The US military will withdraw hundreds of troops focused on counter-terrorism operations in Africa over the next few years to support the Pentagon’s increased focus on countering threats from China and Russia, officials said.
Earlier this year, the US military put countering China and Russia at the centre of a new national defence strategy, the latest sign of shifting priorities after more than a decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.
“This realignment projects to reduce forces by about 10% over the next several years – representing a fraction of the overall 7,200 DoD personnel operating in Africa,” Commander Candice Tresch, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told Reuters.
Tresch said the cuts would leave “counter-violent extremist organisation” activities largely untouched in several countries, including Somalia, Djibouti and Libya.
In other parts of the region, including West Africa, the emphasis would shift from “tactical assistance to advising, assisting, liaising and sharing intelligence.”
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the reduction of troops would likely take place over three years and could include Kenya, Cameroon and Mali.
The United States’ military role on the African continent received increased attention after an ambush last year in Niger, carried out by a local Islamic State affiliate, which killed four US soldiers.
The Pentagon is concerned about an increasingly resurgent Russia, which flexed its military muscle in conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. The Pentagon is increasingly focused on China’s growing assertiveness in areas including the South China Sea.
The Pentagon move comes as China and Russia look to increase influence in Africa.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union forged close military and diplomatic ties with many African countries. Russia is now trying to revive some relationships that lapsed after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
Since Western nations sanctioned Russia for annexing Crimea in 2014, Moscow signed 19 military co-operation deals in sub-Saharan Africa, including with Ethiopia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, according to its foreign and defence ministries and state media.
China has long had a major economic presence in Africa, but shied away from military involvement. Last year it went a step further opening its first military base outside China in Djibouti.
A congressionally mandated report by former US officials released earlier this week said the military did not have sufficient resources to fund military needs and goals set out by US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis earlier this year.
Separately, the military said two US Navy SEALs and two Marines were charged for the death of an Army Green Beret in Mali in 2017. The charge sheets accuse the troops of breaking into Army Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar’s bedroom, tying him with duct tape and strangling him with a chokehold.
Â
