Thread by @DefenseNigeria

I need help understanding this dynamics. Africa is host to more foreign military presence than any other continent in the world. About 66 countries maintain a military presence in Africa. Yet at the same time terrorism in Africa has been rising sharply over the decade.

These terrorists have increasingly targeted civilians in their campaigns of violence. From Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya in the north, to Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Eritrea and Ethiopia in the east, to Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Mali and Burkinafaso in the West,

..to Cameroon , C.A.R, D.R.C in Central Africa. Southern Africa used to be immune to the terrorist threat. Not anymore. Mozambique has been the first victim of an ISIS affiliated terrorist group expansion in the region.

The South African government recently stated that it had identified sleeper cells set up by Islamist extremist groups in the country. According to govt investigations, the purpose of these groups is to use South Africa as a logistical base for operations outside its border

The marketplace of violence on the continent is now saturated with a variety of armed groups, many of which are affiliated with either Al-Qaeda or ISIS, who are now jockeying for influence, power, and access to resources. At the same time we have dozens of African countries

entering into agreements that would lead to the establishment of foreign military bases in their countries.

These countries say Africa does not have the means to deal with its prevailing security challenges, hence their presence is required.

Of the countries with a known presence in Africa, France have the most troops on the continent with an estimated 11, 550 military personnel spread across Africa. The U.S is number two, with troops spread across 34 outposts across the North, West and Horn of Africa.

The Horn of Africa alone has 11 foreign military bases. When i say we are in deep trouble in Africa, people think its all conspiracy theory. If these countries need a congent excuse to justify their presence in Africa, then its makes sense why Africa overtook the

.middleeast as the epicentre of the "War against Terror". From their outposts across Africa, foreign militaries focus primarily on protecting their interests, securing friendly regimes, projecting their influence in the face of rising competition among the global powers.

Some countries trying to tackle the insurgency on their own country are deliberately sabotaged. Some are slammed with human rights allegations and their attempt to procure weapons blocked. The very same countries perpetrating this, then derides the affected countries

..of the gap in their responses to solving their security challenges and deride the continents inability to solve its security challenges, then project themselves as heroes coming to Africa's aid.

There are outliers like Nigeria and Egypt, who despite the odds stacked against it prevail and is independently tackling its security challenges because they have the size and resources to be completely independent and reject foreign intervention. These countries are subject

During a Summit in Paris, Emmanual Macron caught President Buhari on the side and offered French cooperation with Nigeria in tackling insurgency in the Lake Chad region, a region that both France and the U.S has maintained drone bases for 6 years, and not once..i repeat

..not once have there been a recorded U.S or French drone strike on ISWAP enclaves in Lake Chad. Those drone bases have been operational since 2016. It wasnt until the arrival of the JF-17 and A-29 that the NAF now had platforms with enough range to hit Lake Chad.

Enter western media smear campaign. Last month 24 hours after the Nigerian army confirmed the death of ISWAPs Commander, and announced the number of surrendered insurgents have crossed the 15k mark, the ECONOMIST Magazine, without provocation wrote a special editorial where

..they said the Nigerian military was so broken soldiers are refusing to fight and army generals now steal weapons and sell to Boko Haram. They called the Egyptian President a dictator and claimed corruption has so hollowed out the Egyptian military, it is now crumbling

..before Sinai militants. This coming from a country whose military is now so weak and small it is no longer capable of independently launching a major military operation.

Africa has a nooose tied around its neck and is too blind and divided to see it. Its almost hopeless for

..smaller nations who are genuinely seeking external help in dealing with serious security challenges they cannot tackle on their own.

While major powers like Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Algeria etc have the economic and technical wherewithal to stand alone, collectively

..as a continent, Africa is trapped in a ditch. If peace and stability in Africa delegitimizes the continuous military presence of these countries, who by the way have invested billions of dollars, then we are in big trouble, because it will be a bad investments for them

..to solve the security crises. First, the competition among the various foreign militaries to influence responses to challenges in Africa’s hotspots has led to a multiplicity of activities that overcrowd the security landscape, especially in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.

Take France for example. They created their own regional military alliance - G-5 Sahel. Paris encouraged its francophone dependencies to address their security challenges outside the framework of the regional economic communities in favour of a French initiative.

Then we have the increasing presence of Asian powers in the Horn of Africa. China is expanding its presence in Djibouti, then comes the Japanese and Indians also maintaining a presence to check Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. The result is a major expansion

of Japan in Djibouti. They have not only exported the tensions in the East China Sea to Africa but has also made Africa practically complicit in the actions of its guests elsewhere. This attracts the UAE who open its own base in Eritrea for operations in Yemen.

By the way the U.S also has a drone base in Djibouti. Rivalry between the US and China is playing out in Djibouti. Turning Africa into a proxy turf for regional competition, and we say Africa is under occupation?

The western media and Human Rights groups on their part continue their non stop attacks on functioning governments, with generic human right abuse accusations and negative reportage, that has done nothing but motivate terrorist groups to be more brazen in their attacks.