US President Barack Obama makes a statement at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on August 20, 2014. The United States has carried out more air strikes in Iraq, a senior US defense official said, as Islamic militants threaten to execute a second US journalist. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM
August 10, 2014
Obama directs funds to fight terrorists in North Africa
EDGARTOWN, Massachusetts (AP) — President Barack Obama is directing $10 million in emergency Pentagon spending to help fight terrorists in northern Africa.
Obama made the order Monday from his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast.
He wrote to the secretaries of Defence and State that he’s determined an unforeseen emergency exists in Africa. He says it requires immediate military assistance to France in its efforts to secure Mali, Niger and Chad from violent extremists.
France recently launched a new military operation to fight Islamist groups, with some 3,000 troops being dispatched to Africa’s Sahel region.
