US General C.Q. Brown, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting West Africa to explore maintaining US presence in the region following the expulsion of its troops from Niger by the ruling military junta. Brown, who arrived in Gaborone on Monday, will meet with regional defense chiefs to discuss the possibility of repositioning US military capabilities from Niger to other countries, though he didn’t specify which. Nevertheless, insider reports indicate preliminary talks with Benin, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. Despite the move, the US isn’t expected to replicate the scale of its counterterrorism unit in Niger anytime soon, especially since its ejection also means losing Air Base 201, which cost over $100 million to develop.
SOURCE: AP NEWS
