General Ryder:
Secretary will have brief opening remarks. And then we'll go ahead and take your questions. I'll facilitate that. Without further ado, turn it over to the secretary.
SD:
Yeah. So my first question is, does anybody know what day or time it is? Probably not. We just know it's dark and light.
But thanks for being here, as you heard me say before is, this is my first trip to Africa. I met with Djibouti and Somali leaders today, and I look forward to meeting with Kenyan and Angolan leaders later this trip.
They are key partners in the African region with whom we continue to grow relationships and security cooperation. And so we're here as part of a US government wide effort of defense, diplomacy, and development.
It is about the strength of the military. That's true. But it's also about economic development, and the resiliency of our democracy, democratic institutions, because we believe that stable institutions and good governance are a cornerstone to strengthen security.
Had a good meeting today with senior Djiboutian officials to discuss ongoing military cooperation, regional security challenges and opportunities for further collaboration. Also met with the Somali President today, where we discussed the progress made in the effort against Al Shabaab, and also the work that remains ahead.
In Kenya, I'll be engaging defense officials on shared security interest and counterterrorism efforts. And on my visit to Angola, I'll focus on building stronger defense relationships and exploring avenues for increased mil-to-mil cooperation. As you may know, I met with the president of Angola during the African leader Summit. And he expressed an interest in me visiting so this is really a follow up to see how we might work closer together.
Our national security goals in Africa are to continue to build partner capacity and counter violent extremist organizations. And we want to be a partner of choice for these countries. So we're working with partners to strengthen their capacity and capabilities, and to help them manage their own security challenges. And so with that, I'll stop and take your questions.
Carla Babb (VOA):
Thanks, Mr. Secretary for doing this. I was just hoping you could give us a few more details about your conversation with the Somali President today. Do you support his request for a delay in the AU withdrawal of its forces from Somalia?
SD:
As you may know, Carla, I've met with him several times before, and he is absolutely focused on increasing the stability and security in this country, but also in the region writ large. He's in a tough struggle with Al Shabaab. But I think his forces have made impressive progress. I think they made more progress in the last year than was made in the previous five years.
And then, of course, he wants to do everything that he can to maintain momentum. And of course, he's seeking support for that. And he's engaging a number of countries in the region. And I think that's you know, that's the right thing to do. But clearly, as you know, we have a small element there that that's been supporting the training and enabling of his forces. And he's very, very grateful for what the United States of America does.
Carla Babb (VOA):
And then just to follow, is the US willing to do more work to help the Somalis because I know the Somali President has asked for the delay of the African Union withdrawal. He said there were some setbacks, pointing to some of the attacks. Is the US willing to step up and do more to prevent some of these further setbacks?
SD:
But you know, again, we are doing a lot. In terms of what happens in the future, I won't speculate on what the United States will do, in addition to all the great things that we're already doing. But, you know, we're committed to countering al Shabaab. It is one of the extremist organizations that has the ability to export tariff from ungoverned spaces to the places that are of interest to us. So, I think it's important to remain focused on this threat.
Natasha Bertrand (CNN):
I do have one question that is not related to Africa and then another question on Africa.
SD:
And then 10 more that are related to Africa (laughter)
Natasha (CNN):
So, I was wondering if you could, now that we're on the record, give us some kind of update on the long range missile question—the ATACMS question to Ukraine. There was a lot of confusion last week, I think there was some back and forth and some conflicting reporting. And so I'm just wondering if you could tell us where they things stand whether the US is prepared to send ATACMS.
SD:
I don't have any announcements to make on ATACMs, Natasha, so that my answer to that question is the same as it's been the last 10 times, you guys have asked me that. But if there is a change and the President wants to make an announcement, he will make the announcement. I don't have any announcements.
Natasha (CNN):
Do you think they would be useful to the Ukrainians?
SD:
I am focused on providing everything that we can provide to ensure that Ukrainians
are successful in protecting their sovereign territory. And you know, that I spent a great deal of my time engaging allies and partners in generating additional security assistance for Ukraine. We most recently have been focused on air defense and artillery munitions and artillery platforms. And as I engage the minister of defense and President Zelensky, himself, these are things we're at the top of his list, that don't need to sustain a reference going into into the fall into the winter.
Natasha (CNN):
And then in my follow up is, speaking of Ukraine but also related to Africa. President Zelenskyy met with Sudan's top military official today, and we have reporting that Ukraine has launched some limited operations against Wagner targets inside of Sudan. And so I'm wondering whether you've had any discussions with Ukrainians about Wagner presence in Sudan, if you could talk a little bit about that presence. And if the Ukrainians are asking the US to do more to bring them in there given, you know, their presence.
SD:
I don't have any insights on the meeting that President Zelenskyy would have conducted in Sudan. In terms of whether or not they're operating against Wagner elements in Sudan, I don't have any anything on that either. Again, it's a very complex and dynamic situation in Sudan. Right now, as you know, we have been focused on this and watching this since we evacuated our diplomats weeks ago. Hard to predict how this is going to go and where this where this is going to wind up. In terms of Wagner's presence and their impact on Sudan or other places in the region, we've seen that wherever Wagner has operated, it's been problematic. They don't necessarily abide by any rules and don't respect the law very much. And so because of that, the effects that they have in the region have not been lasting effects. I think some of the countries that have operated with them, probably will not seek to do so going forward there. But we'll see what happens. Wagner still has a substantial presence on the continent, as you know and where that goes from here is left to be seen. Their leadership has been taken out. I think what you'll see in the future here is probably some competition within the ranks on who's going to be the next leader. I think you'll also see potentially Russian government moving to either replace Wagner with some other kind of element or using Russian forces to support efforts on the continent. So, it's hard to predict. I do know that Wagner can probably sustain itself in the near term. But going forward in the midterm or longer term, it will be tough for them to sustain themselves without the support of Russia.
Mosh (NBC):
You speak about the Wagner group presence. We also have the coup in Niger and the coup in Gabon, and then you have al Shabaab and their influence how it ebbs and flows on the continent. How have all of this impacted the U.S.'s counter-terror mission and is there any concern there?
SD:
As you look at our efforts against VEOs, globally, as we have been successful in pressing up against these organizations in the Middle East and other places. They have migrated to other ungoverned spaces. We know that organizations like this will seek to operate in ungoverned spaces. They'll also seek to go places that have some access to resources. So, you know, I think you'll continue to see, you know, as you're successful in one area, a migration to another part of the globe, but again, strong governments, effective governments, effective institutions, and governments having the ability to protect their sovereign spaces, really inhibit their ability to move from place to place.
Now, our efforts on the continent have been to enable and train indigenous forces so that countries have the ability to protect their own spaces. But this is not just a military effort.
Our approach has been to employ elements of defense, development, and diplomacy throughout, because we believe that you have to really go after the underlying causes of instability, as you press against violent extremist organizations. And the more effective we are in doing that, then the less space that these organizations have to operate.
Mosh (NBC):
Sticking with counterterrorism for a second, specifically in Niger, wondering has the US resumed counter terror efforts with Nigerian forces?
SD:
We have not. First of all, our force posture in these year hasn't changed. We moved forces from airbase 101 over to air base 201. But we still have essentially the same footprint in Niger. And again, we're flying ISR, but that ISR is focused on our force protection. And we've not resumed any operations within the Nigerian forces. And, and so, again, we're hopeful that this will be resolved with diplomacy. But we'll see.
Fadi (Al Jazeera):
Thank you for doing this again. I want to start with Djibouti. There's some concerns about the Chinese presence in this country, and its proximity to US presence, especially when it comes to operations and security. Did you get the chance to raise this issue with the leaders of Djibouti? And did you sense they're willing to take some steps to alleviate some of those concerns?
SD:
Well, thanks. No, we didn't talk about the Chinese presence here. We talked about those things that are important to us: to Djibouti and to the United States of America. And, that really consumed our all of our time. There are Chinese, there's a Chinese element operating here. But there are also other countries operating here as well, as you know, French and others still have interest here, and they're still operating here.
So Djibouti has relationships with a number of countries. We don't ask countries to choose between us and other countries. I think that given a choice, most countries, all countries, as they work with us see the value of being a partner of the United States of America. And they treasure that. And so I think, you know, we talked a lot today about…First of all, I thank the President for supporting and being great hosts to our troops that we've had here for quite a while. And we talked about the things that that we could, you know, work on together to affect some of the things in the region and so, again, no time spent focused on the Chinese.
Fadi (Al Jazeera):
And on Sudan, a senior defense official told us that as long as external powers provide
weapons and military support to the fighting inside of Sudan, there's not going to be any incentive to sit down and talk in a political way to resolve the issue. Some of those powers are close partners to the U.S. Have you been able to kind of use the U.S. leverage to try to convince these external powers and create the right conditions for political solution?
SD:
What we have done in the past and continue to do is to encourage our allies and partners to encourage both parties to move to diplomacy and we'll continue to do that.
This is a very complex situation. And as long as they're not talking at the table, as long as they're not coming to the table, there's no hope to resolve this. So we'll continue to encourage people to influence others to be willing to negotiate.
Jack (FP):
You're traveling to Manda Bay in Kenya tomorrow at the site of deadly attack on US service members three years ago. Just curious in the wake of what's happened on the continent in the past couple of years. How do you assess the safety of US service members? Are they more hardened against attacks from groups like Al Shabaab, al Qaeda, and ISIS franchises?
SD:
Thanks, Jack. Well, first of all, you know, my thoughts and prayers remain with the families of our troops there that that we lost. As you would imagine, we have gone to great lengths to make sure that, you know, we put the right measures in place to ensure that our troops are protected.
One of the very first things that General Langley, the AFRICOM commander did as he came into his job was to come to Manda Bay and talk with the leadership and survey the ground himself.
And this is the thing that he remains focused on. So I'm confident that our troops are in good shape, and they were vigilant, and they don't take anything for granted.
Jack (FP):
Your last stop on the trip will be Angola. I'm just curious. 10 years on into the Belt and Road, what do you see as the prospects for dislodging Chinese influence on the continent? And obviously, there's the Lobito corridor project, their major rail project to get the US in critical minerals game. So I'm curious, is the US sort of on time to this or a little bit too late, just given the Chinese edge on the continent?
SD:
When I met with the President, he expressed a desire to meet to develop a stronger relationship with the United States and we welcome that. And so I look forward to going there.
As I said earlier, we're not going to ask people to choose between one country or another, we will just demonstrate the value of partnering with the United States of America.
And, you know, without us doing that he recognizes that up front. And so I look forward to working with him and I think it's going to be a really good visit to Angola.
Jack (FP):
Is there a military angle to it? I mean, obviously, there's Blinken, Yellen, many of your fellow Cabinet members have been there. Is there a specific angle for the DOD?
SD:
I won't say that there's any angle. But it's always goodness associated with people or countries moving closer to the United States of America. And certainly our relationship there provides opportunity for things throughout the region. There's no angle here that we're trying to pursue. I'll stop there.
Staff: All right. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.