Botswana to host major US military conference

The US has been pushed out of Chad and Niger, but this week it will host senior military commanders from at least 40 African countries in Botswana. That is barely down from the 43 it hosted in Italy last year, at the African Chiefs of Defence Conference it has run since 2017. News24 reports that the Gaborone meeting will be the first one on African soil. It will be held under the auspices of the US-Africa Command (Africom), with the mission to encourage new and greater collaboration on security and stability. It is only one part of ongoing US efforts on the continent, which in April and May included military exercises held jointly with Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, with more than 8 000 participants from 27 African countries and Nato members. Kenya will attend the summit as the only Sub-Saharan African country that was designated as a major non-Nato ally in May. Since 2014, Russia has signed military co-operation agreements with at least 19 African countries. Some of them, such as Angola, also have ties with Africom. Last year, Angola hosted an Africom Military Intelligence and Security Service summit. Botswana's neighbour Zimbabwe is not expected at the meeting.