By Michael E. O'Hanlon
Brookings - January 23, 2014
The United States should, with a focused effort and in partnership
with other states, make a significant push to improve security in
Africa. No massive deployments of U.S. troops would be needed, and in
fact no role for American main combat units is required. But we should
step up our game from the current very modest training efforts
coordinated through Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The
continent is too big for a comprehensive approach or one-size-fits-all
initiative. However, the United States could make a major difference by
deploying several thousand Americans to the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) and several hundred trainers to Libya. In the case of the DRC, by
supplementing the U.N. mission that has achieved some recent
battlefield successes against rebel forces, Americans could help train
and mentor a DRC army so that it can gradually replace the U.N. while
establishing control over much of the country’s interior (especially in
the east). The Congolese war has probably been Africa’s most lethal over
the last 15 years; success here could be game-changing.
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