In his excellent AfricaFocus Bulletin website, William Minter offers us on June 9, 2014 Nigeria: Beyond the Hashtag Debates containing more analyses from six sources plus the important Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s 5 June 2014 Briefing Paper, “Nigeria: Fleeing Boko Haram’s … Continue reading
All Posts: U.S.
Beyond the hashtags: Supporting an effective response to the Nigerian crisis
In a good oveview of the campaign to #BringBackOurGirls in the May 12 National Review Online, Michael Shank writes on “The Harm in Hashtags: Feel-good tweets do not address the root causes of Boko Haram’s violence.“Shank notes that much of … Continue reading
Jim Cason: “Don’t Replace Big Wars with Small Ones”
President Obama’s speech on foreign policy last week at West Point succeeded in uniting the Washington Post, NYTimes, and Wall Street Journal in opposing his formulation of a post-Afghanistan foreign policy. “Ludicrous … uninspiring … disturbing,” said the NYTimes, which … Continue reading
Obama announces $5 billion Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund for African Sahel & South Asia
In major foreign policy address at West Point, Obama calls for new $5 billion Counter-terrorism Partnerships Fund for training from Sahel to South Asia. Read full address at West Point: Obama address to West Point cadets (http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/05/28/Obama-Outlines-5-Billion-Counter-Terror-Initiative) Continue reading
New U.S. troops to Chad brings to 13 the African countries with U.S. military presence
Adam Taylor, Washington Post, 21 May 2014) adds to Craig Whitlock’s May 21 Washington Post report to conclude that the U.S. military currently has “boots on the ground” in 13 African countries. Here is an abstracted summary of their reports: . Burkina … Continue reading
U.S. Osprey Aircraft removed from hunt for Lord’s Resistance Army, probably to re-enforce U.S. crisis-response team in Sicily
Jeremy Binnie, (London) in IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, (April 14) reported that after a short stay in Central and East Africa, the U.S. tiltrotor Osprey aircraft have been removed from the U.S. operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army (See previous blogpost); … Continue reading
US Military Averaging More than a Mission a Day in Africa
Nick Turse’s data and map (below) from AFRICOM and the DOD reminds us of the explosion of the militarization of US Africa policy – both in missions in Africa with (1) “a 94% increase in all activities by Army personnel from 2011 … Continue reading
U.S. Aircraft to Uganda hunting for warlord Joseph Kony and LRA
The U.S. is upping its commitment to the thus far unsuccessful search for Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army by dispatching four Osprey Aircraft plus KC-130 transport and refueling tanker planes, and 150 Air Force Special Forces plus air crews to add to the 150 U.S. troops already based in Uganda for the search for the Lord’s Resistance Army in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Continue reading
Mali as the model for future U.S. counter-terrorism in Africa
The US Army’ s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point has emerged as one of the key DOD research and policy centers among many sites of research and planning on “terrorism in Africa.” In the lead article in this … Continue reading