The U.S. Military's Growing Role in Africa

July 17, 2008 by Jason Beaubien on NPR
All Things Considered, October 11, 2004

The United States is stepping up its military activity in Africa in an effort to combat terrorism and protect vital oil reserves off Africa's west coast.

The U.S. military has been leery of the continent ever since the debacle a decade ago in Somalia, when 18 American peacekeepers were killed in Mogadishu. Officials say they are now trying to train African armies to keep the peace and promote stability on the continent so U.S. troops won't have to.
NPR's Jason Beaubien has a two-part report produced in conjunction with Jane's Defence Weekly.

As Beaubien reports, this is the new face of the American military in Africa: U.S. Marines, Special Forces and Navy Seals fly in, train local troops for several weeks, and then fly out again.
This program, the Pan Sahel Initiative, has trained troops in four West African countries: Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Soon it could be expanded to eight nations around the Sahara Desert.
"Our interest is to help Africans help themselves, [to] help train their militaries better," says Air Force Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of the U.S. military's European Command, which oversees most of Africa.
U.S. officials worry that the predominantly Muslim area, known as the Sahel, could become a base for Islamic terrorists. The most prominent terrorist group operating there has been the radical Islamic Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French initials GSPC.
In an example of the U.S. cooperation envisioned under the program, dozens of the Algerian-based GSPC were killed in a joint operation in March. With the assistance of U.S. Navy P-3 surveillance planes, troops from Chad cornered the terrorists in a remote part of the Sahel.

Photos
Machine Gun Training: U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Jonathan Sparkman instructs troops in Niger on use of a .50-caliber machine gun mounted on the back of a pickup. The U.S. military is training troops in Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania as part of an initiative to try to keep terrorist groups from setting up base camps in or near the Sahara Desert. The program could be expanded in the near future to reach eight countries.(Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Fire Maneuver: U.S. Marines instruct troops from Niger in a "fire maneuver" drill using AK-47s.
(Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Across the Range: Trainees from Niger race across the firing range. (Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Firing Instructions: Troops from Niger practice with German-made MG-3 machine guns. The Marines repeatedly tell the trainees to make sure the machine gun fire stays down because the kick from the gun tends to force the barrel tip up. (Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)

Sunrise: The Marines' training schedule for the African troops is grueling. On this day, the troops are up before dawn observing how visible even a flashlight can be at night across the desert terrain. Just as the sun comes up they launch a training exercise involving machine guns on a hill providing cover for a platoon that's attacking a target down below. (Photo: Jason Beaubien, NPR)