Obama directs funds to fight terrorists in Africa

8/11/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

EDGARTOWN, Mass.  — President Obama is directing $10 million in emergency Pentagon spending to help fight terrorists in northern Africa.

Obama made the order today from his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast.

He wrote to the secretaries of Defense 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.