Credit: wikipedia / A Predator drone.  U.S. airstrikes targeting Islamist militants  in Horn of Africa nation Somalia have increased dramatically under Trump Administration.

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The latest U.S. airstrike in Horn of Africa nation Somalia killed three al-Shabab militants last week. In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US Africa Command conducted the air strike targeting al-Shabab militants in the Golis Mountains of Somalia, on May 26, the sixth such  military strike in the  past month. The US goal in Somalia is to weaken al-Shabab militarily in order to foster a political settlement,  according to senior officials of US Africa Command.  “Airstrikes create additional time and space for continued incremental progress in Somalia,” said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Huston, deputy director of operations, U.S. Africa Command. “The last few days presented opportunities to successfully reduce terrorist influence and activity.”

The airstrikes are not without controversy, as there have been reports of civilian casualties.  A special telephonic press briefing was held last Thursday by US Africa Command senior leaders based in Stuttgart, Germany.  Speakers discussed current issues and themes as it relates to Africa Command’s civil-military engagement, intelligence directorate, and senior enlisted leadership. The main speakers included:  Ambassador Alexander M. Laskaris, Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement; Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, Director, Intelligence Directorate; U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Ramon Colon-Lopez, Command Senior Enlisted Leader of the U.S. Africa Command.

“So we act under legal authorities by the U.S. government, we act under legal authorities of the federal government of Somalia. We also act under the legal authorities of the African Union and the U.N. Security Counsel to strike al-Shabaab and ISIS targets in Somalia. So the goal here is to maintain pressure on these organizations so that we can achieve a negotiated outcome of some sort of political accommodation that brings all of the Somali factions into a common vision of the future of their state.”

-Ambassador Alexander M. Laskaris, Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement.

Ambassador Laskaris added:  “I want to be very clear. The application of military pressure may be necessary, but it’s never sufficient. We will not achieve our strategic goals through striking al-Shabaab, either unilaterally as the U.S. government, in partnership with our AMISOM (African Union Mission to Somalia) colleagues, or even in partnership with our Somali colleagues. There is a necessary element of military pressure here that the end state—that which want to produce—is political and it will be based on meeting the legitimate grievances of all the Somali parties and making sure that all of Somalia’s regions, all of its people, have a stake in a unified federal system.”

Credit: US AFRICOM/  Rear Adm. Heidi Berg, U.S. Africa Command, director of intelligence, addresses a crowd during a U.S. Embassy hosted Women, Peace and Security Reception in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Feb. 19.

Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, Director, Intelligence Directorate:

“So then just to run through regionally, in East Africa, we have Al Qaeda-aligned al-Shabaab as a dominant terrorist organization, and ISIS Somalia continues to struggle to gain traction. Al-Shabaab is well-positioned to take advantage of security vacuums, should we see the African Union mission in Somalia continue its drawdown. It remains adaptive, resilient and capable of attacking Western and partner interests in Somalia and East Africa and generally uses mass fighter attacks on vulnerable bases, as well as vehicle-born IED attacks in Mogadishu to achieve strategic effects against AMISOM and the Somali government. ISIS Somalia continues to struggle to gain traction. We estimate approximately 100 to 300 fighters, largely focused on survival and conducting low-level operations in Puntland’s Bari region. They aspire to operations in southern Somalia and have claimed assassinations in both Mogadishu as well as in Afgooye”

Rear Admiral Berg spoke on other African regions:  “Shifting gears to the Sahel, as we had talked about previously, with the principal drivers, we have seen a significant decline and deterioration in the security situation in north and eastern Burkina Faso. There’s been a spike in attacks since August of 2018 with an over 100% increase in attacks that have taken place. There has also been an increase in the use of kidnapping for ransom as a means of financing these organizations. ISIS Greater Sahara is continuing to exploit communal violence, under-governed spaces, and pro-government militia atrocities to continue to gain adherents as well conduct operations.”

Rear Admiral Berg touched on China and Chinese activities across the continent,  stating the US has seen seen a significant increase across the past five years of Chinese military and security engagement on the continent. “Overall for decades we’ve seen Chinese economic activity, so China’s principle focus being economic in nature, with a focus on access to resources and access to markets. This increase in economic activity has resulted in China becoming the principal trade partner in Africa since 2016. They’ve tripled their loans since 2012 and Beijing is the major debt holder for multiple sub-Saharan African governments. Since 2014 we’re estimating over $172 billion worth of investments in loans, although the actual amount disbursed is likely lower than that. Chinese military activities, principally conducted through arms sales and training, but we have seen security trends increase in terms of peacekeeping activities, medical diplomacy, anti-piracy missions, increasing security engagements, as well as an increasing presence on the continent in defense attaché offices and in other security engagements.”
China is the second largest arms supplier on the continent, behind Russia.

” At the heart of the forces in Africa, roughly about 80-85% of those forces are enlisted soldiers, executing basic missions, both peacekeeping and security. Then Admiral Berg mentioned the presence of violent extremist organizations in the region. That is usually the next best option, of all the worst options, for young men and women in Africa to earn a living. So security is twofold; number one it protects the citizens, number two it provides an avenue for the growing youth in Africa to have a way to make a living while being productive to society.”

-Sergeant Ramon Colon-Lopez, Command Senior Enlisted Leader of the U.S. Africa Command.

 QUESTION FROM DIPLOMATIC TIMES: “The Islamic State in West Africa at present is rapidly expanding, along with the number of daily attacks in the Sahel region, including UN peacekeepers. As one of the speakers mentioned, there’s been a 100% increase in terror attacks. At the same time, the U.S. has reduced the number of special operations and counter-terrorism troops in this region. Question: should not the U.S. AFRICOM be more involved in the G5 Sahel Joint Task Force, rather than focusing on airstrikes against al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa Somalia, given the media reports of civilian deaths that have been connected to such airstrikes?”

ANSWER: 

AMB. LASKARIS: That’s a very good question. Thank you very much for it. I will say, you know, we work across the continent, all 53 countries of our area of operations, and we are a big government. We’re a big organization. We have the capacity to do multiple things. That said, we are reliant on partners. In Somalia our partnership is with AMISOM and the five troop contributors. In the Lake Chad Basin in the fight against Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa, our partnership is with the multinational joint task force, and the four countries of the Lake Chad Basin region, Chad, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon. And what we in house call the western Sahel, our partnership is through the G5, Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.   In the Sahel G5 theater of operations, we of course have other partners. We have the French through Operation Barkhane. We have the UN through MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali). And so what we’re doing in Somalia frees up some of our resources to be in more of a supporting role in West Africa, so there’s a certain division of labor with our partners. So we’re focused on our strategy [UNCLEAR] and responsibilities in Somalia which we signed up for. In the meantime, the French are in the international lead on the western Sahel; obviously the real lead is the countries of the region but the country’s military is deployed, four and a half thousand strong, I think gives us a natural international lead nation that we can support. These are not zero-sum propositions; to say we’re doing something in Somalia doesn’t mean a diminution of our effort in the Sahel or the Lake Chad Basin regions.”