The U.S. Secretary of Defense ended his visit to North Africa on Friday. Mark Esper was in Morocco after passing Tunisia and Algeria during the week. This three-day tour was intended to strengthen military cooperation, the fight against jihadism and security in the region.
“Our alliance is strong and made to last,” said Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita after seeing the US Secretary of Defense. The latter also met with the Moroccan Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense.
Military cooperation agreement
As in Tunisia On Wednesday, September 30, Mark Esper in Rabat signed a 10-year military cooperation agreement with the Deputy Minister of Administration and National Defense, Abdellatif Loudiyi. He stresses that the United States and Morocco are working more closely, more than ever in his view, in the field of security.
This ten-year agreement paves the way for cooperation in the strategic military field, the purchase of weapons and equipment, military training and intelligence between the two countries, says our correspondent in Casablanca, Nina Kozlowski.
Mark Esper especially insists on the questions of terrorism, transnational threats or regional instability. Washington now wants to rely on reliable African partners to stabilize the situation, especially in Libya and the Sahel. This is the case with Morocco, considered a major player on the continent by the United States.
► To read: US involvement in the Sahel remains intact, Washington assures
Each year, the Cherifian Kingdom hosts a military exercise on its soil under the command of Africom, the U.S. military command for Africa. The United States is also the country’s leading arms supplier.
This US visit comes at a time to be resumed this Friday in Bouznika, in the Rabat region, the Libyan dialogue. This dialogue will take place in the presence of parliamentarians from both camps, Fayez el Sarraj and Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
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