The Department of Defense sign, before Incoming Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III arrives at the Pentagon after being confirmed as secretary of defense, Washington, D.C., Jan. 22, 2021. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)
By Gary Raynaldo – DIPLOMATIC TIMES
The security situation in the African Sahel region has deteriorated significantly during the past decade amid terrorism and violent extremist groups there. The US Department of Defense “will support African-led counterterrorism operations to disrupt the most acute terrorist threats, with a particular emphasis on those targeting U.S. interests,” Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday. The Committee Hearing was titled: “The Sahel in Crisis: Examining U.S. Policy Options” Wallander testified about U.S. policy in the Sahel region during a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. West African nations Burkina Faso and Niger have withdrawn from the G5 Sahel anti-jihadi force effective November 9, the two countries announced in a joint press statement this weekend. There has been a string of string of military coups over the years. In 2020, a military coup occurred in Mali, then Burkina Faso in September 2022. In July 2023, a coup d’état took place in Niger, during which the country’s presidential guard removed and detained President Mohamed Bazoum. Mali left the G5-Sahel force in May of this year.
“Violent extremist organizations affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State have taken advantage of weak governments and failed states across the region, Wallander said. The military coups in the Sahel have resulted in restrictions on DOD operations and assistance programs, according to Wallander. “Violent extremist organizations thrive in areas of instability and seek to leverage that instability for their own ends, as evidenced by the attacks we’ve seen in Niger since the coup,” Wallander said.
In addition to Wallander, Molly Phee, assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs and Robert Jenkins, assistant to the administrator in the Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization at the U.S. Agency for International Development also testified at the House Committee hearing.
