US Forces in Africa
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winnyfield
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They're already there. Some have been in the region for a couple of years.
Mostly US Army Special Forces 'Green Berets' approx 100 personnel.
The US have been operating hunter-killer drones from a base in Kenya. Also lots of other assets around the Horn of Africa.
Us Sending Troops To Uganda | U.S. sending military advisors to Uganda - Los Angeles Times
Mostly US Army Special Forces 'Green Berets' approx 100 personnel.
The US have been operating hunter-killer drones from a base in Kenya. Also lots of other assets around the Horn of Africa.
Us Sending Troops To Uganda | U.S. sending military advisors to Uganda - Los Angeles Times
There is an interesting article on bllomberg which I'll try to source and post after work finishes.
the reason why the US SOCOM has had people in Botswana (along with the UK and the French at various times) is to make sure that they can nip these things in the bud early. there are various socio, religious and strategic reasons why the LRA needs clipping.
winnyfield
New Member
House Foreign Affairs Committee hearings on the Ugandan deployment - 25 Oct
U.S. Military Forces in Uganda - C-SPAN Video Library
U.S. Military Forces in Uganda - C-SPAN Video Library
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Thanks for information provided.
Interesting to listen to and Joseph Koney does seem to be a nasty piece of work.
Will be interested to see how this story progresses over the next few months.
Considering the size of the area the LRA work in, it could take a while to catch this guy.
Why are the Americans taking action now considering he has been active for over 25 years?
Interesting to listen to and Joseph Koney does seem to be a nasty piece of work.
Will be interested to see how this story progresses over the next few months.
Considering the size of the area the LRA work in, it could take a while to catch this guy.
Why are the Americans taking action now considering he has been active for over 25 years?
surpreme
Member
There is something behind this action. But what is it? The US will capture or kill the LRA. This is just the start of US involvement in Africa. They just created the African Command. Once the US get its overall objective in Africa that when you see more US trainers in Africa. Once I heard that UAV are being sent to Uganda it over for LRA. Right now thing are being done secretly to get what it need to kill or capture LRA. Other militaries in the area will recieve more aid and training mainly Kenya.
Sorry thats just plain not right.
US has had SF long term located in one critical african ally for nearly 30 years.
everyone else might not know, but US, French and UK SF have been there for decades
In one instance they share the same base courtesy of that Govt
"Big Army" might be there under a declared Command. But US presence and sustained SF active presence is not news
surpreme
Member
Yes I know that I should have explain more. Thanks for clearing that up. I mainly was talking about command structure. Yes SF has been in Africa for years training Africans forces and other activities. Thats true that not real news but to have a Africa Command in Africa ups the game. If you don't understand I can get into more details.
surpreme
Member
The Africom is still based in Europe. @ADMk2 Thanks I already knew that thanks anyway
Some African countries did not want a Africom base or HQ. Africom has stated it will remain in Europe.
It doesn't matter whether some countries don't want AFRICOM or not - its the host country that counts
and as I said US/UK have had specfor ine one country for over 30 years at the behest of that country.
A "big army" presence is due to the fact that a lot of those countries have demonstrated a complete unwillingness to deal with regional issues.
they can't pretend that the African Union models work when they clearly don't. when the largest military power in Africa has politicians who espouse forced regime change in neighbouring democracies, then its no wonder that those countries openly invite US/UK forces and send their military officers off for training with US or Commonwealth "western" partners.
and to return to the original premise thats its the start of a US presence in Africa - that is just factually and actually incorrect.
The US has given central and northern african countries import privileges and expemptions for 20+ years, so they've had their eye on the regional ball ever since Sth Africa shifted.
In fact the most stable governed country in Africa has had western military forces (incl US) in place since 1966
yap, as is Egypt.Pretty sure Somalia is in africa
Seriously though, Museveni and US going to bed is all about mineral rich central africa, a FOB of sorts since geopolitical realities and times are making these mad men slowly return to normalcy, and with mega projects and opportunities such as the Inga in Congo, uncle Sam does not want to be beaten to the race by million man army.
Uncle Sam has a million man army. As do many other countries.
Viewing Africa as a place for resources and future geopolitics is simply another form of neo-colonialism. I assume the reference to a "million man army" refers to China since they're the only new major world power that's looking to expand economically into Africa.
China's increasing economic entry into African resources mirrors what was done by many European imperialist powers without the military presence and usually, they're not at all unwelcome. Any Western country that attempts to increase its political presence as a counter simply reinforces the belief that China and the West cannot coexist.
If African countries want US or other countries' SpecForces there, I won't say its neo-colonialism. But if "Uncle Sam" wants to win "the race" (a term that is extremely reminiscent of European colonialism) then it needs to find a better motive than simply beating a "million man army".
Viewing Africa as a place for resources and future geopolitics is simply another form of neo-colonialism. I assume the reference to a "million man army" refers to China since they're the only new major world power that's looking to expand economically into Africa.
China's increasing economic entry into African resources mirrors what was done by many European imperialist powers without the military presence and usually, they're not at all unwelcome. Any Western country that attempts to increase its political presence as a counter simply reinforces the belief that China and the West cannot coexist.
If African countries want US or other countries' SpecForces there, I won't say its neo-colonialism. But if "Uncle Sam" wants to win "the race" (a term that is extremely reminiscent of European colonialism) then it needs to find a better motive than simply beating a "million man army".
before this thread derails into fantasy land stats it would be useful to study logistics.
a 1m man army is next to useless in modern warfare.
its why everyone, including china, india and russia are exercising force modernisation and moving away from large standing armies.
a 1m man army is next to useless in modern warfare.
its why everyone, including china, india and russia are exercising force modernisation and moving away from large standing armies.
she does already.
the US was giving central and nth africa special tax exempt import status 20 years before the chinese suddeny discovered new places of mineral resource wealth.
the facts are always more interesting than some of the urban political mythology thats oft touted as proof priori of international politics...
all of a sudden some geniuses think that the US is in africa? they've been ther for 40+ years and had trade exemptions in place assisting them without tying them to resources extraction... unlike the chinese approach in angola and mozambique where the chinese are already earning a lousy reoutation with the locals for bartering sub standard civil construction programs for minerals. ie higways and bridges already falling apart due to shoddy engineering...
My point is not to insinuate in any way that she has not been in africa, but that she has been comfortable being there. Global geopolitics notwithstanding, it is a fact that many african nations are looking east, not only to china but to russia and eastern european splinters of soviet bloc nations especially for machine. fact is, most of 4++ equipment is entirely useless in the continent, so what most nations are looking at are affordable and practical alternatives, if anyone read about the T-72 saga in kenya recently, and all hulabaloo about arming SS (BS by disgruntled suppliers up north if you ask me), the cache of chinese weapons assisting in the somalia incursion, to the shopping list for JF-10s by Kenya..... (there has been an f-15 rumour for almost a decade now)....
I'm sorry but thats a set of some bold assumptions. I spent some 2 years contracting to a couple of central african states on military programs. they had some very sophisticated thinking - and they were smart enough to realise that the ugandan, zimbabwe, yemen models were not benchmarks to modernisation
this notion that they can't use and/or have minimal need for modern weapons systems is just hogwash.
some of the core officer training progs in some of these countries quite frankly make some asian countries look decidedly amateurish.
the general press is not a yardstick for quality information on military issues....
not all of them are like Yemen