Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative

Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative . . .

June 2005

"The 'Trans-Saharan Counter-terrorism Initiative' will be officially kicked off in June [2005] in Senegal with manoeuvres called 'Exercise Flintlock 2005.' It builds on the PanSahel initiative, which began in 2003, to prevent terrorists from setting up safe havens in Africa.

"The new program would be better funded, an annual US$ 100 million over 5 years, and have a wider scope, adding Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal and Nigeria to the original four countries included in the Pan Sahel Initiative, ... "

A number of U.S. agencies would be involved in the effort:

• Department of Defense "would continue to focus on military operations"
• U.S. Agency for International Development "for example, would address educational initiatives"
• Department of State, airport security
• Department of the Treasury, "efforts to tighten up money-handling controls in the region"

Source: Arabic News, May 28, 2005.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa
• Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa Headlines and Timeline
• globalization
• Iraq has replaced Afghanistan as the prime training ground for foreign terrorists
• Pax Americana, Africa
• war on terrorism

External links

• News Release: "Eliminating Terrorist Sanctuaries. Royce Schedules Hearing on Role of U.S. Security Assistance, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations, March 9/10, 2005.
• "New US counter-terrorism initiative in Africa," keralanext.com, May 17, 2005; also "Morocco part of new US counter-terrorism initiative in Africa," Arabic News, May 28, 2005.
• Jason Motlagh, "Terrorists in Iraq seen from Africa," UPI, June 25, 2005: "The disclosure of an Iraq-Africa connection coincided with Operation Flintlock, the first phase of the U.S. military's expanded Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI), headed by EUCOM. ... U.S. Special Forces are engaged in a two-week military exercise, which ends tomorrow, to train 3,000 African troops from nine countries: Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria and Tunisia."
• " Terror operatives forego camps, but training continues," AFP, July 3, 2005: "Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland [said]. ... 'I don't think you can find full-fledged training camps in Pakistan or even Afghanistan on the same level as we had before, .... From 2007, the United States aims to pour 100 million dollars annually for five years into a new Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative in a bid to boost the capacity of the region's armed forces."