This is the only News I'm David for Chinese state television reported Sunday the death toll from the Corona virus has risen to 304 that announcement came after several countries announced Rick travel controls Saturday on foreigners who have been in China but as Lisa reports the World Health Organization is advising against closing borders spokesman Christian Lindenmayer says closing borders will not keep out the virus but the only way to control the check fever for example to identify travel history to try to monitor who's coming across the border and to see whether they have any signs of infection is through official border crossing points China is taking draconian measures to stop the spread of the corona virus on City the epicenter of the disease in 15 other cities have been quarantined placing an estimated 50000000 people under lockdown Despite these efforts the virus continues to spread at a rapid pace the line for v.o.a. News Geneva u.s. Secretary of state Mike Pompei o was in Belarus Saturday seeking to normalize time at a time when relations between Minsk and Moscow are under a strain Reuters Lucy field reports pump a 0 the most senior u.s. Official to visit in more than 2 decades said the u.s. Supported the country's independence but was aware of its ties to Moscow we want to be able see we told our team diplomatically here by almost double. Do that again it. Happened exactly here before to Washington in the European Union frequently criticized authoritarian rule in valorise but they've lifted most sanctions since President Alexander Lukashenko free political prisoners and showed more tolerance for opposition that's Lucy fielder of Reuters and this is v.o.a. News. The Palestinian Authority has threatened to cut all ties with the United States and Israel including security relations as Reuters him or McCarthy reports President Mahmoud Abbas made the threat Saturday after rejecting a Middle East peace plan put forth by President Donald Trump the plan which is induced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state that excludes Israeli settlements built in occupied territory and his knee a total Israeli security control addressing the Arab League in Cairo a bass said security relations will also be safe it. You know. And we the Palestinian Authority inform you Israeli government there will be no ties either with you or the us as we have said the same to the u.s. Including security ties foreign ministers from Egypt Saudi Arabia Jordan Iraq and Lebanon among others say there could be no peace without recognizing Palestinian rights and a comprehensive solution that's him or McCarthy Reuters it's a busy weekend across Iowa with the 1st nominating contest of the 2020 presidential election on Monday A.P.'s Ben Thomas reports. That Senator Elizabeth Warren rallying supporters in Urbandale Iowa to canvass for our flights as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear for Democrats ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses bears get things done in South Bend Indiana Mayor people to judge is making multiple stops and now I have one more chance. To ask you to support me let me say this Senator Bernie Sanders says Democrats must unite to defeat a president he describes as dangerous if we do not win we will support the winner and I know that every other thought candidate will do the same the former Vice President Joe Biden is offering his face. And for the country Joe Biden America suffrage is the law picketers of national interest and no one no one not even the president of the United States will be above the law I promise you that I'm Ben Thomas and the National Football League championship game the Super Bowl is Sunday in Miami Florida with the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the San Francisco $49.00 er's the 40 niners last won the Super Bowl in 1995 but are trying to capture a record tying 6th Super Bowl title and the Kansas City Chiefs have not been in the big game for 50 years their quarterback Patrick ma Holmes is leading their powerful off fans more than 100000000 Americans are expected to watch the game on television entertainers and Jennifer Lopez highlights the halftime show I'm David Berg away. This is Encounter on v.o.a. Here's Carol Castillo. Welcome to Encounter on The Voice of America on this edition of the program our periodic update on Africa why is the Pentagon considering a force drawdown in Africa at a time when extremist groups are rooting deeper into the region Hello again I'm Carol Castiel the Trump administration hoping to prevent the United States from becoming entangled in more long wars once the military and intelligence forces to scale down their ambitions under plans now being discussed fewer resources would be allocated to monitoring regional threats terrorist groups that might spout anti-American speech but do not have the wherewithal to mount a significant attack on u.s. Territory however critics say without military and intelligence personnel on the ground working with partner nations to help combat regional terrorist organizations it becomes difficult to assess which groups have or could have the capabilities to mount an attack on the United States West African leaders specifically the presidents of Senegal and Togo are urging the United States to stay in the fight both expressed concern that terrorism is on the brink of spilling into their countries which have not previously grappled with such a threat to parts of this a hell that drive stretch of land south of the Sahara Desert have fallen to militants linked to the Islamic State and al Qaeda who are offering shelter to fighters fleeing the Middle East since the collapse of the Islamic State in Syria while there is little data on foreign militants operating in West Africa some senior u.s. Officials in the region say fighters from Syria and Iraq have turned up in Nigeria and Mali well with us to analyze the u.s. Role in combating terrorism in Africa and consequences of a potential u.s. Retreat are 2 distinguished analysts Judge government is the director of the Africa Program at this. For Strategic and International Studies That's a think tank here in Washington and prior to joining c.s.i.s. Judd served as the u.s. National intelligence officer for Africa from 2015 to 2018 and Joshua deserve He's senior policy analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation another think tank based here in Washington and Joshua specializes in African geopolitics counter terrorism and refugee policy in prior to his current post he worked as associate director for the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council I think tank here in Washington and both now join me at the v.o.a. Broadcast Center in Washington welcome back to the program thanks here thanks Well Joshua miserably let me begin with you talking about these reports indicating that the Pentagon may be considering a pullback of u.s. Intelligence assets from West Africa potentially to accommodate maybe a shift in defense priorities moving more toward countering the threat of China in the Asia Pacific How do you see that 1st it's important to acknowledge that these are ongoing discussions so we're not sure what this will look like if and when it does happen so it's important to bear that in mind but I think there's reason to be concerned about discussions around drawing down American personnel in the Sahara Legion the violent trends are very concerning they're all in the wrong direction and violence has increased it's virtually doubled every year since about 2015 in that region you're a very capable terrorist organizations and the u.s. Is there with some boots on the grounds but perhaps the greatest contribution we make to this fight is through our intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance activities drones primarily but other activities as well and we share that with our friends partners who do have a significant number of boots on the ground that are carrying out a lot of kinetic counterterrorism operations so this is. An increasingly violent area full of very dangerous actors that is already under resourced as far as counterterrorism So there's reason to be concerned about a u.s. Strike down judged every month do you share Joshua's concerns that the Pentagon is discussing a possible drawdown just as violent trends are on the upswing Yeah I think this is really shortsighted I mean the backdrop here is that since the administration came into office and published the national security strategy in the national defense strategy they wanted to refocus our efforts on China and Russia and sort of de prioritize counterterrorism but our investments in West Africa in the Sahara are so small the numbers vary but in general people talk about $6000.00 u.s. Troops in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa the large majority is actually the Horn of Africa which doesn't seem to be on the table so now we're talking about maybe a 1000 troops most of them are probably not even doing combat certainly none of them are doing combat but sort of involved in the way that we think about our military most of these are security they're doing institution building and so I think this idea of let's take the very limited effort that we have it has real impact in terms of helping the French as Josh said helping the French do their operations to move over to China and Russia I think that we are losing a small investment that has a lot of impact and moving it over to a place where we already have a lot of investment for very little gain back to you Joshua as you said there's just talk right now but they are talking about it so we have to take it seriously let's talk about other foreign troops you mentioned France they have boots on the ground approximately 4500 French troops are in West Africa and the regional soldiers obviously and u.n. Peacekeepers are they concerned about the potential u.s. Retreat Yeah absolutely the Europeans are very concerned the French especially they just brought a high level delegation here to personally make a pitch. To the American administration of course their minister defense was just here so they're very worried because they are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in the so how and they do rely on the u.s. Again for intelligence and reconnaissance but also logistics support things of that nature that it would be hard for them to fill if the u.s. Isn't doing that role the other European countries are worried about the violence and the so how because you have immigration that comes up from that area into Europe you have Diaspora communities in Europe from that area there's a whole host of concerns throughout Europe now I think maybe that part of this potential drawdown is borne out of the administration's frustration that what they perceive as the Europeans not doing enough in the So how except for the French the French very clearly have a lot of skin in the game here but the so how is some troll to a lot of European foreign policy in their national interests but the administration I think feels that some of the European countries are not doing enough we're actually seeing increasing engagement from a whole host of European countries so perhaps this is partially a negotiating tactic but it also is a real discussion and it does as Judd rightly pointed out this is all born out of the national security strategy which wants to focus on China and Russia I think rightly but the d.o.d. Has taken that seriously and is looking to draw down red but on the other hand judge and we know from my previous discussions that these microphones China and Russia are encroaching in Africa so why would the Pentagon consider reducing the small footprint we already have there that as you said is disproportionately beneficial when we also need to counter China and Russia right on the continent I think this is the big paradox here and as several senators of raise and center of the press has raised that as we have departed as we have signaled that we're not that interested in this region that particularly Russia has taken advantage of that I think China is going to be less swayed by the day to day to. Article positioning in presence of the u.s. What we're really talking about here is an administration still not sure how to assess the importance of Africa to our national security I think that's really what's at play here so in the 1st instance the view is that we should be focused more on Russia and China in those theaters right in Europe in Asia etc And the 2nd one is well if there is terrorism in Africa or if Russia makes gains in Africa does that really affect the u.s. Bottom line and it seems to me that this conversation of does Africa matter does terrorism threaten the homeland these questions seem to be really the backdrop of all of these debates in discussions around how do we allocate our resources well let's talk about some of the threats because if we're talking about al Qaeda and I asked this so-called Islamic state it appears to me that we would be better off countering these threats in the region before they get strong enough to hit the u.s. Homeland but Josh what let's look at these threats there's a veritable alphabet soup of groups that m u j w a j and I am I was reading about they're either affiliated with a.q.i.m. That would be the Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb the so-called Islamic state talk a bit about the groups that are on the ground sure so primarily you can lump them in 2 buckets so there is al Qaeda associated groups and there is ISIS associated groups the Al Qaeda there's more al Qaeda associated groups and I would argue they're more effective although the ISIS groups are also unfortunately becoming more effective traditionally in this region you really only have one primary terrorist organization a.q.i.m. Al Qaeda in these Islamic Magreb which itself came from an Algerian terrorist organization but now you have this intense proliferation so you do have this alphabet soup that you reference and there's potentially around a 10 or a dozen discrete terrorist organizations operating now in the same hell and again there are operational. Abilities are on a spectrum but they are increasingly effective particularly this coalition group this Jane him group that you referenced again this is made up of 4 different groups that came together it's led by a.q.i.m. a Pledges allegiance to the emir of a.q.i.m. And they are responsible for the lion's share of violent attacks and fatalities in the region I referenced earlier that violent incidents have doubled every single year since 2015 fatalities about the same as well doubling every year since 2015 and $1.00 country in particular Kenya Faso they had virtually no terror problems 567 years ago and now they're suffering scores of attacks every year so that just gives a sense of the escalation here and this seriousness of the problem now these African terrorist groups traditionally will speak a strong game about the United States and threatening yet but they really haven't had the capacity to attack but the great lesson to me one of the great lessons of 911 was that if you allow groups like this to have safe haven unmolested they will eventually turn their attention farther afield if I can just add to Josh's point because I see these groups as really the most for middle extremist groups that operate right now in sub-Saharan Africa they remind me of sort of its heyday and I'll explain a little bit why and Josh touched on it 1st of all it's a coalition of groups as is just mentioned several different elements that work together under the Jane and banner but important to note at least until very recently reports they have worked with ISIS so these big global network distinctions haven't so far really made much of a difference in terms of what's actually happening on the ground in fact the leader of ISIS greater Sahara is a former 2 commander who just had served as a personnel dispute and went on to the it went over to make his own group so multi-group cooperation between ISIS and a.q. The Jane. Faction it's multi-ethnic it's twice it's Arab It's Fulani we understand from Human Rights Watch reports that they preach of Bomba which is the predominant language of Southern Mali they preach in Moray which is the language of the mosques in Burkina so their aspirations are not sort of constrained by a particular geography or ethnicity which is the next point that it's not just in Mali it's not just in the Jarrett's in Burkina but also attacks in northern binning attack in coastal town Grandison and Cote d'Ivoire so very expansive but I think it's really interesting about them is that they're both high tech and low tech Yes they'll do machete attacks and I'll get on motorbikes and but they're also doing attacks like the u.n. Facilities back in April of 2018 they painted one of their trucks white as a u.n. Truck and went right into the airport in Timbuktu and blew it up I visited a couple months later and they're so good at finding divisions within communities either exploiting them or creating them and then the able to make what is an extremist attack a much more local intra communal fight and so that's what makes me most concerned about this group is how effective they are finding opportunities in the social fabric in West Africa we'll have more in just a moment but 1st you're listening to Encounter on The Voice of America my guests are Judge government from whom you just heard he's director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Joshua Missouri he's a senior policy analyst for Africa and the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation and we're analyzing the terrorism threat in West Africa as the United States contemplates retreating from the region this is a reminder that our encounter podcast is available for free download on our website at the News dot com slash encounter we also follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook at Carol Castiel v.o.a. Well here's a shout out to a loyal encounter listener fun as the Big Gay Hulu from Kwazulu-Natal South Africa . If you want to hear your name and home country on the air please send an e-mail to encounter at v.o.a. News dot com or like us and leave a comment on our Facebook page so back to our discussion about terrorism threats in West Africa and u.s. Policy back to you Joshua misery let's talk about the factors that are driving these threats to what extent they are homegrown To what extent they are being stoked even more by perhaps fighters coming back from the Middle East fleeing Syria in the wake of the demise of at least the so-called Caliphate of the Islamic state what are the various factors at play yes I think you can actually trace the escalation in the hell back to the fall of more Gadhafi in Libya when that happened there were highly trained well armed who were it's a very large tribe that spans a salary and they returned home to northern Mali essentially and in northern Mali they joined both secessionist groups which have a long running history in that region but also terrorist organizations and they brought a certain capacity and again weapons with them and weapons didn't just come with it but they made it into these a listen that works and spread throughout the region even up into the Middle East and down sub-Saharan Africa so you saw a real escalation in violence in Mali that took a French intervention to push back as it moved south towards the capital Bamako But the problem was never solved and it's just metastasized and so now it's spilled over the borders and Mali it may not have as many violent incidents now as perhaps Burkina does or some other countries but it still remains the hot bed and sort of volcano that's spewing out this this instability and unfortunately the government embalm a Co It is a basket case frankly and until there is an effective competent honest government in bomb a ko the best outside intervention can