U.S. stepping up anti-terrorism efforts in Africa

Stars and Stripes reporter Lisa Burgess and editor Pat Dickson sat down recently with Army Col. Vic Nelson, the Department of Defense’s country director for West Africa, to talk about the Pan Sahel Initiative. Public Affairs Officer Air Force Maj. Michael Shavers sat in. Click here to read the complete transcript of the interview. See bottom of this story for map of the area involved.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military is stepping up efforts to assist African nations in rooting out terrorist groups that are trying to establish footholds in the vast and often poorly guarded deserts of northern and sub-Saharan Africa, the U.S. commander who oversees that region said Friday.

Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, the commander of U.S. European Command, which covers most of Africa, said U.S. forces two weeks ago provided intelligence information that helped soldiers from Chad and Niger ambush and kill members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian militant group that U.S. officials say has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.

"The U.S. contribution was mainly information," said Jones, during a breakfast with reporters. There were "no trainers, no advisers, nobody in U.S. uniform participating in the battle that subsequently developed."

Jones cited the operation as an example of the cooperation that U.S. forces are trying to foster among African countries in pursuing terrorists in areas where central governments have little or no control.

While public attention remains focused on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. forces are also engaged in aggressive efforts to track down terrorists elsewhere around the globe. U.S. officials say Islamic terrorists have looked to Africa for places to recruit, organize and train.

According to news reports from the region, 43 members of the Salafist group and three soldiers from Chad were killed in the fighting.

"It resulted in a very, very significant defeat for this organization," said Jones, who's also NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe.

Jones said that shortly after he took command of NATO in January 2002, a six-month analysis of U.S. force structure within European Command concluded that the United States likely would face a number of security challenges in Africa over the next 10 to 15 years and that a more robust engagement was needed.

Late last year, soldiers from the 10th Special Forces Group began training military forces in Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger under the Pan-Sahel Initiative, a $7 million State Department program designed to help the security forces of those impoverished nations defend against terrorists.

That effort follows the establishment of Task Force Horn of Africa, where more than 1,200 Marines and special-operations soldiers are heading up anti-terror training and operations in eastern Africa from a base in Djibouti.

No U.S. forces have been committed to combat in Africa, Jones said. Involvement has consisted primarily of training and advisory teams.

Jones described U.S. anti-terror efforts in the region as primarily one of coordination among various countries "that haven't been able to work well together" in the past. Last week, he said, European Command hosted a high-level meeting of ministers of defense from eight Pan-Sahel countries to talk about common problems and objectives.

The Sahel is a region about the size of the United States straddling the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.