Special to WorldTribune.com

North Africa militaries are the first line of defense and the United States is working with them to fight the growing threat from Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), U.S. Africa Command’s top general said.

At a June 12 press conference at AFRICOM’s base in Stuttgart, Germany with reporters from Tunisia and Morocco, Gen. David Rodriguez said “unfortunately, that (Islamic State) has expanded across northern Africa, coming out of mainly Libya, but also across all of north Africa.”

Rodriguez pledged that AFRICOM would work to train the region’s militaries as ISIL has spread beyond Syria and Iraq and into Libya.

“That threat continues to grow,” Rodriguez said. “We’re working with all our partners to help minimize the negative effect on the security of host nations.”

Rodriguez said AFRICOM had plans to build up Libya’s military, but that won’t happen until the country forges a unity government. Currently, there are two competing governments and several militia groups battling for power in Libya.

Asked if AFRICOM was considering relocating its HQ to northern Africa, Rodriguez said not “for the foreseeable future.”

Rodriguez emphasized that the main mission of AFRICOM is training militaries to provide for their own defense, “African solutions for African problems.”

  AFRICOM chief: ISIL threat ‘has expanded across all of North Africa’, Gen.David Rodriguez, U.S. Africa Command, WorldTribune.com