London – Britain’s Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, on Saturday, announced that armed forces from Britain would train in jungle warfare alongside Sierra Leonean troops for the first time.
Fallon said more than 90 soldiers from Britain were being deployed alongside 25 soldiers from Sierra Leone for a jungle exercise to learn the skills to live and fight in that environment.
He added that the move underlined the breadth of Britain’s contribution across the African continent “because Britain’s focus on military support to Africa is strong.
“Two-thirds of Britain’s entire global short-term training team effort is invested in the continent, which equates to around 18,000 man days of training per year.”
According to him, training with Sierra Leonean forces is just the latest example of the UK stepping up globally to tackle international threats that put Britain at risk.
He noted that “at sea, Britain sent navy ships to support Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean to focus on tackling human smugglers and arms traffickers who endanger the lives of migrants seeking to travel to Europe, often from northern Africa.
“Britain is also playing a role stemming extremism in Africa, supporting security in the countries affected and in turn making Britain safer.”
Report says Britain also provides training to Tunisian forces in border security to prevent illegal movement from Libya.
British troops have continued to train Nigeria’s Armed Forces in the fight against Boko Haram.
Britain recently provided life-saving medical supplies to equip 5,000 Nigerian troops as they tackled the extremist group.