According to Langley, these terrorist organisations are seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in the region and establish a foothold in countries with weaker security structures.
The United States Government has disclosed that terrorist groups, including ISIS and Al-Qaeda, are expanding their reach in West Africa and currently moving towards Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin territories.
This disclosure is contained in a statement officially released by the US Department of State Africa Regional Media Hub, highlighting its recent interview session with the Commander of the U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Marine Corps General Michael Langley,
According to Langley, these terrorist organisations are seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in the region and establish a foothold in countries with weaker security structures.
The Army Commander announced that the US has successfully withdrawn from Niger Republic without incident, following the demands made by Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie (CNSP): the ruling military junta of the country,
He added that the US is now shifting its focus to coastal West Africa, where it is engaging with countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Benin to address the growing terrorist threat in the region.
Langley also revealed the US is currently in diplomatic talks with Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Benin to determine the extent of its relationship with these countries, with the State Department and national command authorities leading the effort.
He said: “First and foremost, we executed without incident a safe and orderly withdrawal from Niger in accordance with the CNSP’s demands. And then the way forward will be determined as far as what capacity of security cooperation will be across the Sahel, whether we’re talking about the new alliance or coalition of the Alliance of Sahelian States of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. That’s to be determined.
“But we’re going to stay engaged with them on conversations, but State Department is actually going to dictate or our national command authorities will dictate what depth and breadth of the relationship is going to be.
“But in the interim, yes, we are pivoting to some degree of likeminded countries with democratic values and shared objectives and shared challenges across coastal West Africa. So yes, we’re in talks with Cote d’Ivoire and in talks with Ghana and Benin as well as we start to reset and recalibrate some of our assets.
“But I will just say, I need to establish a precursor. When we started this, I went and I engaged with all of these countries to look at their prospects because – and listened to what threats – because I knew that that threat of JNIM, al-Shabaab – excuse me, excuse me, JNIM and ISIS-West Africa, ISIS-Sahel, AQIM, were all resident in these countries across the Sahel, and Burkina Faso, and Mali, and Niger. But now they were metastasizing and moving towards the northern borders of the coastal West Africa states of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
“So I went on a campaign of learning and a listening tour to see how we can partner with them to address these shared challenges, because all these constructs, all these violent extremist organizations do have aspirations of attacking the United States homeland as well. So going there and listening as the way forward to address these challenges and to defeat terrorism across their borders was essential.”
“So yes, we are in consultations and administrated through the diplomatic realm to decide what level of capacity – what do they need to be able to successfully counter terrorism,” the US Army Commander added.
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