Senegal and USA signed cooperation agreements allowing American military troops to rapidly dispatch across the West African nation in the event of a terrorist attack or an epidemic outbreak, such as in the case of Ebola in 2014. These agreements are inked in a context where Senegal’s forces are in alert after terrorists attacked Mali, Burkina Faso and most recently Cote d’Ivoire.

American officials however see an opportunity for their troops to efficiently take action in the case of an outbreak similar to Ebola. Indeed, Senegal at the time of the outbreak served as a back-base to transport the troops and medical equipment sent to Liberia and Sierra Leone. “The next crisis could be another epidemic outbreak, a natural disaster or a terrorist attack,” said James Zumwalt, USA’s ambassador to Senegal.

Though the government of Senegal said this agreement was the first of the kind in Africa, truth is military units have been present in West Africa for some time now, since the World Trade Center attacks in fact. USA has been gradually making some allies in the region as part of a preventive strategy. A strategy which has been reinforced since the fall of former Libyan guide Muammar Gaddafi as part of the former ruler’s military arsenal has fallen in the hands of Jihadist organizations in Sahel.