Exercise African Lion 2021, U.S. Africa Command’s (AFRICOM) joint annual exercise, began for the 17th time on June 7. With more than 7,800 troops participating, including 5,000 from the United States and nine other nations and NATO, African Lion is AFRICOM’s largest exercise. Spain and Morocco’s Tense RelationshipMadrid has officially cited “budgetary constraints” as its reason for withdrawing from the 2021 African Lion, the Spanish newspaper El Pais wrote. “African Lion Is an Example of the US’s Long-term Commitment to Africa”“African Lion 2021 is U.S. Africa Command’s premier, joint and multi-national annual exercise. Due to last year’s cancellation of African Lion, we had a head start in planning this year’s exercise,” said Townsend.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 13, 2021 17:25 UTC