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Semafor Signals

US Congress pushes foreign aid bill again, focusing on early prevention over later intervention

Sep 19, 2024, 2:05pm EDT
africaAfrica
Adama Diarra/Reuters
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The News

The US Congress is pushing a foreign aid bill to support failing states, especially in Africa’s troubled Sahel region. Coups across northwest Africa have left the region more vulnerable to militant groups and influence from foreign terror organizations like Islamic State.

The bipartisan Global Fragility Act, a revival of a Trump-era law, would unify assistance programs for the different countries into a single cohesive effort, and is intended to act as an early-intervention system that could help stop a country sliding into chaos, Foreign Policy reported.

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The bill will focus on Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Togo, on the West African coast, as well as Haiti and Libya. The US may even put troops into some countries to support struggling friendly governments.

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Questions remain over the program’s effectiveness

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Source:  
Foreign Policy

Lawmakers and experts have questioned the effectiveness of The Global Fragility Act that was passed under the Trump administration. Congress shut down pilot programs planned by the Biden administration in 2022 after Haiti and Libya were deemed already too unstable for US intervention efforts. Congressional aides have also complained about the GFA’s slow implementation and that the White House is yet to request the full $200 million allocated to the program. But one Africa expert told Foreign Policy that despite the act’s shortcomings, reauthorizing the bill is a step in the right direction to stem violence in the region: “The GFA hasn’t seemed to provide many results so far, but the core of the strategy is correct.”

International intervention in the Sahel may not be the solution

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Sources:  
Modern War Institute, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politk, Foreign Policy

Experts have expressed concern over the increasing political instability across Africa’s Sahel region, where fighting has led to an uptick in conflict deaths in recent years, the US-based Modern War Institute noted. International intervention in the region has been so far largely unsuccessful, with six coups occurring in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger between Aug. 2020 and July 2023, and the alleged embezzlement of international defense aid. More recently however, terror group Islamic State has become increasingly active in the region, and some experts have warned the US must “get back in the game” to prevent the spread of extremism.

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