US Wants To Reduce Military Presence In Africa – Top Officer – TheNigerialawyer

The United States wants to reduce its military presence in
Africa, Washington’s top military officer said, as France hosts
Sahel leaders as it seeks to bolster the fight against jihadists in
the region.

Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley,
said resources “could be reduced and then shifted, either to
increase readiness of the force in the continental US or shifted
to” the Pacific.

His comments came as he flew in for talks with NATO counterparts
in Brussels.

The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s call last week
for NATO to do more in the Middle East and comes as French
President Emmanuel Macron gathers his counterparts from Burkina
Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania.

Milley said his boss, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, had not made
up his mind what changes to make.

“We’re developing options for the secretary to consider, and we
are developing those options in coordination with our allies and
partners,” Milley said.

After 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter collision
in Mali last month, Macron wants the Sahel leaders to publicly
restate their support for France’s 4,500-strong military presence,
after local demonstrations against it.

The United States wants to reduce the number of its troops
deployed across Africa over the next few years to focus more on
responding to the threats posed by Russia and China.

Washington has some 7,000 special forces on rotation in Africa
carrying out joint operations with national forces against
jihadists, particularly in Somalia.

Another 2,000 soldiers are conducting training missions in some
40 African countries and taking part in cooperative operations, in
particular with France’s Operation Barkhane in Mali, to which they
provide mainly logistical assistance.

French concerns
One option would be to close a drone base in Agadez, northern
Niger, which gives the US a major surveillance platform in the
Sahel but has been estimated to cost around $100 million.

Milley said no decisions had been made yet and insisted
Washington was not pulling out of Africa completely. “Economy of
forces does not mean zero,” he said.

French officials are nevertheless alarmed, with a presidency
source saying the US made “irreplaceable” contributions to Sahel
operations — particularly in surveillance and air-to-air
refuelling.

“We would not be able to get these from other partners,
especially when it comes to intelligence,” the presidency official
said. Paris would be sharing its concerns with the US “at all
levels”, the source added.

NATO military chiefs will use this week’s meeting to debate the
future of the alliance’s training mission in Iraq, suspended over
security fears after the US killed top Iranian general Qasem
Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad.

The Iraqi parliament voted on January 5 to oust foreign forces,
including some 5,200 American troops, who have helped local troops
beat back the Islamic State group, angering Trump and throwing
international operations there in doubt.

“I can’t guarantee anything about the future and I don’t make
the policy decisions,” Milley said.

“I can just say what our current policy is and what our current
plans are. And my current guidance from the secretary of defense
and the president is that we will stay in Iraq.”

AFP

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Buhari’s Adviser Demands N500 Million From Young
Journalists over Report on Hemp-Smoking

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Finance and
Economy, Ms. Sarah Alade, has demanded the sum of N500 million from
two young journalists, Messrs Alfred Olufemi (21years) and Gidado
Yushau (23 years), over an investigative report on hemp smoking
published in NewsDigest, Abuja-based online newspaper, on May 19,
2018.

The investigative report titled: “Inside Kwara factory where
Indian hemp smoking is ‘legalized,” was authored by Alfred, an
award-winning Campus Journalist during his days as a student
reporter at Obafemi Awolowo University and published by Gidado, the
Editor of the NewsDigest.

According to the report, Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industry, one of
the groups of companies owned by the former Deputy Governor of the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ms Alade, tolerated the smoking of
cigarettes, as well as Indian hemp by workers within its
vicinity.

The report also stated that the industry refused to respond to
Mr Olufemi’s inquiry on the disturbing situation after he had put
several calls and text messages to the industry’s hotlines.

Before now, the two defendants were arraigned before a
Magistrate Court in Ilorin Metropolis for Criminal conspiracy and
defamation against Sections 97 and 192 of the penal code. The duo
pleaded not guilty.

Following the bail application made by defence counsel, Mr.
Usman Belgore, the Chief Magistrate of the Court, Magistrate A.O
Muhammed released the defendants on grounds of recognition and that
they are innocent until proven otherwise.

The conditions of bail include two sureties each who are
relatives of the defendants with a bail bond of N200,000.

The case was adjourned for hearing on January 13, 2020. However,
when the matter was called on Monday, the prosecutor could not
provide his witness and as such, the Magistrate further adjourned
to January 28.

Fresh case:

In addition, after the adjournment on Monday, the two
Journalists were served with writ of summons by the legal
practitioner of Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industries Limited.

In the summon obtained by PRNigeria^[1], the company demanded
the sum of N500 million from the duo.

They also sought an order compelling the defendants to retract
and delete the links of the report from their platform and ensure
the deletion of same from all platforms on the internet that have
copied it.

Besides, Hillcrest is asking for an apology on their online news
platform and two national dailies.

By PRNigeria^[2]

Previous Story:
Police Arraign Young Editor, Campus Journalist over
Report on Presidential Adviser’s Factory
Read: https://prnigeria.com/2019/11/13/police-editor-campus-journalist/^[3]