Top American general warns of violent extremism in western Africa

The United States’ top general for Africa has warned of “violent extremism” and the threat of Russian mercenaries in the Sahel region, speaking as war games, or military exercises wrapped up in Morocco.

“We are seeing the rise of violent extremism in western Africa, predominantly in the Sahel region,” said General Stephen J Townsend, commander of the US Africa Command (Africom).

The Sahel region is a vast territory stretching across the south of Africa’s Sahara Desert, incorporating countries such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

“We are seeing the arrival of malign actors, and specifically I am thinking of Russian mercenaries from Wagner,” Townsend told AFP in the North African nation on Thursday, at the conclusion of a four-week long “African Lion” international military exercise.

“This training is not specifically oriented on those problems, but it will help all of our armed forces if we are called to combat this kind of problem in the future,” Townsend said.

Islamic State-linked jihadists, whose power was once thought to be waning in the Sahel, have recently expanded their reach with an unprecedented series of civilian massacres.

Mali has been especially hard hit, a former French colony where the strategic landscape has changed dramatically following two coups, in August 2020 and May 2021. Bamako developed closer ties with Moscow, bringing in military personnel that France says are mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group.

Africom, which is based in the German city of Stuttgart, is responsible for US military operations across Africa. More than 7 500 personnel from a dozen countries took part in the African Lion exercises, running from 6 June to 30, with operations in Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia. As well as US troops and officers from the host nations, soldiers from Brazil, Britain, Chad, France, Italy and the Netherlands took part.

The Moroccan leg of the games were attended by military observers from Nato, the African Union and nearly 30 “partner countries”, including, for the first time, Israel. Exercises included land, airborne and maritime manoeuvres, preparation for nuclear biological and chemical decontamination, as well as providing medical and humanitarian aid.

On Thursday, at Cap Draa in the dusty deserts of southern Morocco, abut 700km south of Rabat, troops simulated a joint land and air attack against enemy columns in a live fire exercise.

Overhead, F-16 warplanes and Apache attack helicopters roared across the skies. M1 Abrams tanks and AMX-10 RC wheeled armoured reconnaissance vehicles ploughed across the dunes, accompanied by Himars multiple rocket launchers firing salvoes.

Plumes of smoke rose up high after live fire artillery barrages, with the dust whipped up by fierce winds from the Atlantic Ocean. But Townsend was keen to stress the operations were “hypothetical” war games, an “exercise scenario that is completely made up”, and not targeting any nation.

The exercise comes amid heightened tensions between Rabat and Algiers over the disputed Western Sahara. Former US president Donald Trump recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the territory in 2020 in return for Rabat re-establishing ties with Israel, and Algeria responded months later by breaking ties with Morocco.

Exercises took place close to the border with Western Sahara and Sahrawi refugee camps, where the Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement is based. Townsend said the exercise was “not focused on Algeria at all”, but about “increasing our skill as armies” to work together.

“What we are seeing played out in Nato and Ukraine today shows the value of strong allies and partners working together to defend our common interest,” he added.

The conflict in Ukraine dominated the Nato summit in Madrid this week.