Monrovia — The heads of African air forces have known as for the “strengthening army aviation throughout borders” throughout their annual symposium which is being within the Zambian capital of Lusaka. This 12 months’s gathering takes place towards the backdrop of escalating conflicts within the area, together with DR Congo and Sudan, which killed hundreds of individuals and displaced tens of millions.
Nevertheless, U.S. Basic James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe – U.S Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA), stated throughout a web based briefing on Wednesday, February 19, that the symposium was centered on humanitarian help and catastrophe aid, not army motion. “We aren’t moving into the political realm throughout this dialog,” Hecker advised journalists.
Hecker stated the African air chiefs’ affiliation has grown in numbers since its formation in 2015 from 4 to 29 nations, thus creating the necessity to “operationalize the whole lot we’re doing”. This was a reference to the army drills of the collaborating international locations within the host nation Zambia, and responding to floods.
“… It was a really fruitful table-top train as a result of as an alternative of simply having one nation – on this case, Zambia – coping with the flood, we had 29 completely different nations providing completely different plane, providing help,” he stated, emphasizing that though the annual gathering is being held in partnership with USAFE-AFAFRICA with member states of the increasing Affiliation of African Air Forces (AAAF), it’s an “African-led affair” to which the U.S. offered assist.
At Wednesday’s briefing, the Commander of the Air Forces of Zambia, Lieutenant Basic Oscar Nyoni, stated he hoped that within the subsequent few months, plans from the symposium may be totally “actualized”, enabling the air forces “to observe and see how the usual operation procedures which have been put in place, which each member-state understands, are in motion”.
Nyoni stated the gathering centered on humanitarian and catastrophe aid operations as a result of these are a number of the “worst enemies” of nations within the area. “By assuaging the struggling of the folks, we will likely be selling human dignity and in addition to unity within the continent.”
Air forces on the continent face important challenges with infrastructure and gear which hamper mobility and their response to regional humanitarian crises and disasters. Zambia, as an illustration, is grappling with a number of disasters, together with El Nino inflicting the worst drought the nation has skilled in 40 years, and destroyed maize crops, and restricted entry to scrub water.
In response to a query about how the U.S. intends to make use of the symposium to leverage its battle towards terrorism on the continent – significantly air strikes towards Islamic State (IS) in Somalia – Hecker stated these actions will proceed as a result of they’re “high-value targets that threatened African nations and threatened the US”.
He additionally stated the U.S. is offering coaching alternatives for the Nigerian army, to assist in their battle towards terrorist teams reminiscent of Boko Haram.
In the identical week, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria denied media reviews that USAID funding have been diverted to the the terrorist group.
“Let me be clear, there is not any good friend of Nigeria that has been stronger in its condemnation of the violence of Boko Haram and Boko Haram’s contempt for human life than the U.S,” Ambassador Richard Mills, stated.
Mills stated the U.S. designated Boko Haram as a international terrorist group in 2013, blocking the group from transferring property to the US and permitting us to arrest and seize its members.
