Press Briefing with AFRICOM Leaders on advancing Africa and the United States Security Cooperation

Digital Press Briefing with U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) Leaders on advancing U.S.-Africa Security Cooperation and the Angola and Namibia Visit, featuring Lieutenant General John W. Brennan, the Deputy Commander, U.S. Africa Command and Ambassador Robert Scott, Deputy Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, U.S. Africa Command

MODERATOR: 

Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub. 

I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining us.  Today, we are very pleased to be joined by U.S. Africa Command’s Deputy Commander, Lt. Gen. John W. Brennan, and the Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, Ambassador Robert Scott.

During the briefing, Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott will discuss the importance of their engagements in Angola and Namibia, underscoring U.S. Africa Command’s continued commitment to strengthening partnerships in Africa to promote stability and collective defense through cost-effective, African-led solutions that minimize direct U.S. military involvement.

We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from Lt. General Brennan and Ambassador Scott, then we will turn to your questions.  We will try to get to as many of them as we can during the briefing.

With that, I would like to turn it over to Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott for their opening remarks.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Hello, everyone. Thank you.  I really appreciate the opportunity.  Thanks for the inquisitive nature of your questions.  I look forward to answering them. 

We had a great visit – first to Namibia and then to Angola.  It’s a long time in the making.  We’ve tried to get down there several times, but events overcame us a couple of times with travel. 

But it was a well-timed visit, particularly with Angola’s JCET (Joint Combined Exchange Training) that was going on, the joint combined exercise training that I actually approved at the J3 at United States Special Operations Command, and to see it come to fruition was really valuable for us as well as really engaging at the senior level of both governments, which has – is something that has not happened yet with this administration.

So I think we opened some doors and we made some great connections that will, I think, bear fruit in the future on the security front as well as the economic investment front.  And I’ll turn it over to Ambassador Scott.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

Yeah, hi.  Thanks.  Again, thanks for joining this call.  I would just add to what Lt. Gen. Brennan said.  What struck me in the visit was how tightly interlocked the kind of security is with prosperity, with economic development. 

And we saw this especially with the maritime and the trade issues.  When we were in Namibia, heard a lot about Walvis Bay and their undertaking to turn that into what they’re hoping to be a regional hub for transhipment of goods; and of course when we were in Angola, the Lobito Corridor, where the United States is taking the lead in helping the region develop the transformational corridor for trade.

So it’s interesting for me to see how all these things are tied together, especially with the maritime domain – an area that we’re working closely with maritime domain awareness and things like that.  So it was, again, just to echo what Lt. Gen. Brennan said, it was a very good visit, very good meetings throughout.  Thank you.

MODERATOR: 

Thank you, Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott.  We will now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing.

With that, I would like to go to our first question, which is from Mr. Melchizedek Boshirwa from Andika magazine in Burundi. 

And he asks:  “AFRICOM highlights its support for ‘cost-effective, African-led solutions’ to security.  Can you provide concrete examples from your recent engagements in Angola and Namibia where local military or civil institutions are being empowered with real decision-making authority, beyond training or equipment support?”  And that’s directed to both Lt. Gen. Brennan and Ambassador Scott.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

All right, I’ll take a stab at it. So I think, first and foremost, it’s important to note that we always seek African solutions to African problems. 

That said, all of our training and exercises are African-led, partner-led, and ally-enabled.  So much different than some of the other institutions in Europe that operate down there – obviously, the Russians operate assets and do other malign activity, as does China. 

And then when they train with African partners, it’s more of they are training aides and they are not leading the actual training efforts.

So a marked difference between how we do business on the continent. 

I think that the cost-effective nature of what we do, particularly things like the JCETs, very small footprint, light footprint but have strategic outcomes because of the relationships that are formed during the JCETs as well as the larger exercises where we can convene, like, 30 to 50 different countries in one place for an exercise, which we typically do several times a year and we’re trying to expand the base of that exercise to include Namibia and Angola – things like African Lion, Obangame Express. 

They participated with some observers.  Now we want full participation from the other countries that operate there.

So with that, I’ll turn it over to Ambassador Scott.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

Yeah, just to add – first, thanks for the question – I think the Lobito Corridor also gives a sense of that.  What we’re seeing is security leveraging economic development and vice versa. 

We were briefed on a couple of things when we were in Angola specifically. 

You’ve obviously got the rehabilitation of the rail line itself that leads all the way up into the eastern DR Congo through Angola.  We heard that the average number of days to bring a good, whether it’s an agricultural product or copper, from the border of DRC to Lobito has been cut from 28 days to seven days.

And so that’s an enormously important change, and I can provide additional details maybe a little bit further on, but I think that that’s important because then, as those goods come in and out of that port in Lobito, that’s where we’re working with the Angolan Government, and things like Obangame Express, so that they feel comfortable that they’ve got a secure – they know what’s going on off their coastline, they’re able to secure their coastline. 

And we’re working with them on maritime domain awareness, things like SeaVision, which we provide licenses for – it’s a technology that allows their navy and coast guard to know exactly what ships are off their coastline, who they are, what they’re doing.

So I think that that was very interesting and positive things to be doing in the trip as well.  Thank you.

MODERATOR: 

Thank you for that.  On to our next question from Ms. Pearl Matibe, from South Africa, and she asks:  “In highlighting the importance of engaging Angola and Namibia, how do you define what it means to work ‘alongside’ these governments in a way that reinforces mutual security goals without risking the perception of a patron-client dynamic?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Yes, so in the security sector, we obviously assess the security needs of our partners, and we’ve done that in both Namibia and Angola.

And then we provide options for them to purchase equipment, receive training, et cetera, based on those assessments.  And so every – like I said before, every exercise that we execute is African-led, partner-led, and ally-enabled.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

And I can just add something.  What was interesting for me as well in the last couple of years with Obangame Express is – let’s take this year’s Obangame Express.  It was organized around the Yaoundé Code of Conduct. 

So that is the regional construct developed by the African members, the member-states, basically all the way from Mauritania down to Namibia, to organize themselves for maritime security.

And they have regions A, B, C, D, et cetera, and they’ve got two regional centers that they – that they have organized, one in Pointe-Noire, which I had a chance to visit, and I think the other one in Senegal.

But the idea behind Obangame Express was to support their structures.  So the entire exercise was built around them doing exercises with us in support of and using the rules of engagement of their code of conduct. 

There was also a interesting tabletop exercise on legal finish on IUUF – again, a big focus point for all of our partners in Africa:  How can they get on top of blocking those countries, those fleets, which are taking all their fish out of the ocean. 

And there were 75 people in Praia from all the participating countries – I think there were 19 – and they basically came together to talk about the entire range: knowing who’s out in your ocean, being able to intercept them, and then having the legal ability to actually prosecute them on land. 

So their moot court activities were – there are things which take place, a hypothetical case with a supreme court justice from a country running through it.  All of those things organized in order to support the initiative and the structure developed by the African members – countries themselves.

MODERATOR:

 Thank you for that.  Now, this next question is directed to you directly, Ambassador Scott, and it’s from Lwazi Manqele from the North Coast Radio in South Africa, and she asks:  “Please list any socioeconomic development programs that the U.S. military is involved in in the SADC region to ensure that peacekeeping has broad-based value-added benefit for the region long after the U.S. military operations have left.”

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

Well, I think this is a joint answer between myself and Lt. Gen. Brennan.  But I would – let me take the first stab at it.  I think all the training that is done has a knock-on effect that the troops that are trained with us are able to engage in security operations into the future.

I think Gen. Brennan’s got a very nice way of describing that, and if you let me have him take this question just for a second.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Yes. So we – we’re pleased to announce that the Angolans were approved for the State Partnership Program, which is a hugely valuable institution for any African country. 

We highlighted the benefits of it. 

It’s more than just military-to-military relationships with our Air and Army National Guard Forces, but it also brings all the great things that that state has in their (inaudible) as well as their institutions of higher learning, their industries, et cetera. 

And you’re seeing that play out with North Carolina and their partnership with Zambia, Malawi, and Botswana.  So I know the state has actually been determined, but it has not been announced yet, which it will be soon.  So we’re very excited about that.

You’ve also got, as the ambassador highlighted – rightfully so – security begets investment. 

It lowers the risk to American companies who want to invest in Africa.  And then we’ve seen the Office of Strategic Capital, part of DOD, though AID’s budget is no more, they have doubled their budget for investment in companies, African companies on the continent as well as U.S. companies investing in African institutions.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

This is Ambassador Scott again, just real quickly.  I think when you take a look at the tools, when you talk about socioeconomic development, I think it’s all – it’s kind of part of an interlocked package. 

So as Lieutenant General Brennan said, it’s the training that begets the security which allows the countries to project themselves as a safe place for investment to take place.  We’ve also seen the Development Finance Corporation, another entity within the U.S. Government, which has doubled its available capital in the last number of years and is very actively involved.

We were struck also – to give you an example, there’s a $1 billion project in Angola.  It’s Sun Africa.  It’s financed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States.  So that project provides for power, which can help provide the industries which would take advantage of Lobito Corridor to bring products in and out of the country and the region.

Two other things were tied into this as well, one is a U.S. company, Acrow Bridge; it has a contract and is building 185 bridges which run north as well as east-west, which allows the Angolan producers of primarily agricultural products but others as well to connect with each other, and then there’s a big project for grain silos.  As we all know food waste or grain waste is a huge problem.  So you get the crop in but you have insects or fungus, and the grain silos will help protect that.

So it’s all part of a big ecosystem of investment, but as the general said, the investment is enabled by a sense of security, which again AFRICOM is helping our partners provide.  Thank you.

MODERATOR: 

Thank you, Ambassador Scott.  The next question is from Dean Wingrin from DefenseWeb in South Africa, and he asks:  “How important is Southern Africa to AFRICOM and, by implication, the U.S.?  Do you see foresee further military-to-military exercises within SADC countries, or will the focus change to more high-level discussions?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Yeah, so all of the above we wish to increase. So the participation of SADC countries in exercises – we already host lots of high-level discussions.  We have the African – the CHOD, the Chiefs Of Defense Conference annually, which was in Botswana last year. 

We’re looking to expand those types of venues.  Yeah, in 2024 it was in Botswana and Nairobi in 2025, but we also have maritime naval leaders’ conferences, the air commodores conferences that are throughout the continent.

 We deliberately host those events, ask our African partners to host those events in their countries to increase participation. 

It also drives down costs for us and them, and we wish to expand that along with our exercise programs. 

So the more African countries participating the better.  We’ve also expanded our allies’ participation.  We now usually have partners and allies from across all the continents, less Antarctica, that participate in the exercises.

So as an example, Cutlass Express was our naval exercise in East Africa; Tanzania hosted a portion of it, and we had participation from India, from Sri Lanka, we had participation from Korea and Japanese naval leaders as well as Brazil. 

So great venues that we are looking to expand.

MODERATOR: 

Great.  We have a question now from Lucia Blanco from EFE Spanish News Agency in Kenya.  And they ask:  “In the context of Western countries being forced to remove their military presence in Africa, why is it important for the U.S. to now focus on solutions for the continent that avoid direct military interventions?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Well, in a way I think Lucia answered their own question there.

I think it’s obviously – it’s more difficult to conduct things like counterterrorism operations if you’re not present on the ground, which is why we’re focusing on building our partners’ capacities so that they can respond to terrorist activities, and then enabling more partners to conduct multilateral operations that we support from afar with our partners, maybe not on the ground but with things like training and equipping.

MODERATOR: 

Thank you.  Then we go to the next question from Nick Turse from The Intercept in the UK, and their question is:  “Was there any mention, discussion – or discussion of the deportation of so-called third-country nationals with officials from either country?”  So I’m presuming either Angola or Namibia.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

No, this topic wasn’t brought up at all. I would ask that you contact the Department of Homeland Security on this issue.  It’s not a DOD issue.

MODERATOR: 

Thank you.  And the next question is from Mr. Julian Pequet, The Africa Report in the USA.  And his question is:  “What is the main focus of your engagement in Angola and Namibia, two countries where jihadist groups don’t currently seem to present much of a threat?”  And there’s another question, but I’ll give you an opportunity to answer that one first.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Sure. Security is security.  It’s really preventative.  There are jihadist groups that operate all along the periphery of both Angola and Namibia.

 ISIS has franchises in Mozambique, South Africa, as well as an emerging Mexican drug cartel issue that we think is going to – is getting worse over time, emanating from South Africa and from coastal West Africa. 

We want to keep Namibia and Angola free of those threats as well as to prepare them for any future threats in – through the training and exercise program as well as the equipping.

MODERATOR: 

Okay, great.  And the second question from The Africa Report is:  “What is your regional strategy in Southern Africa?  Is the U.S. expanding its military and defense cooperation across Southern Africa more broadly?”

LT. GEN. BRENNAN:

 In short, yes. We started the burgeoning relationship with SADC many years ago. 

Botswana is kind of the hub of that security, and we want to expand security partners who also provide troops to things like ATMIS and now AUSSOM in Somalia for the overall counter-VEO mission, as well as stopping illicit drug trafficking as well as human trafficking, which is a problem for Africa as a whole. 

We’ve seen partners in Mozambique.  We just gave them some boats, and they used them to interdict drug shipments off their coast.

 Recently, 8 – I think it was USD 8 million worth of cocaine.  So that problem, again, with the drug cartels exporting – creating drugs on the continent and then exporting them to Europe and the U.S., as well as Australia and for internal consumption in Africa, is a growing problem.

AMBASSADOR SCOTT:

 I would just add – the general mentioned earlier the State Partnership Program.  So we’re seeing – we were just in Angola.  They’re signing – have signed an agreement with a U.S. state to engage.  It’s a broad set of engagements with governors’ offices, with universities, et cetera. 

I was our ambassador to Malawi a number of years ago.  General Brennan was just down there and helped with the signature process.  Yeah, for Angola, it’s Ohio is the state partnership.

I think we’re seeing this proliferation of engagement. 

So it’s through AFRICOM, but we’re also seeing it broadly in the United States with private companies. 

And we were in both countries, heard a lot about private companies coming in.  The Corporate Council on Africa, the premier U.S. business association focused on Africa, had its annual Africa-wide meeting in Angola, in the hotel we stayed in just a month before we were there. 

So you’re seeing this kind of synergy between private sector, what’s – between United States agencies, the Development Finance Corporation, Office of Strategic Capital – all these things are coming together.  And I think you’re seeing a lot of it play out in Southern Africa as well at this point.  Thank you.

MODERATOR: 

Thank you.  We have a question from Martin Plaut, the New Statesman in the UK, and he asks:  “How is AFRICOM countering the social media attacks by President Putin’s Africa Corps?”

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

And then this will be the last question that the general will take, and then we’ve got to close out for the day.

MODERATOR: 

Yes, thank you so much.  Sure.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

All right. Yes.  In short, at AFRICOM we like to have our actions speak for themselves. 

We also do our best to refute false information that Russia – both Russia and China put out about what we are, what we do on the continent. 

There’s – they spend billions of dollars and they, frankly, use social media and other tools – bots, trolls – to proliferate their narrative, their false narratives. 

And so we also have a network of allies and partners that help us refute the false information by using the truth, so that’s kind of our primary effort.  But we don’t spend nearly the amount of money that both Russia and China spend a year, which is in the billions.

MODERATOR: 

Great.  Thank you for that, Lt. Gen. Brennan.  Are there any last words or final words that you’d like to share with us, Ambassador Scott or Lt. Gen. Brennan?

AMBASSADOR SCOTT: 

Yeah, I know the general has to run to a meeting, but I just wanted to address the last question which you had listed, if that’s okay, about Somalia.  So you had a question, informally:  Given our engagements in Angola and Namibia, are we expanding or do we have similar defence cooperation and capacity building in Somalia?

The answer is yes.  We’re very active in Somalia.  We’re – we have trained Special Forces, a set of units of Danab.  We’re providing ongoing assistance to them in daily fashion.  As you know, we’re helping them actively counter both al-Shabaab and ISIS up in the north.  So there’s a wide range of engagements which we’re undertaking.

I think the general’s still got one minute.  Thanks.

LT. GEN. BRENNAN: 

Again, it’s our – by far the biggest effort, it’s our main effort at AFRICOM, is to counter ISIS and al-Qaida affiliates, external operations threats to our homeland. And we’re doing it the most fervently in East Africa. 

That’s where most of our people are.  And we think it’s the biggest investment that we have.  And it’s – as the ambassador said, some of those Special Forces like the Danab, are now being paid for by the Somali Government. 

And we anticipate more and more handing over responsibilities to the federal government of Somalia for their own security, but with our assistance. 

And I think one of the most meaningful decisions the administration has made was allowing us delegated, targeted engagement authority so that we can provide more proactive fire support to our partners on the ground.

MODERATOR: 

Great.  Thank you – thank you for that.