In early October, four American soldiers were killed after their patrol was besieged by fighters of the "Islamic State Organization" in the western African country of Niger. But what do US soldiers do in Niger?
In fact, this question can not be answered unilaterally; an answer must be sought to questions about other military operations by US military forces in 20 African countries, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Liberia, Mali, Guinea, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In fact, the battles that the United States has recently waged in the United States are under media blackout, not by American and global media trumpets, but by the Pentagon or the Pentagon, which does not give much information about this war, War on terror. "So when news agencies leaked information about the US military presence in Africa, it was called the" shadow war ".
But doubts are always raised when the United States calls its military intervention somewhere called the "war on terror", especially as some of these countries have become rapidly growing economies. They contain abundant sources of a range of industrially important andcommercially important minerals such as coltan, copper, zinc and lead Iron and gold. But this land is not only saturated with precious metals, but also by conflict and war, making it fertile ground for American military intervention under its usual name "war on terror."
The beginning of the American presence in Africa was oil fields
In their book " Oil and Terrorism in the New Gulf ," James Forrest and Matthew Sosa said that the start of American intervention in Africa was in 1960, when large oil fields were discovered in the Gulf of Ghana, which was named the New Gulf. At the time, the United States emerged as a new player in Africa after France and Britain, whose presence on the African continent focused on their interest in minerals known for their presence in the Western and Southern African country on the continent.
In 1992, the United States began to intervene militarily in Africa when it sent 28,000 troops to help Somalia end the civil war that was raging at that time - according to the US government's reasons - but the US presence ended two years later in Somalia, When the incident of the capture of a number of American soldiers and the representation of their bodies and the publication of images in the international press, prompting the US government to end the military intervention because of the confusion and panic that hit the American street at the time.
But after the September 11 attacks (September), the United States and international and military policies have changed, in two years invaded both Afghanistan to fight al - Qaeda and Iraq to end Saddam Hussein 's era, and more importantly , it established the first US military base in Africa in Djibouti .
The official military cover of the United States «Africom»
After the establishment of the first US military base in Limonje, Djibouti, in 2002, the United States went to the Iraq war and focused its first military attention on the invasion of Iraq. In 2007, however, the United States re-entered Africa; Africom, or the American leadership in Africa, According to Pentagon reports, The American presence in Africa is increasing, it is noted that the number of US military forces in Africa in 2006 was only 3% of the US military forces that participate in missions outside the borders of America, and after only 10 years increased the proportion of US forces in Africa and reached To 17%, and at this moment perhaps there is a military operation carried out by a battalion of the United States of the 1500 battalion present on the African continent at the moment, US military reports indicate that the military forces carried out a military operation every day. The "Africom" agreement includes a large number of African countries, of which only 50 have signed a cooperation agreement, including 18 countries that have established US military bases on their territory.
What are US Special Forces doing now in Africa?
Has been fighting the youth group in Somalia and Djibouti for 24 years
US special forces returned to the battlefield in Somalia in 2007 after they left in 1992. Since 2007, the cost of this war has reached 900 million US dollars. The role of the United States in Somalia and Djibouti is focused on a number of axes , the most important of which is the training and arming of the armed forces The implementation of military buildings and facilities under the administration of the US forces in the first place, training and support - and sometimes - the payment of salaries to soldiers joining the Somali and Djiboutian army, as well as the implementation and command of military operations by air and land against a group of insurgent groups, Youth , which controls many areas in Somalia, which has caused its military activity in the deaths of nearly 21 thousand people and displaced nearly half a million since 2007 until now.
Looking for Joseph Kony in Uganda, South Sudan and the DRC
In 2012, the famous actress and director Angelina Jolie sent a letter to the ICC prosecutor, in which she offered her services to help arrest Joseph Kony, commander of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. The idea was that she was traveling to Central Africa and was trying to communicate with him and invite him to Dinner and facilitate the task on US special forces to arrest him, and earlier; the International Criminal Court described Joseph Kony as a war criminal. Kony is the head of the armed rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) , which is known for its violent activity and its call to struggle to turn Uganda into a Christian state based on the Ten Commandments mentioned in the Gospels and on the traditions and customs of the Acholi tribe of Joseph Kony.
Joseph Kony.
Spies on armed groups from Burkina Faso
The United States has a base of unmanned military aircraft in the capital Ouagadougou, and through this base are sending drones drones to carry out espionage or military operations against AQIM in Mauritania, Mali and Western African Sahara.
American drone aircraft.
Boko fights herself in Nigeria
In 2014, after the crisis of the Boko Haram organization, which had declared its loyalty earlier to a staunch organization, the US military decided to intervene in Nigeria to stop the encroachment of Boko Haram, which means a creeping encroachment within the African continent. But the United States retracted its decision to supply the armed forces Of the Nigerian government with weapons and sophisticated means of warfare, for several reasons, the most important of which is that the Nigerian government is "corrupt" and that it fears that there are elements belonging to the organization Boko Haram working in the Nigerian government, so since 2014, the US military forces carried out military raids on the ground for the sites of Messi It was ordered by the Boko Haram organization, in addition to air strikes carried out by unmanned aircraft.
But does the United States really protect Africa from terrorism?
In 2015, the Financial Times published a report entitled "The United States Turns to West Africa for Oil. " The report highlights that the number of barrels of oil that reached the United States through US oil companies, doubled dramatically after 2014, and this year specifically has There have been major military interventions in the United States, coinciding with the escalation of violence that accompanied the proliferation of violent movements in West Africa such as the LRA and Boko Haram, raising doubts about the huge military presence that the United States has been carrying out in recent years. American military in Africa as a "war", because the presence is not limited to a group of American soldiers who fight alongside the armies of Africa, but America has many military bases up to 18 military bases, including a set of rules Which can carry out reconnaissance missions, missions and air raids.
