U.S. announces the promotion of the African Lion 2022 in Morocco

Over the course of this year, the military operation "African Lion" has highlighted the good relations between the United States and Morocco in terms of military cooperation. The good results obtained from these military exercises have led the United States to organise the African operation manoeuvres for 2022.

Thus, in a tweet published by the US embassy in Morocco, it was stated that "military personnel from Morocco, the United States, Tunisia, Senegal and Ghana met at the headquarters of the Southern Region of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces to prepare for the African Lion 2022 exercise". 

According to the embassy, "planning has begun for the organisation of Africa's largest military exercise this week in Agadir", which continues to aim to combat terrorist threats in the region and to plan preventive plans for possible natural disasters. 

Last June, Morocco concluded the 17th edition of the "African Lion 2020" exercise, an operation that took place in the southern provinces of Tan Tan, as well as in parts of Western Sahara. Thousands of US soldiers participated in this operation alongside Moroccan soldiers and European and African officers.

In a statement, US forces spokesman Colonel Rayan Dilon said that this cooperation is "one of the most important military exercises organised by the US command in Africa".

Framing this operation in the context of the fight against terrorism, joint military exercises are a key form of cooperation. In the Maghreb, despite the fact that police forces have managed to uncover multiple terrorist cells, it continues to be an area that harbours terrorist threats, especially from Daesh. Libya, for its part, is going through a complicated political and civil crisis that has led to major outbreaks of violence between mercenaries and radical groups. Pending the holding of elections next December, the country has not been able to achieve peace.

In the Sahel region, there is a continuing record of violence and terrorism. The presence of foreign troops has not succeeded in pacifying the situation in an area where the population is engaged in historic clashes, making stability difficult.  In this area, Mali and Burkina Faso stand out as the countries with the highest number of terrorist attacks. Mali, the country with the highest levels of violence on the continent, continues to be a clear indicator of the jihadist threat in the region.

On the other hand, in West Africa, countries such as Nigeria have become a conglomerate of terrorist groups engaged in internal battles for power. This is the case of indigenous terrorist groups such as Boko Haram, which fiercely battles ISWAP, the Daesh of the West African province.

Further east, in the Horn of Africa, a series of bloody civil conflicts have erupted that seem to go on and on. This is the case in Ethiopia, where tribal and ethnic strife has staged a civil war of which we know little about because of the cuts being made to telecommunications, but which is accused of having witnessed genocide. This scenario is the ideal scenario for terrorist groups to break in and further destabilise an area that has been hit hard by violence,

Finally, in Somalia, Al Shaab, one of Al-Qaeda's affiliates, remains one of the most consistent and violent terrorist groups influencing the country's instability and thus its dangerousness as a state.