of his language Gen Langley reflects the stark change of outlook and policy that has come from January's change of power at the White House."We have set our priorities now - protecting the homeland."What matters to the no-longer-so-new Trump II administration, the general made clear in a Pentagon publication last week, is fighting terrorists - particularly those who might attack the priorities are countering the spread of Chinese military influence across Africa and protecting freedom of maritime navigation through key trade choke points such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. In some respects, the focus on training and capacity building that Gen Langley now expounds is not so very different from the approach of previous American administrations, Republican as well as lauds the National Guard State Partnership Program, through which individual US states have been helping to build the capacity of government security forces across Africa and other parts of the world - for the past three too is pursuing this approach, with the closure of bases in Chad and Senegal, while those in Ivory Coast and Gabon have been handed over to their governments, with only small French training teams left behind to work alongside African in other respects, the Trump administration's Africa strategy represents a drastic shrinkage in outlook and - critics might argue - a conscious retreat from addressing the factors that drive instability, conflict and terrorism, particularly in the Sahel, which is among the poorest regions on the under President Joe Biden the US looked far beyond the military realm alone in its efforts to counter the both the growing reach of jihadist groups and other sources of violence. And Gen Langley, as Africom chief, was an articulate exponent of this much broader last year, in an interview with the Associated Press news agency, he outlined what he described as a "whole of government" response to the proliferation of conflict, stressing the importance of good governance and action to tackle the fragilities of African states and the impacts of desertification, crop failure and environmental approach openly recognised that recruitment by armed groups and the spread of violence is fuelled not only by jihadist ideology, but also by a host of social and economic factors, including the stresses now afflicting farming and pastoralist Langley himself does not seem to have abandoned this analysis, recently noting how Ivory Coast had countered the jihadist threat to its northern border areas by complementing security force deployments with development could equally have pointed to the success of a similar approach pursued by the president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, before he was deposed in the July 2023 coup. But of course, these days Africom must operate within the context of a US foreign policy radically reshaped under are even rumours that it could be downgraded to become a subsidiary of the US command in Europe and Gen Langley suggests African governments should tell Washington what they thought of this the separate Africa unit at the radically slimmed down National Security Council at the White House is reportedly being wound up and integrated into the Middle East-North Africa director, Gen Jami Shawley, an Africa specialist appointed to the role only in March, has now been assigned to more general strategic Congress this week, Gen Langley warned about China's and Russia's African ambitions: Beijing's agility at capitalising on the US's absence and Moscow's ability to seize military opportunities created by chaos and these concerns, some might wonder if the general is discreetly signally his doubts about a slimmed down Africa under the "efficiency drive" led, until recently, by tech billionaire Elon Musk, the American government's main international development agencies, USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, have been effectively shut spine of the new US economic engagement with Africa is now private sector trade and business generally needs to operate in a stable and secure context - which Africa's most fragile and violence-prone regions cannot in winding up the American development agencies, the Trump administration has stepped aside from funding the rural projects and social programmes that sought to address land and water pressures and lack of economic opportunity, the key drivers of conflict - and the jihadist groups' recruitment of frustrated rural young the fragile regions that are the main sources of jihadist violence the US response is reduced to the purely military, and now it is seeking to shift even most of that on to the shoulders of African states that already struggle to respond adequately to a plethora of challenges and Melly is a consulting fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House in London. You may also be interested in: The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combinedFreed captive tells BBC of life in West African jihadist baseWhy Trump is on the warpath in Somalia'My wife fears sex, I fear death' - impacts of the USAID freezeTrump's tariffs could be death knell for US-Africa trade pact Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
