US AFRICOM TV
Metadata
- US AFRICOM TV
- January 21, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: US AFRICOM TV HEADLINE: VOA Exclusive: US AFRICOM Commander tells VOA Mercenaries in Mali Among Growing Threats in Africa TEASER: From Russian Mercenaries to al-Qaida, Chinese expansion to malign Iranian activities, Gen. Stephen Townsend breaks down US concerns on the African continent PUBLISHED AT: Thursday, 01/20/2022 at 23:02 EST BYLINE: Carla Babb CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Pentagon VIDEOGRAPHER: VIDEO EDITOR: Barry Unger SCRIPT EDITORS: AP, MAS, djones VIDEO SOURCES: VOA, Skype, DOD, AP, AFP, Reuters PLATFORMS: WEB _x_ TV _x_ RADIO __ TRT: 5:25 VID APPROVED BY: pcd TYPE: TVPKG EDITOR NOTES: there is a web q&a to accompany this tv piece)) ((ANCHOR INTRO)) [[The head of the U.S. Africa Command says security threats are growing across the continent. In his first on-camera interview since taking command two years ago, Gen. Stephen Townsend spoke with VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb about his increasing concerns, including the spread of violent extremist groups, the role of Russian mercenaries, military inroads by China and threats from Iran.]] ((NARRATOR)) The U.S. military has now confirmed reports that Russian mercenaries known as the Wagner Group are in Mali. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, told VOA Thursday that Mali’s junta brought in hundreds of foreign fighters to protect their regime. ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) ((18:20-19:15)) “Wagner is in Mali. They are there we think in numbering several hundred now. They're deploying there supported by the Russian military. Russian Air Force airplanes are delivering them. The world can see this happening. So, it's a great concern to us. And the reason it concerns me, and it concerns the neighbors there is, we have watched Wagner, this mercenary outfit, work on the African continent. We've watched them in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya. They don't follow anybody's rules but their own. They will exploit the country. They will create, they will break laws. They will do a gross violation of human rights. They will kill innocents and civilians. And then when the Malian people get tired of them, they won't leave.” ((NARRATOR)) Townsend, who took over U.S. Africa Command in 2019, also told VOA the most active “global competitor” in Africa is not Russia, but China. Beijing, he says, is following billions of dollars of economic investments on the continent with creeping, steady and strategic military investments. ((map showing Djibouti, then the west coast highlighted in yellow then Gulf of Guinea )) In 2017, China’s military opened a base in Djibouti just a few kilometers away from Camp Lemonnier, the United States’ only military base in Africa. The general said Beijing now looks to Africa’s western coast, intent on building a military air base or naval facility in Equatorial Guinea. ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) “They're putting chips down in all of these countries on the Atlantic coast. They know that they won't get a ‘yes’ in many cases from many of those countries, but by asking and trying to get a base in all these countries, one or two of them may say ‘yes,’ and we think that the place that they've got traction right now is Equatorial Guinea. // We're not asking them to choose between China and us. What we're asking them to do is consider their other international partners and their concerns because a Chinese military base in Equatorial Guinea is of great concern to the US and all of their other partners.” ((NARRATOR)) ((Chinese base footage, then Iran regime footage)) In addition to Chinese military expansion, Townsend said he’s monitoring a less obvious threat to U.S. interests on the continent — the one from Iran. ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) “We are starting to see them express increasing interest in Africa, starting to make some inroads there. I think their inroads are going to be very malign in nature. It’s very nascent. But it's happening now and we're watching.” ((VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb)) “Can you get into a couple of examples of that?” ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) “I'll just say that they are intelligence related, and the arm of the Iranian security apparatus that engages in malign activity in the Middle East is the same arm that's now engaged on the African continent.” ((NARRATOR)) ((Qassam Soleimani strike footage, then shots of US embassies in Africa)) A U.S. official confirmed to VOA that after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s elite Quds Force leader Qassim Soleimani, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps plotted assassination attempts on American diplomats in Africa and is still looking for revenge targets there. Iran has dismissed the accusations as baseless. ((Djibouti footage)) ((COURTESY: U.S. Department of Defense)) Due to concerns over increased threats, officials say in the past year, the U.S. military has brought in new and improved defense systems and anti-drone weapons to Camp Lemonnier. ((Sec Def Austin and Milley at the podium in Pentagon briefing room)) The Pentagon has just completed a global posture review of U.S. forces and military resources around the world, a review that Townsend says “ratified” AFRICOM’s current posture. ((VOA original footage from my time in BF or Gabon)) The command did, however, lose some funding for military exercises with African partners, and for the last year Townsend says he has shuttled troops in and out of Somalia. Donald Trump ordered most of the 800 U.S. troops out of the war-torn country in 2020 in one of his last foreign policy moves as American president. ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) They (U.S. troops) are in bases in the region, and we commute to work. And so, who's in Somalia? Every day is less than 100.” ((Carla Babb, VOA News)) How is that affecting the mission? ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) “We are working hard to get our tasks done. I think that there's more effective and efficient ways to do that. We provide those recommendations to the secretary of defense and we're waiting for decisions there.” ((NARRATOR)) ((Pentagon broll, then Al-Shabab)) But as Townsend awaits decisions from the Pentagon, political infighting continues in Mogadishu, where al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab is adding to its ranks. ((Gen. Stephen Townsend, Head of US Africa Command)) “The threat of al-Shabab is growing. And if pressure, if increased pressure, is not applied to al-Shabab, I'm concerned there's going to be a significant al-Shabab attack. ((cover with file footage from attack last week in Mogadishu)) We've just seen suicide bombs going off in Mogadishu over the last two weeks //((back to Townsend)) so I think they're expanding and they're a growing threat.” ((NARRATOR)) (attack footage)) The January 12 attack on the Somali capital killed at least eight people. ((CARLA BABB, VOA NEWS))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date January 21, 2022 04:21 EST
- Byline Carla Babb
- Brand / Language Service US Agency for Global Media, Voice of America