Africa has
seen the most dramatic growth in the deployment of America’s elite
troops of any region of the globe over the past decade, according to
newly released numbers.
In 2006,
just 1% of commandos sent overseas were deployed in the U.S. Africa
Command area of operations. In 2016, 17.26% of all U.S. Special
Operations forces — Navy SEALs and Green Berets among them —
deployed abroad were sent to Africa, according to data supplied to
The Intercept by U.S. Special Operations Command. That total ranks
second only to the Greater Middle East where the U.S. is waging war
against enemies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.
“In
Africa, we are not the kinetic solution,” Brigadier General
Donald Bolduc, the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa,
told African Defense, a U.S. trade publication, early this fall. “We
are not at war in Africa — but our African partners certainly are.”
That
statement stands in stark contrast to this year’s missions in
Somalia where, for example, U.S. Special Operations forces assisted
local commandos in killing several members of the militant group,
al-Shabab and Libya, where they supported local fighters battling
members of the Islamic State. These missions also speak to the
exponential growth of special operations on the continent.
As recently
as 2014, there were reportedly only about 700 U.S. commandos deployed
in Africa on any given day. Today, according to Bolduc, “there
are approximately 1,700 [Special Operations forces] and enablers
deployed… at any given time. This team is active in 20 nations in
support of seven major named operations.”
Using data
provided by Special Operations Command and open source information,
The Intercept found that U.S. special operators were actually
deployed in at least 33 African nations, more than 60% of the 54
countries on the continent, in 2016.
“We’re
supporting African military professionalization and
capability-building efforts,” said Bolduc. “The [Special
Operations forces] network helps create specific tailored training
for partner nations to empower military and law enforcement to
conduct operations against our mutual threats.”
The majority
of African governments that hosted deployments of U.S. commandos in
2016 have seen their own security forces cited for human rights
abuses by the U.S. State Department, including Algeria, Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Djibouti, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Tanzania,
among others.
According to
data provided to The Intercept by Special Operations Command, elite
U.S. troops are also deployed to Sudan, one of three nations, along
with Iran and Syria, cited by the U.S. as “state sponsors of
terrorism.”
“U.S.
[Special Operations forces] have occasionally met with U.S. State
Dept. and interagency partners in Sudan to discuss the overall
security situation in the region,” Africa Command spokesperson
Chuck Prichard wrote in an email.
Special
Operations Command spokesman Ken McGraw added, “Their visit had
nothing to do with Sudan’s government or military.”
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