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The United States will continue to support civilian-led armies in Africa, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in Luanda, while on a visit to Angola. He blamed militaries who came into power in the continent through coups and said that they were subverting the will of the people and the rule of law. He was speaking on the subject of U.S. security partnerships in Africa, delivered in the Angolan capital.
The United States will continue to support civilian-led armies in Africa, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in Luanda, while on a visit to Angola. He blamed militaries who came into power in the continent through coups and said that they were subverting the will of the people and the rule of law. He was speaking on the subject of U.S. security partnerships in Africa, delivered in the Angolan capital. Security and democratic governance would go together, Austin stressed and added that Africa needed armies that served its citizens, not the other way around. He was the first American Secretary of Defense to visit Angola. It is the last port of call of his present visit having visited Djibouti and Kenya. Earlier during his visit, Austin mentioned about the US evaluating various options concerning the future of its military presence in Niger, as reported by www.trendsnafrica.com. The United States has some 1,100 troops stationed in Niger, engaged against jihadist groups active in the region. The military is in power through coups in six countries in the continent viz. Niger, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan and Guinea. A few countries under military rule are reported to be turning toward Russia.
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Oil-rich Angola has long enjoyed close ties with China and Russia. But since 2017, current president Joao Lourenco has been forging closer ties with Washington. The US will partly finance the renovation of a railway line linking the Congolese mining regions to the Angolan port of Lobito, on the Atlantic Ocean.
