From November 3, 2008 the Republic of Mali, West Africa, is home to a massive military exercise ("flintlock 2008 ) states that the onset of the operational command for U.S. military operations in Africa (Africom), took office in Stuttgart (Germany). Exercise, as well as the United States and Mali, some African countries involved in military allies in the region, is also provided for the deployment at the airport in Bamako, the C-130 transport aircraft "Hercules" and the brand new aircraft with vertical takeoff CV-22 "Osprey" in the Special Operations Command U.S. Air Force, already experienced in Iraq. The exercise will end on November 20.
flintlock is the largest military exercises that the United States under the program Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP), an initiative of the State Department and Pentagon to "conflict prevention" and "assist moderate Islamic governments and peoples of the region in combating terrorism and extremist ideology. " According to the Africom Command, "the main purpose flintlock of 2008 will be to assist partner nations to establish and develop military interoperability and strengthen regional relations, in support of future combined humanitarian, peacekeeping and intervention in case of disaster. "
Already last year, in August and September, Mali hosted the 2007 edition of "flintlock" conducted by the 3rd Special Forces Group of the U.S. Army based in Fort Bragg (North Carolina) who had participated in military Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, France, Britain, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Netherlands, Senegal and Tunisia. Flintlock 2007 had limited training quote but a freak accident "which occurred on September 13 has revealed how the U.S. armed forces are instead directly involved in the conflict which sees opposing the northern region of Mali, the national army and the Tuareg movements of so-called" Alliance for Change ' . Then a U.S. C-130 aircraft, "used to support the anti-insurgency unit of Mali" - as later admitted by the Pentagon - the forces engaged in combat against the Tuareg. " The Hercules was also hit in the cockpit, but he was able to return to Bamako. It was not an isolated event: in the days of big multinational exercises, military they launched several attacks against the Malian Tuareg rebels in the desert region on the border between Algeria and Niger. Actual military operations, therefore, justified by the fight to all-out against "Islamic terrorism", even if the change of the Tuareg Alliance is an organization that has operated in more than one occasion in agreement with the government Algiers against the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), believed by Washington and NATO partners such as the extent pro-al Qaeda more dangerous in the region.
The Mali pad U.S. war
The U.S. military axis
-Mali is one of the most established in Africa. Over the past two years, the Pentagon has transferred military technology to the country for a value of 7.727 billion dollars, while with the program "ATA Anti-Terrorism Assistance," the police of Mali has been equipped with small arms worth $ 564,000 . Since 2006, the airport of Senou, Bamako, was made available to the U.S. military as "advanced operational base for combat, surveillance and other military operations."
The first contingents of the United States arrived in Mali in 1992, after the first Gulf War: This then is the Alabama National Guard and Tennessee that was used in training the local armed forces. The watershed year was 1997 when the USA was in Mali and the first two exercises bilateral exercise multinazionele "flintlock", under the coordination of the 96th battalion of U.S. Army Fort Bragg. That same year, the U.S. Air Force for transporting 680 Malian soldiers in Liberia as part of the controversial operation of "peacekeeping" in the country torn by civil strife.
In 2000, thanks to a contract signed by the Pentagon with a U.S. private contractor, were delivered the first military aid to Mali's armed forces (weapons and electronic components for aircraft DC3). The following year, Mali hosted the annual edition of flintlock, attended once again the U.S. Army special forces and a component of the U.S. Navy sent from the U.S. Naval Command in Naples. In March 2004, soldiers of the 10th Special Forces Airborne Group of the U.S. Army (stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado and Stuttgart), trained in three places in the country (Bamako, Gao and Timbouctu) the armed forces of some countries in the Sahel , operations in the "war on terrorism." What was learned was put into practice immediately on the occasion of joint action in April 2004 unleashed by truppe di Ciad, Mali e dalla “Joint Task Force JTF Aztec Silente” (la forza Usa d’intelligence, sorveglianza terrestre, aerea e navale con sede a Sigonella, Sicilia), contro il Gruppo Salafista per la Predicazione e il Combattimento. Nei combattimenti al confine tra Algeria e Mali persero la vita 43 presunti salafisti.
È stata realizzata in Mali quella che è considerata come la più imponente delle esercitazioni eseguite dagli stati Uniti nel continente africano dopo la seconda guerra mondiale. Nel giugno 2005, ancora una volta sotto le insegne di “Flintlock”, oltre 700 militari del 20° Gruppo Speciale della Guardia Nazionale (Alabama) e delle forze speciali dell’esercito came directly from Iraq, led the training of elite troops from Algeria, Chad, Mali, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal.
In November 2006, the village of Kali has also hosted a training of three weeks of the 10th Special Forces Group of the U.S. Army and squadrons of 352 ° Special Operations Group of the U.S. Air Force base Mildenhall (UK). It is this latter group that would be passed in the medium term in Spain or Italy in support of future operations in Washington on the African continent.
neoliberalism and war economies
routine military interventions in Mali, the Bush administration has placed a million dollar plan "development aid" coordinated by USAID, the Agency for the Cooperation of the United States component plays the role of "civil" Africom Command. Are also active in preventing and combating AIDS and malaria, USAID is funding the construction of schools and health centers and the installation of hundreds of radio stations. All facilities are privately operated, of course, in the name of unbridled neo-liberalism. "On the economic front - pleased writes Alex Newton, Director USAID in Mali - the economy is growing by about 5% per year, largely thanks to the policies promoted by USAID relief, such as the dismantling of many large state-owned enterprises and the introduction of new varieties of rice and more recently wheat and sorghum.
"Under the new program of USAID IICEM - adds Newton - we are working with small businesses and the government to develop new areas for export crops, such as done with the mango is intended mainly to Europe, production has doubled. With the recent surge in world food prices, good for domestic producers, and the stimulus that it may lead to the production, Mali could become a top exporter of grain to the region. "
Mali is also one of the countries chosen by Washington for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the plan for "the assertion of economic freedom in Africa", and is receiving 461 million dollars for a senseless irrigation program about 15,000 hectares of land converted for intensive production of rice, together with modernization of the airport in Bamako to allow the transfer of rice production to the international market.
Tied aid dismantling industry State and monoculture for export, therefore, in a country that has already advanced the springboard of the armed forces (and capital) in West Africa U.S., while 60% of the population is condemned to death by starvation.
Article published on November 6, 2008 Agoravox.it
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