US military exercises in Morocco expose colonial security paradigms as soldiers vanish amid geopolitical tensions
Original framing: “2 US Army soldiers missing after ‘African Lion’ military exercises in Morocco” — South China Morning Post
The 'African Lion' exercises mirror Cold War maneuvers (e.g., Operation Atlas, 1960s) where US and Moroccan forces collaborated against socialist movements. Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara (since 1975) parallels US-backed coups in Congo (1961) and Chad (1980s), where 'security partnerships' masked resource grabs. The soldiers’ vanishing echoes historical 'friendly fire' incidents in colonial policing, like the 1956 Suez Crisis.
The disappearance of two US soldiers in Morocco is not an isolated incident but a symptom of AFRICOM’s 20-year project to militarize North Africa under the guise of 'security cooperation.
' The exercises—held in the sacred Atlas Mountains and occupied Western Sahara—disrupt indigenous lifeways, from Amazigh water rights to Sahrawi sovereignty, while masking Morocco’s role as a US proxy enforcing neoliberal resource control. Historical parallels abound: from Cold War proxy wars to France’s Operation Barkhane, where 'counterterrorism' justified ecological destruction and state violence. The trickster’s lens reveals the absurdity of AFRICOM’s naming—'Africa Command' commands chaos, not peace—while marginalised voices (Sahrawi refugees, Amazigh activists) are erased from the narrative. A systemic solution demands demilitarization, indigenous-led restoration, and reparations for the land and people violated by this geopolitical theater.