When Gen. Mark Milley, the Army chief of staff, stepped off his jet into the sunshine here Sunday, it was the first time the Obama administration had sent its top Army officer to Africa for a high-level meeting to get the continent’s fledgling militaries in shape to deal with growing terrorist threats.

As Milley plunged into three days of talks with senior military officials from 38 African countries, the biggest question facing him was not how the United States would work with those militaries to contain the threats. Among them are four militant groups that U.S. officials say are capable of carrying out attacks in Europe as well as across Africa: the Islamic State affiliate in Libya, Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Qaida in northwestern Africa and al-Shabab in Somalia.

Instead, the question was whether the new focus on the ever-widening terrorist threat in Africa — not to mention the focus on the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and the continuing war in Afghanistan — is taking away from the Army’s ability to fight a land war against a more traditional military adversary.

After 15 years of conflict, the Army knows how to fight terrorist groups and how to train its partners to do so, as well. But that is both a blessing and a curse.

“Today, a major in the Army knows nothing but fighting terrorists and guerrillas, because he came into the Army after 9/11,” Milley said in an interview during his flight to Arusha. “But as we get into the higher-end threats, our skills have atrophied over 15 years.”

A result, Milley said, has been a loss of what he calls muscle memory: how to fight a large land war, including one where an established adversary is able to bring sophisticated air defenses, tanks, infantry, naval power and even cyberweapons into battle.

With the declared end of major combat operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq, the Army was supposed to return to barracks after more than a decade of war, resume training, and rebuild its readiness to fight more entrenched powers like Russia, China or Iran.

At the same time, because the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were supposed to be ending, the Army’s budget has shrunk as the Obama administration has sought to move away from a war footing.

The size of the active-duty Army, now 470,000 troops, is expected to drop to 450,000 next year. If automatic budget cuts are reinstated because Congress fails to reach a budget deal this year, the Army will have to cut down to 420,000.

“Is that sufficient capacity and capability to do the various national strategies?” Milley said of current troop levels to a group of foreign policy experts at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on May 3. “We think it is. But the real hard question is what happens if one of these other contingencies were to go off that.” He was referring to potential conflict on the Korean Peninsula, or with a large power like China or Russia.

President Barack Obama has begun to respond to the re-emergence of Russia as a strategic threat. The White House has quadrupled the budget for military spending in Europe in 2017, to $3.4 billion. As part of an effort to deter Russia, the United States will provide additional weapons and equipment to U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, to ensure that the alliance can maintain a full armored combat brigade in the region at all times.

But other threats are not going away, forcing Army officials and Pentagon planners to figure out how to adapt America’s military strategy to the new global reality. Army officials are trying to balance the military’s responsibilities in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia while relearning how to fight higher-end, great-power conflicts, as well.

One possible solution, Milley said, could be to increase training days for the National Guard. Its members now train 39 days a year, which allows them to be ready to deploy within four months if called up.

“I do not think we will have the luxury of four to five months lead time if a significant contingency comes up,” Milley said.

This week, Milley’s focus is on Africa, which has increasingly become a battleground in the West’s war against militant Islam.

In Central Africa, U.S. service members are working with militaries from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger to counter Boko Haram. U.S. military officials say that Boko Haram has begun to collaborate with the Islamic State, and that the terrorist groups — two of the world’s most feared — could be working together to plan attacks on U.S. allies in North and Central Africa.

Pentagon officials have presented the White House with military options, including airstrikes, against the Islamic State affiliate in Libya. At the same time, Obama and his advisers, along with allies like Britain, France and Italy, are trying to nurture a fragile political process for a new unity government there.

In West Africa, Army and special operations forces are working with militaries from Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and other countries to try to stem a recent wave of attacks by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which has taken to hitting hotels and other tourist sites.

And in East Africa, U.S. military advisers and trainers are working with regional counterparts to fight the Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab. The group was responsible for one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on African soil, at a popular mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013, and it is resurgent after losing much of its territory and many of its fighters in the last several years.

Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, the head of Army forces assigned to Africa Command, said, “We’re building these relationships so that if called in, we can respond.”

The United States is also working in Africa with former Russian satellite states like Angola; Milley will meet one on one Tuesday with his Angolan counterpart.

“This is a region of the world that is of growing importance to the Army,” said Carter. Ham, a retired four-star Army general who was previously head of Africa Command. “A lot of good stuff is happening in Africa, but from a security standpoint, there’s also a lot of bad stuff happening as well that could undermine U.S. interests in the region.”

tampabay.com

French President Francois Hollande and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari agreed to strengthen military cooperation and work with the West African country’s neighbours in an stepped-up effort to crush Boko Haram.

Buhari said the EU and others had pledged 916 million euros (US$1.035 billion) to help rebuild Nigeria from the impacts of the Islamic militant group, which among other things has displaced more than 2 million people in the country’s northeast.

The leaders spoke in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday following a summit also attended by the heads of state from Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin, and representatives of the US, Britain and European Union. One of the meeting’s goals was to help orchestrate the safe return of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted in April 2014.

“On the issue of Boko Haram, when there is a threat to a country in Africa, there is a threat to France,” Hollande told reporters after saying that France will share intelligence, help with counter-insurgency training, and provide equipment to those fighting the group.

The seven-year conflict waged by Boko Haram to impose its version of Sharia, or Islamic law, has killed thousands and caused at least US$9 billion in damage, according to government estimates. After being driven out of large expanses of territory it held a year ago, the jihadist group has resorted to suicide bombings and massacres in remote villages.

Violence has spilled over to Nigeria’s neighbours, including Chad.

While Boko Haram has been weakened by better cooperation among countries in the region, the group remains a threat, Hollande said. The Abuja talks followed a high-level regional security meeting in Paris two years ago.

“We must take the opportunity this summit presents to evaluate the successes we have achieved, consolidate the gains, identify any shortcomings we have experienced, and then draw important lessons,” said Buhari.

A joint force from Cameroon and Nigeria this week struck a blow against Boko Haram with the capture of leader Boukar Kaou and five of his aides during a raid in northeastern Nigeria during which 58 militants died, a Cameroon government spokesman said. No soldiers were killed and 46 hostages were freed, including 18 women and 28 children.

France intervened in the fight against Islamist militants in the Lake Chad Basin region at the start of 2013, and now has about 3,000 soldiers deployed in the Sahel from Mali to Niger and Chad.

Britain plans to train almost 1,000 Nigerian military personnel for counter-insurgency measures, Sky News reported on Saturday, citing Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. A promise of £40 million (US$57.5 million) to fight Boko Haram came days after Prime Minister David Cameron called Nigeria “fantastically corrupt”.

Before Saturday’s meetings, Hollande signed other agreements with Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa’s largest economy, for technical, scientific and cultural cooperation and a treaty to support the country’s agricultural industry.

“We are aware of the needs in Nigeria,” Hollande said. “French companies can help meet these needs.”

scmp.com

Cameroon says the multinational joint forces fighting Boko Haram have captured five leaders of the radical Islamist group, including Boukar Kaou, traditional ruler of  Kumche in Nigeria. Dozens of the terrorists were killed and 60 women and children freed.

Cameroon’s communication minister and government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma says 1,000 troops of the multinational joint task force fighting Boko Haram organized systematic raids between May 10 and 12 on Boko Haram bases in Nigeria’s Madawaya forest, some seven kilometers from Cameroon’s northern border, killing 58 Boko Haram fighters.

Tchiroma says 15 Nigerian women, three Cameroonian women and 28 children who had been held captive in the Boko Haram stronghold were freed and taken to Cameroon. He says huge quantities of war weapons were either destroyed or seized.

The minister says five leaders of the terrorist group, including the traditional leader of Kumshe and emir of the terrorist group, were arrested along side dozens of their supporters.

He says after a recent successful operation in Goshe and Kumche on the Nigerian territory, so many Boko Haram fighters escaped to the Madawaya forest and created camps for their fighters, where they also trained suicide bombers especially young women and girls. He says the destruction of their training camps have made the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria to realize that the forest served as the main training ground for suicide bombers and child fighters that regularly attacked the two countries. He says none of the Cameroon and Nigerian forces were killed.

Cameroon believes the militants have resorted to suicide bombings because their fire-power has been drastically reduced following ceaseless attacks on their stronghold since December 2015 by an eight thousand-strong multinational joint task force with troops from Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Benin and Niger.

The United Nations reports that Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency has killed more than 25,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million.

voanews.com

Fighters from Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab terrorist network on Friday fled from their strongholds in the middle Shabelle region of Southern Somalia following a fierce military onslaught from Somali forces and the African Union troops.

Dahir Mohamed, a senior commander in Somali national army, told Xinhua the Al-Shabaab fighters were overpowered by the military operation and retreated to avoid casualties.

“The Al-Shabaab militants fled from towns in middle Shebelle region once they learnt that the military onslaught was so severe,” said Mohamed

Eye witnesses also revealed to Xinhua the militants fled from their camps following the military assault.

Several towns in southern Somalia have been liberated from Al-Shabaab this year.

Meanwhile, a military operation to flush out Al-Shabaab from their hideouts in the Bakool region of Southwest Somalia will be launched soon.

Local officials confirmed to Xinhua the forthcoming military operation is aimed at loosening the grip of Al-Shabaab militants in towns and villages located in southwestern parts of the horn of African nation.

xinhuanet.com

African Union peacekeepers and Somali government forces killed nine members of the al-Shabaab militant group during two separate incidents Thursday.

In the first incident, the troops attacked an illegal checkpoint near Sabiid in the town of Afgoye, 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, killing five insurgents, the African Union mission known as Amisom said in a statement on Twitter. In the second operation, four al-Shabaab members were killed during a raid on an illegal police station and taxation center near Beled Amiin, it said.

“Amisom working with the federal government of Somalia will continue to degrade al-Shabaab and allow the people of Somalia to enjoy peace and security,” the mission said.

Al-Shabaab has waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006 in a bid to impose a strict version of Islamic law. The group still carries out frequent gun and grenade attacks even after losing control of large chunks of territory to government troops backed by African Union forces.

bloomberg.com

A Somali commando unit killed at east 15 suspected militants in the central region of Galgadud overnight, a local official said.

Three senior Al Shabaab commanders were among those killed in the attack on El Timir village, near the coastal town of Galcad, district commissioner Qadar Mohamud Ali said Wednesday by phone. There was no immediate comment on the fighting from the Al Qaeda-linked militants.

The violence came a day after Somalia’s Defense Ministry said its commandos destroyed an Al Shabaab training camp in the southern town of Toratorow.

Al- habaab spokesman Abdulaziz Abu Musab, speaking to Radio Andalus, a broadcaster that supports the insurgency, said they had foiled an attack late Monday by “American forces with helicopters.”

On Monday, a Shabaab suicide car bomber struck the entrance of Somalia’s traffic police headquarters in the capital, killing four people and injuring nine others.

Two police officers were among the dead and two armed extremists who tried to storm the traffic police premises in Mogadishu’s Abdiaziz district were also shot dead.

Local residents said the front of the traffic headquarters was damaged extensively by the blast, which also destroyed nearby shops. Al Shabaab has waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006 in a bid to overthrow the government.

The group still carries out frequent gun and grenade attacks even after losing control of large chunks of territory to government troops backed by African Union forces.

gulftoday.ae/

Two teenage girls wearing explosives died in Northern Cameroon after being stopped at a checkpoint, an official said.

The girls, aged 13 and 15, were headed for crowded areas in Mora when they refused to allow themselves to be controlled at a checkpoint, according to regional governor Midjiyawa Bakary.

Vigilance groups manning the checkpoint shot the 13-year old dead, while the 15-year old blew herself up.

The girls, who had crossed into Cameroon from Nigeria, were believed to have been sent as suicide bombers by the Boko Haram.

pmnewsnigeria.com

The mayor of Burundi’s capital vowed to crush “terrorists” blamed for a spate of weekend grenade attacks that left three people dead and about 20 injured.

Hundreds have been killed and a quarter of a million people have fled Burundi since President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial decision April 2015 to run for a third term, a vote he won amid opposition boycotts in July.

Anti-government protests were brutally quashed and killings and attacks have become a regular feature in the troubled country as a political crisis shows no sign of abating.

Bujumbura mayor Freddy Mbonimpa told AFP that three people had died in the capital since Friday in “terrorist acts targeting peaceful citizens.”

“These terrorists are trying to instil panic… we are in the process of breaking up these terrorist groups with the help of the local population,” he said.

Grenade attacks in Bujumbura intensified last month after a month-long lull in March.

A grenade blast in a bar on Sunday evening killed one person and injured five others in the working-class district of Bwiza in central Bujumbura.

On Saturday two women died after a grenade was thrown into a small market in the city’s north-east. On Friday, eight people were injured in another grenade attack, a police officer said.

 
digitaljournal.com