US military support to Mauritania for combating terrorism and other purposes

Ahmed Adel

On Saturday, July 27, the Mauritanian army received over $15 million worth of sophisticated military equipment from the United States, including 155 armored vehicles, a mobile field hospital, night vision devices, positioning devices, a radio and telephone communications system, and individual protective equipment.

US Ambassador to Nouakchott Michael Dodman said US support for Mauritanian forces was giving impetus to a strong security partnership, adding that the two countries would work closely to organize the large Flint Lock maneuvers to be held in February in Mauritania, in which 30 countries will participate, including most of the G5 Sahel countries.

This support is not the first of its kind by the United States, which can mainly be seen in its support for the African Sahel alliance known as G5, which was formed in 2015. It includes Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso. The coalition forces are made up of 5,000 soldiers, led by the Mauritanian general Hanena Ould Sidi, and supported by French and American forces, to eliminate terrorists who pose a threat in that region.

The United States officially dealt with events in the Sahel and Sahara when a terrorist attack was uncovered on October 4, 2018, killing four US soldiers. Recently, US President Donald Trump restructured the US military presence to take the lead in intervening in volatile areas, without relying on some regional and international powers. That is, Washington has now moved from the policy of intervention by proxy to direct intervention.

The desert hinterland of the African Sahel is a safe passage used by militants to confront local and foreign authorities and create security chaos in that region, which is strategically important to the security of the United States and other international powers.

Danger of terrorist organizations

The terrorist organization ISIS has had a strong presence among other organizations trying to establish a foothold and spread in the Sahel region, especially after its fall in Syria and Iraq. Since ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the establishment of the ISIS state of Central Africa in late April, the terrorist organization has been carrying out many operations in the Sahel and Sahara.

Recently, ISIS has carried out several operations, most notably the attack on a military barracks of the Nigerian army, killing 12 members of the Nigerian forces, in addition to killing 30 people in an attack carried out by three elements of the ISIS-affiliated Boko Haram in the town of Konduga in northeastern Nigeria. In Burkina Faso, ISIS has killed 40 people and wounded dozens others. In Mozambique, ISIS operations resulted in the deaths of 16 people in an ambush by ISIS extremists from the country’s north. In the Congo, operations killed two soldiers and wounded a civilian in a shootout in the northeast.

Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda has a strong presence in the African Sahel region. It has been able to form its largest alliance in the world, known as the Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which was established in March 2017 as a result of the merger of four armed movements in Mali and the Sahel: Ansar al-Din, Masina Brigades, Almoravid Battalion, Principality of the Sahara Region.

According to the US Department of Defense’s Africa Institute for Strategic Studies, violent incidents linked to ISIS and al-Qaeda increased from 24 in 2017 to 136 in 2018. Al-Qaeda is believed to have recruited a larger number of militants compared to ISIS.

African affairs researcher Nasser Mamoun Issa said that the United States seeks to regain its historical influence in Africa as a whole, with its starting point in West Africa, on the grounds that the justifications for its presence in that region are to confront the terrorist organizations affecting European interests, for military intervention comes under the pretext of protecting nationals and confronting armed groups.

Issa stressed that the economic and military factor for the support provided to the African Sahel Forces is very important to confront the dangerous terrorist organizations active in that region. He added that the sophisticated weapons used by the terrorists in their war against the UN and G5 Sahel forces pushed the United States to provide the necessary support, both militarily and materially to eliminate the armed organizations.