|
US training initative in Niger has supporters and skeptics
Two dozen U.S. Marines are currently giving anti-terrorism training to Niger's army to protect the West African nation's large desert areas from becoming transit areas for terrorists. Niger is the last stop for the four-country, $8 million U.S. exercises, previously held in Mali, Mauritania and Chad. Soldiers seem to welcome the training, but as VOA's Nico Colombant reports from the Tondibiah military camp in southern Niger, ordinary citizens and human rights activists appear more skeptical.Marines bark orders, as teams of two Nigerien soldiers fire machine guns at the sniper range of the Tondibiah camp on the outskirts of Niamey. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-09-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=43928 |