From Capital FM

The United States  government has ruled out a military intervention on the continent to combat the increased terror threat.

In a tele-conference with journalists across the continent on Wednesday evening, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said a military response is not the answer to the terror challenge.

“The answer is not the US Government sending African Command to address this in a military way. This is not just a military response; it’s more a response that requires looking at economic development, looking at education programmes, looking at services and infrastructure being provided to these communities,” she said to a question on Boko Haram.

On the Al Shabaab, she said America’s military presence in Somalia was targeted at building the capacity of the country’s own military forces following the US military’s recent admission of its presence there since 2007.

“We have a Somalia strategy that tries to focus on helping Somalia invest in the future of its people. And part of that strategy is to have a small cell of our military work with the Somali military to build their capacity to address the kinds of attacks that we saw happen yesterday (Tuesday) at the Villa Somalia and other attacks that we’ve seen around the continent,” she said in response to Capital FM News.

Extremism on the continent, she said, would also be tackled during the inaugural US-Africa Leaders Summit that will be held in Washington between August 4 and 6, bringing together Heads of State from 50 African countries.

The Heads of State would be engaged on how to combat extremism through creation of employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for the youth.

“This is one of the outcomes that we’ve asked African leaders to bring to the summit and that is an announcement of how they are investing in the future of the youth on the continent. Because we know if we don’t invest in these young people, they will be attracted, as we have seen, by an extremist ideology that does not provide a future for Africa,” she said.

Read more at Capital FM