The information had been persistent in recent months. The American army will indeed reduce its presence on African soil. In fact, Donald Trump “ordered” the withdrawal of the “majority” of American troops from Somalia “by the beginning of 2021”, that is to say just before his own departure from power, after having already accelerated the disengagement from Afghanistan and Iraq to keep its pledge to “end endless wars”.
The announcement comes as Somalia prepares for delicate legislative elections next month and presidential elections in early February 2021.
A withdrawal that comes at a delicate time
The outgoing President of the United States has decided to “reposition outside Somalia by early 2021 the majority of personnel and military assets,” the Pentagon announced in a statement on Friday. “Some of the forces may be redeployed outside East Africa. However, the rest of the forces will be repositioned from Somalia to neighboring countries in order to allow cross-border operations by the United States and partner forces, to maintain pressure on violent extremist organizations, ”he added. Some 700 American special forces soldiers train and advise the Somali army in this impoverished country in the Horn of Africa ravaged by conflict in the face of jihadist Shebabs, affiliated with al-Qaeda. In Somalia, the announced redeployment “is a good decision”, which “seems to allow a shift from a vast effort aimed at fighting on behalf of the Somali government against the shebabs to a more targeted counterterrorism mission”, the circle said. reflection near the left Defense Priorities.
US military interventions in Somalia for several years “show that staying until there are no more potential terrorists on the ground would mean never leaving,” she added. The shebabs remain a significant threat, as the Inspector General of the Pentagon once again affirmed in a very recent report. The group “continues to adapt, to resist, and remains capable of attacking Western interests and their partners in Somalia and East Africa,” he noted. The American chief of staff, General Mark Milley, himself admitted on Wednesday that the shebabs remained “a threat” to be “watched”. He explained that the United States was seeking the best balance to minimize risks in human and financial terms, while carrying out effective “counter-terrorist operations”. “But none of these operations is without risk,” he warned, recalling the death in November of a CIA agent in Somalia.
At the end of November, just after this death, the American Minister of Defense by interim, Chris Miller, had gone to this country to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his troops, while the decision to withdraw was already awaited. “The United States is not withdrawing or disengaging from Africa,” the Pentagon assured. “We will continue to weaken the violent extremist organizations that could threaten our territory,” he added, pledging to “retain the capacity to conduct targeted counter-terrorist operations in Somalia”. Washington is also committed to continuing its intelligence activities there.
If Donald Trump’s decision is not a surprise, it is far from satisfying the experts, especially since the last report of the Inspector General of the Pentagon, noted that “despite several years of anti-terrorism efforts Somali, American and international, the terrorist threat in East Africa has not diminished ”.
Campaign promise
In any case, this announcement allows Donald Trump to continue to display a certain disengagement of the US Army from its main theaters of foreign operations, faithful to its commitment to “put an end to the endless wars” of America, in unison with much of opinion.
Since Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election, the Republican billionaire, although he has still not admitted defeat, has been trying to speed up the withdrawal of several countries, including Afghanistan and Iraq, before the handover of power on January 20.
He intends to leave his successor only 2,500 soldiers in each of these two countries. The future president also let it be known that he was in favor of the end of “eternal wars”, and could therefore confirm these withdrawals in order to keep only small units of special forces in charge of counter-terrorist operations.
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