U.S. Africa Command (Africom) will sponsor the first-ever conference for all Chiefs of Defence on the African continent, to further put pressure on extremist organisations.
Africom Commander, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, said the conference would hold from April 18 to 20 in Stuttgart, Germany, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Waldhauser said more than 50 defence chiefs had been invited to discuss, among other things, global violent extremist organisations and country responses to them.
“We’re very interested in listening to our African partners, including their concerns and what they had like to see more or less of from Africom.
“And to give them an opportunity to come together and share their thoughts and ideas,” he said.
Waldhauser said that if the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is seen as “core ISIS,” then a good way to characterize ISIS on the African continent is “global ISIS.
“You have groups that affiliate or want to affiliate with ISIS and you have groups that have been provided funding and training from ISIS,” he said.
The General said Africom’s job is to make sure that those organisations, whether they’re affiliated with ISIS, al-Qaida or terrorist or insurgent groups, ‘stay internal to those countries or internal to those regions’.
“`And that they don’t grow beyond them’, moving into Europe or moving into the U.S. homeland.
“One of the things we try to do right now by, with and through our partners, is to make sure that our pressure on the violent extremist organisation networks keeps those problems tamped down” Waldhauser said. (NAN)