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Rabat – US Marine Corps General and the commander of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM), Michael Langley stressed the importance of US-Africa cooperation for regional security during a press conference held on Thursday.
“African nations are shaping our present, and they will shape our future,” the commander said. “AFRICOM will continue to develop our partnerships and everything we do in Africa, and also in coordination and cooperation with our African partners.”
During the briefing, Langley discussed the priorities for his tenure as AFRICOM commander, highlighting the top regional security challenges in Africa, and specifically those of violent extremist organizations such as Nusrat al-Islam (JNIM), ISIS, and al-Shabaab among others.
Highlighting the importance of bilateral US-Africa relations in the security field, Langley emphasized that the US’ National Security Strategy “recognizes Africa as a geopolitical force.”
“I go there to be able to establish and strengthen partnership, especially around regional players that are actually involved in building security across the continent, and hold the same values that we do here in the US,” Langley said about his visits to African countries.
The AFRICOM strategy aims to cultivate and reinforce cooperation through a three-dimensional approach consisting of diplomacy, defense, and development, the official detailed.
The general also spoke about AFRICOM’s two training exercises in Africa: Flintlock and African Lion.
The Flintlock exercise involves a large-scale training program that brings together 1,300 members from 29 nations to enhance military capabilities in order to effectively tackle the various security challenges and crises in the region.
Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) will be taking part in the Flintlock training in both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire from March 1-15.
Langley also mentioned the African lion event that addresses complex security problems facing many countries and responds to their needs through collective and high-end training across multiple domains in the security realm.
The US Army Southern European Task Force in Africa (SETAF-AF) confirmed on October 17 that Morocco will be one of the hosting countries of the 2023 African Lion scheduled to run from May 15 to July 18.
