General Stephen Townsend, commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has since the beginning of the week made working visits respectively to Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire,Togo and Benin, as part of a multi-day visit to West Africa.
On Monday, Townsend met with government officials in Ghana and senior military representatives “to discuss the need for continued cross-border cooperation to improve and maintain security across the region.”
Subsequently, General Townsend was also announced on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 in the country of Alassane Ouattara where he met the latter the same day.
“The talk focused on topics of common interest, including the security situation in the sub-region and military cooperation between Côte d’Ivoire and the United States,” the Ivorian presidency said in a statement.
“The visits to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have been very productive,” said Townsend. “I was able to meet with senior African leaders to talk about the importance of continuing our regional approach to addressing security issues and how we at U.S. Africa Command can help.”, he added.
The high-ranking official spoke on Wednesday with Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, the President of the Republic of Togo, while he was also visiting this country.
“We addressed issues related to terrorism and violent extremism in Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. There are security challenges and the United States will provide assistance to its African partners, in terms of equipment, training, development and diplomacy ”, said the commander after the meeting.
The Head of State of the Republic of Benin, Patrice Talon has also just announced his meeting with the Boss of AFRICOM this Thursday, September 23, 2021.
The United States Africa Command is a unified command for Africa created by the United States Department of Defense in 2007 and started operating in 2008. It coordinates all military and security activities of the United States on this continent.
Source: AfrikPage