Mauritania: start of anti-jihadist military maneuvers under American command

Significant annual military maneuvers began Monday, February 17, in west-central Mauritania under American command, in the presence of some 1,600 soldiers from African and Western countries, while a reduction in American forces in Africa is currently underway. review in Washington.

The " Flintlock " exercise has been organized since 2005 by the United States Command for Africa (Africom) to " strengthen the capacity of the main partner countries of the region to fight against violent extremist organizations, to protect their borders and to ensure the security of their populations, ”according to the website of the US Embassy in Mauritania.

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A inauguration ceremony for the 2020 edition took place on Monday in Atar, in west-central Mauritania. The exercises, which are due to end on February 28, will also take place in Nouakchott and Kaédi (Mauritania) and in the Senegalese city of Thiès.

During this ceremony, US Air Force Brigadier General Dagvin Anderson, head of the Special Operations Command in Africa (Socafrica), warned of the risks of spreading the " terrorist threats ", which mainly affect the Sahel Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, " to other countries if we do not oppose it ".

Among the African countries taking part in the maneuvers are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

The United States, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom are also participating in the exercise, according to the U.S. Embassy in Nouakchott.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured Sunday in Dakar that the United States will work to "do the right thing " in partnership with its allies on whether to reduce its military presence in Africa.

Senegalese Foreign Minister Amadou Ba, alongside him at a press conference, said that the United States had told Senegalese leaders " their willingness to withdraw their fighting forces ". He stressed that, for Senegal, this did not mean an American military withdrawal from the continent, the United States providing intelligence, logistics and training support in the fight against jihadism.