The United States has vital interests on the African continent and will protect those interests in concert with African nations, said the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Africa during an interview earlier this month.

Maureen Farrell emphasized that Africa — with more than 1.5 billion people in 54 nations who speak hundreds of languages and have hundreds of cultures — is a diverse continent where a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

Still, Farrell said there are commonalities. Nations in some sub-regions and particular climate belts share concerns, and often the U.S. government works with the nations in all aspect of government — from the economy to diplomacy to security and more, she said.

But all of this is done “based on the feedback from our African colleagues, as opposed to what might make sense from a policy maker’s desk here in Washington, where if you haven’t worked on Africa in depth, it can all blend together without the nuance that one clearly needs to understand to be effective,” she said.

Listening and engaging with African leaders is an important part of Farrell’s job, and it is also an important aspect of the strategy of Marine Corps Gen. Michael Langley, commander of U.S. Africa Command. Farrell and Langley and Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., just returned from the African Chiefs of Defense Conference held in Gaborone, Botswana, where they did listen to and engage with African leaders.

“It was a fantastic opportunity for the chairman and the combatant commander to hear directly from their uniformed counterparts at a very senior level,” Farrell said. The two U.S. leaders, along with Farrell, were able to hold many bilateral talks with African chiefs of defense and have focused discussions. The discussions on West Africa were particularly important, she said, as Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso following recent coups have withdrawn from the Economic Community of West African States.

“There are some interesting politics and threat information at play in terms of the withdrawal of these three states from ECOWAS,” she said. The African nations in the region and beyond, Farrell said, are looking at the political implications of those policy decisions for the uniformed military services in the region.

African leaders very much want African solutions to African problems, Farrell said, and many nations are working together. She noted that two constellations of nations offered different approaches to the troubles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Southern African Development Community has sent peacekeeping forces to the Eastern region of Congo. SADC is also sending peacekeepers to Mozambique where an ISIS-affiliated uprising has killed thousands since 2017 and displaced more than 800,000.

African nations are also working together in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia.

“These are all African-led initiatives,” Farrell said. “There are plenty of examples of African leadership on security solutions.”

One continent-wide problem is climate change. The Sahara is growing, and the Sahel nations are feeling that effect, Farrell said. This has meant increased migration and struggles for resources from water to food to energy.

“The expansion of the Sahel is posing resiliency challenges for the people of the Sahel and coastal West Africa and the broader the West African region.” Farrell said. “The drought problems afflicting the Horn of Africa are creating increased security pressures. Add to this the economic challenges from the global food crisis caused by the Russia and Ukraine war. All these issues have squeezed systems in Africa.”

She said the continent is also still feeling the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic. “All of these economic challenges create friction in societies that makes easy fodder for conflict,” she said. “I think our security service counterparts on the continent are very cognizant of the pressure of resource constraints and what that creates in terms of security challenges for them. So, it’s a reality that we’re acknowledging as a factor in a spark for conflict, usually over water.”

She pointed to Lake Chad — a main source of water for Niger, Chad and Nigeria — as an example. The lake has dramatically diminished in size in recent years placing enormous economic and political pressures on these countries. “If you look over time at the size of Lake Chad, you can see it has shrunk in a matter of years, not multiple decades, but just a handful of years,” she said.

The future in Africa involves more African leadership, Farrell said. The United States is listening to and deferring to African leaders. “Our African colleagues are leading, and I think that’s only going to grow,” she said. “I think the challenge for us in Washington and for our partners and allies is to appropriately support those mechanisms, as opposed to asserting our own particular worldview.”

Africa has its challenges, but it has opportunities as well. She noted that Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are investing in the continent. India, Japan and South Korea are active economically and diplomatically with African nations. “These are dynamics that I think we have to pay attention to,” she said. “There’s no question that the rest of the globe sees the importance of the continent, and not just for resource extraction, but for diplomatic maneuvering, and economic investment. Those are trends that I think have to be part of the consideration for DOD.”

China and Russia are also interested in expanding influence on the continent. “We recognize that Africans have a choice, and we are choosing to engage with African partners for our mutual benefit,” Farrell said. “It’s part of the landscape that there are other actors engaged. We’re interested in partnering with countries such as Angola, with Kenya, with Cote d’Ivoire, with Nigeria and with many others, because of the importance that we place on these bilateral relationships, and in many cases, those countries’ roles in the broader region.”

“There could be threats emanating from some of those other actors’ [China and Russia] engagements on the continent, but in general, our priority is to engage with African partners for our own mutual benefit,” she continued.