The following excerpts are from the website of the U.S. National Guard concerning Senegalese troops being trained in Louisiana. Senegal has recently participated in the U.S. Africa Command-led African Lion multinational military exercise in Morocco and in the U.S./Ukraine-hosted 32-nation Sea Breeze war games in the Black Sea. Also participating in both was Brazil. In fact Senegal and Brazil were the only nations involved in either exercise that are neither NATO members nor partners. Currently NATO has five partners in North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) but no partners in sub-Saharan Africa. Colombia is a member of NATO’s Partners Across the Globe and is the only Latin American nation that is a NATO partner. The involvement of both Brazil and Senegal in war games outside their respective continents where they are the only non-NATO member/partner participants indicates they are being groomed for partnerships with the military bloc of 30 members and 40 partners.

Senegal soldiers observe JRTC training in Louisiana

FORT POLK, La. – Senegalese soldiers visited the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) July 22 to observe training conducted by the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and its supporting elements during rotation 21-08.

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The Senegalese were able to see the spectrum of operations, from the initial planning to the execution of combat missions.

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“Next year, we are hoping to visit again and train at JRTC ourselves,” said [Lieutenant Colonel Ali] Mime, adding that he and the other Senegalese soldiers would continue observing and learning from the U.S. Army National Guardsmen training at JRTC for several more days before returning to Africa.