African counter-terror initiative & coup attempt

This is a very well thought out article written by Douglas Farah. This article is about the funding that has been unsure since 9/11/2001 for tracking down terrorists.

This approach makes it very difficult to plan for anything long-term. Gen. Charles Wald, deputy EUCOM commander, often lamented the lack of flexibility and continuity this approach gave him.

Now, the Trans Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative will help remedy that. It funds a multi-agency approach for the region at $100 million a year.

Special Forces will provide military training at the battallion level in eight countries (Mali, Chad, Niger, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal and Nigeria), along and other aspects of military work.

At the same time, USAID will fund educational initiatives, the State Department will fund airport security improvements, and the Treasury Department will help with financial crimes. For more, read this story.

Most of the counter-terrorism radar in Africa has been forgotten, even though that is where bin Ladin started his groups. Also, there are many more groups there, including the support from Charles Taylor.

In another report:

In other news, as the Special Court for Sierra Leone predicted, there is growing unrest in Guinea, where armed assailants freed several dozen prisoners from a maximum-security prison in Conakry. They then led what is reported to have been a coup attempt. Not clear where things stand now. The Court has been predicting for weeks that Taylor-sponsored unrest would lead to another assassination attempt against Guinean president Conte. Reporting from there at this time is very sketchy, but the timing and MO look bad.

We should keep a very close eye on these situations. While Congress and the Senate do their bickering over "money" and "issues," we will watch our country. Someone has to.

Update: Here is an update.