US army teams head to Africa
2012-12-24 14:07
Washington - A US army brigade will begin sending small
teams into as many as 35 African nations early next year, part of an
intensifying Pentagon effort to train countries to battle extremists and give
the US a ready and trained force to dispatch to Africa if crises requiring the
US military emerge.
The teams will be limited to training and equipping efforts,
and will not be permitted to conduct military operations without specific,
additional approvals from the secretary of defence.
The sharper focus on Africa by the US comes against a
backdrop of widespread insurgent violence across North Africa, and as the
African Union and other nations discuss military intervention in northern Mali.
The terror threat from al-Qaeda linked groups in Africa has
been growing steadily, particularly with the rise of the extremist Islamist
sect Boko Haram in Nigeria. Officials also believe that the 11 September attack
on the US consulate in Benghazi, which killed the ambassador and three other
Americans, may have been carried out by those who had ties to al-Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb.
This first-of-its-kind brigade assignment — involving teams
from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division — will target countries such as
Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger, where al-Qaeda-linked groups have been active.
It also will assist nations like Kenya and Uganda that have been battling al-Shabaab
militants on the front lines in Somalia.
General Carter Ham, the top US commander in Africa, noted
that the brigade has a small drone capability that could be useful in Africa.
But he also acknowledged that he would need special permission to tap it for
that kind of mission.
"If they want them for [military] operations, the
brigade is our first sourcing solution because they're prepared," said General
David Rodriguez, the head of US Army Forces Command. "But that has to go
back to the secretary of defense to get an execute order."
Already the US military has plans for nearly 100 different
exercises, training programs and other activities across the widely diverse
continent. But the new program faces significant cultural and language
challenges, as well as nagging questions about how many of the lower-level
enlisted members of the brigade, based in Fort Riley, Kan, will participate,
since the teams would largely be made up of more senior enlisted troops and
officers.
A full brigade numbers about 3 500, but the teams could
range from just a few people to a company of about 200. In rare cases for
certain exercises, it could be a battalion, which would number about 800.
- AP
