The Foundation for Peace Professionals PeacePro has strongly opposed the United States’ plan to conduct airstrikes against terrorist targets across Africa, warning that foreign military interventions have historically escalated conflicts rather than resolved them.
This opposition follows a statement by Gen. James Hecker, Commander of U.S. Air Forces, Europe and Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA), who announced during a digital press conference at the 2025 African Air Chiefs’ Symposium (AACS) in Lusaka, Zambia, that the U.S. military would continue targeting terrorist groups like ISIS in Africa.
According to Gen. Hecker, such airstrikes are necessary to eliminate high-value terrorist threats that endanger both African nations and the United States.
Reacting to the announcement, PeacePro’s Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Hamzat,in a statement made available to journalists in Ilorin, at the weekend rejected any form of foreign military intervention on African soil.
Hamzat, also noted in the statement that the NATO-led intervention, backed by the U.S., led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi but plunged Libya into chaos, civil war, and a breeding ground for terrorist groups like ISIS.
He also urged the United States to shift its Africa policy toward economic partnerships, conflict prevention, and intelligence-sharing, instead of launching military operations.