Terrorist groups such as the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS) in North Africa must be contained within individual countries to prevent their reach into Europe or the US, head of US Africa Command told reporters late Friday. The commander of U.S. Africa Command says he would like to be granted more authority to battle al-Qaida-linked militants in Somalia. Marine Gen. Thomas Waldhauser told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that it would be "very helpful" to be given more flexibility in combatting al-Shabab militants, both directly and through local partner forces."One of the things we try to do right now by, with and through our partners, is to make sure that our pressure on the violent extremist organization networks keeps those problems tamped down." Waldhauser characterized IS in North Africa as "global IS," versus "core IS" which is in Iraq and Syria. For this reason, the first-ever conference of African defense chiefs will take place in Germany from 18-20 April, to discuss responses to global violent extremist organizations, he announced. "We're very interested in listening to our African partners," he said. In Western Libya, where AFRICOM is most active, there may be 100 to 200 IS fighters, the general added. He added that "They're probably in small groups, they're staying off the communication lines, they don't want to surface and talk, they're just trying to maintain a presence because they don't want to leave." And despite all the different factions inside the country, including two different government entities, "one thing that unites pretty much everybody, is the idea that no (IS) is wanted inside Libya," Waldhauser affirmed. Meanwhile, in Somalia, the general was optimistic about the new president's ability to "move forward" in fighting the IS-aligned Al-Shabab militant group. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was formerly the Somali prime minister and holds dual US-Somali citizenship. "He understands it's important to pay the military, he understands what corruption does and does not do for the federal government," Waldhauser said. "So we have a great opportunity to work with him, because the strategy inside Somalia, our continuation of counterterrorism operations, specifically against Al-Shabab is a big part of our strategy."
