New Security Assistance Projects Focus On African Counterterrorism Efforts

摘要

The Defense Department is launching a series of counterterrorism security assistance projects in Africa, distributing $55 million worth of aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors, ground vehicles, radios and more to four nations, including a new recipient - Burkina Faso. The new projects, which will also fund the acquisition of equipment and provision of training in Kenya, Uganda and Mauritania, are part of a second tranche of security assistance efforts under the so-called Section 1206 statutory authority. The projects recently cleared a congressional notification process, according to Pentagon spokesman Lt Col. James Gregory. Bundled with these African counterterrorism projects is a venture to provide equipment and training to the Czech Republic in support of a planned deployment to Afghanistan, bringing the total cost of the Pentagon's second batch of FY-13 1206 funding to $72 million.