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| wheellock mechanism, predecessor of flintlock |
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Special Operations Forces Field Training Exercises in Africa, November 6, 2013
(...)
MS. JENSEN:
Great. Niger is on the forefront of counterterrorism primarily because
of its strategic location. In February, Niger will host Flintlock 2014. How we can we ensure that this exercise is a success and supports the role of Nigerians leading the effort?
GENERAL
RODRIGUEZ: Well, as you said, the Nigerians are at a strategic location
and are part of the partnership and the solution to the challenges of
what is happening in Libya and the movement of the arms, ammunition,
explosives, and personnel across Northwest Africa. So we are working with our partner nation, and the best thing that we can do, I think, is during the Flintlock
exercise or anything else is help them where they need it most. So we
are listening to the leaders to ensure that what we help provide them,
and the exercise and the training we provide them, is what they most
need to help support their security on that northern region.
(...)
The African
continent has been thoroughly decimated by over three decades of
structural adjustment, which has downsized the state and resulted in
technocrats running our governments. It has also created a fictitious
sense of democracy, which has depoliticized our populations and left our
countries victims of a particularly vicious virus of dependency. In
military terms, Africa
remains fragmented and vulnerable in the face of fundamental
challenges, such as the foreign occupation of the Congo, the Ivory
Coast, Libya and Mali. At the same time, the possibility of playing the
instability card looms menacingly over the Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria,
Tunisia and the Central African Republic as well as Algeria.
Here
the UN is instrumentalized, paving the way for the intervention of NATO
forces. The apparent unity of militarized African countries in these
peacekeeping missions is a reflection of imperialism. For example,
thirty-six countries on the continent sent their 'next generation of
leaders in the security sector' (ACSS) to receive training in Washington
DC. Those high-ranking officers who did so were included under the
umbrella of operational and military capacity building within AFRICOM's
Theater Security Cooperation Programs (TSCP). The Africa
Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program
rounds out these infantry training projects and has made inroads into
the delivery of multilateral training to UN peacekeepers. Over the last
decade, a growing number of African armies have participated in the
annual FLINTLOCK antiterrorist maneuvers held in North and West Africa. Then there is the AFRICA
ENDEAVOR, which bills itself as an opportunity to develop skills in the
area of intelligence communication. CUTLASS EXPRESS refers to a series
of maritime strategies designed to control the flow of all traffic
around East Africa and the Indian Ocean.
*****
What Mali Says About U.S. Strategy, January 17, 2013 NYT
The U.S. has conducted a counterterrorism and security forces training regimen through the Pan Sahel Initiative, the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership and Operation Flintlock with Mali for the past 10 years and despite that effort, intelligence and special forces officials were taken by surprise in July 2012 when officers it had trained unseated a democratically elected president.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/01/15/is-mali-a-new-line-in-the-sand-against-terror/what-mali-says-about-us-and-international-strategy-in-the-region
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