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Stand Strong With Africa: Moving AFRICOM to Morocco would show our recommitment to stabilizing the region | U.S. News & World Report

A national security affairs expert at the American Foreign Policy Council suggests that the US move it’s AFRICOM headquarters from Germany to Morocco:

US News World ReportThe security situation in North Africa is growing increasingly dire, with destabilized countries and growing terrorist groups. Meanwhile, the U.S. combatant command for the region has been stuck in Germany for eight years. It is time to make another attempt to find a host country in Africa, and Morocco may be the place.

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Meanwhile, the security situation in Africa has degraded significantly. U.S.-backed military intervention in Libya in 2011 produced a failed state of warring militias and terrorist groups. Egypt faces a rising terrorist presence in the Sinai, following a revolution in 2011 and military coup in 2013. Tunisia has become a leading source for recruitment by the Islamic State terror group, which is increasing its presence across North Africa. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has remained active, recently conducting attacks in Mali, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. Nigeria’s Boko Haram movement, now affiliated with the Islamic State group, has carried out cross-border operations in Cameroon and Chad. These challenges only exacerbate the civil wars and tribal conflicts endemic throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and compound the growing regional involvement of strategic competitors China and Russia.

These developments point to a growing need for enhanced U.S. commitment to the region, and moving the AFRICOM headquarters there would be a useful gesture. And the Kingdom of Morocco is an obvious choice as a destination. An oasis of stability in an otherwise fractious neighborhood, it is a longstanding U.S. partner and major non-NATO ally with a history of security cooperation and arms transfers. Morocco hosts the annual African Lion combined exercise, which in 2016 involved troops from the U.S., Morocco, Germany, Senegal, Mauritania, Italy, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Tunisia. Morocco has also cooperated with the U.S. Air Force in periodically staging Exercise Majestic Eagle…[FULL STORY]

 

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