U.S. trained African military stages five coups in Africa since 2015

18 октября 2022
African military officers participating in U.S. exercises stage five coups since 2015 in several countries on the continent,  though the U.S. denies responsibility for what happened, TASS reported.

The West African officers who orchestrated the coups participated in the U.S.-led Flintlock international counterterrorism exercise. "The Special Operations Command in Africa (SOCAFRICA) Flintlock exercise may not be an incubator for insurgencies, but the recent coup plotters were some of their most notorious participants. Officers who took part in just two Flintlock exercises have carried out five coups since 2015," the publication wrote.

For example, Burkinabe military officer Gilbert Diendere trained with the Americans in 2010 staged a coup in Burkina Faso in 2015. Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who overthrew the authorities of Burkina Faso in January of this year, participated in the exercise with him. He remained in power until the end of September, when he was overthrown by a military group led by Ibrahim Traoré. The publication writes that the U.S. Armed Forces Africa Command (AFRICOM) does not know whether Traoré participated in a U.S.-organized exercise. "Seizing power militarily does not correlate with training and education provided by the U.S.," command spokeswoman Kelly Callahan says.

In addition to the Burkinabe military, other West African military members who have received U.S. training have staged coups. They include Colonel Mamadi Dumbuya, who became President of Guinea in 2021 in a mutiny, and Colonel Assimi Goita, who seized power in Mali the same year. SOCAFRICA force commander Milton Sands told the publication that the United States is not responsible for the discontent in African countries, which leads to coups. According to him, we should talk about the fact that the population of African countries in a number of cases is dissatisfied with the U.S.-backed leaders and their policies.