The Pentagon plans for an African Command

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June 13, 2007 -- Libya opposes a proposal by the United States to set up a military command somewhere in Africa as part of its "war on terror," the country's deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday.

"We reiterated our position that Libya rejects any foreign military presence in Libya as well as anywhere else on the African continent," Ali Abdul Salam Triki told journalists in the Libyan capital.

He was speaking after a meeting with US Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Ryan Henry, who is heading a military and diplomatic mission that is touring Africa to explain the objectives of the proposed new command.

The United States is seeking to set up what it calls the US African Command, or AFRICOM. The Henry team has already visited Algeria and Morocco, and will be heading on to Cairo, Djibouti and Addis Ababa, seat of the African Union (AU).

On Tuesday, the Moroccan foreign ministry categorically denied having proposed to host AFRICOM.

Triki insisted that what Washington should do is reinforce the AU's "security mechanisms so that they can ensure the security of the continent."

"Any partnership that would help the continent solve its own problems is welcomed," he said.

The UA has a Council of Peace and Security, which works to prevent conflict in Africa.

It also deploys troops to zones of conflict in a bid to separate warring parties, such as in Sudan's western region of Darfur, but is woefully short of resources.

Triki said his talks with Henry touched on the subject of Darfur, but he did not give any details.

Libya opposes US military command for Africa

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Mercredi 13 Juin 2007 -- Le Maroc a nié “catégoriquement”, mardi, d’avoir proposé d’abriter sur son territoire le Commandement militaire américain pour l’Afrique (Africom), dans un communiqué du ministère marocain des Affaires étrangères et de la Coopération.

“Le ministère tient à démentir catégoriquement cette information dénuée de tout fondement”, ajoute le ministère qui s’étonne que le groupe parlementaire islamiste du Parti justice et développement (PJD) ait publié, lundi, un texte où il accordait au Maroc l’intention d’abriter l’Africom. “Le ministère a pris note avec grand étonnement de la teneur du communiqué du PJD évoquant une soi-disant proposition du royaume du Maroc d’abriter l’Africom sur son territoire”, poursuit-il.

Dans un communiqué publié lundi, le groupe parlementaire islamiste du PJD indique que “le Maroc a proposé officiellement aux États-Unis d’abriter l’Africom, selon des informations de presse basées sur des rapports de centres de recherche américains”. Le PJD prévient contre le risque de voir le Maroc “devenir une terre de conflit entre les États-Unis et les organisations qui leurs sont hostiles”, en allusion aux groupes terroristes opérant en Afrique.

Les États-Unis veulent installer un commandement militaire en Afrique pour intensifier la lutte contre le terrorisme, notamment au Maghreb et dans les pays du Sahel. Le pays qui doit abriter l’Africom “n’a pas encore été désigné” jusqu’ici par les responsables américains, a déclaré lundi à Rabat le sous-secrétaire adjoint du Pentagone aux Affaires politiques, Ryan Henry, qui conduisait une délégation américaine. Ryan Henry a indiqué que l’Africom a été au centre des entretiens qu’il a eus lundi à Rabat avec les représentants des Forces armées royales (FAR) et le ministère marocain des Affaires étrangères, selon un communiqué de l’ambassade américaine. La délégation américaine doit poursuivre sa tournée à Tripoli, au Caire, à Djibouti et à Addis-Abeba, siège de l’Union africaine (UA).

Rabat nie avoir proposé d’abriter l’Africom

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Jeudi 21 juin 2007 -- Sur son site Internet, l’Eurocom, basé à Stuttgart (en Allemagne), a annoncé l’ouverture d’une rubrique pour mieux expliquer le rôle de son nouveau projet militaire en Afrique qui rencontre des résistances de certains Etats africains, dont l’Algérie et la Libye, et les appréhensions de quelques autres pays.

Selon l’Eurocom, une équipe de transition de l’Africom est installée depuis février dernier à Stuttgart, en attendant la désignation du pays africain qui voudra bien l’abriter. Elle se chargera, entre autres, de la campagne de propagande et de battage médiatique pour réunir le maximum de soutien.

Selon les rédacteurs de la page de présentation de l’Africom dans la rubrique du site de l’Eurocom, il s’agit de fournir des informations sur l’historique, l’objectif et le développement de cette équipe de transition en commandement.

«De hauts responsables ont commencé à envisager divers emplacements permanents possibles en Afrique. L’Africom devrait être opérationnel en septembre 2008», indique son équipe rédactionnelle, reprenant ce qu’avait déjà annoncé, il y a quelques jours le secrétaire adjoint américain à la Défense, Ryan Henry.

L’Africom sera responsable de l’ensemble du continent africain, à l’exception de l’Égypte qui dépend du Commandement Central, a encore rappelé la même source sur son site qui ajoute qu’à l’heure actuelle, «les responsabilités (pour l’Afrique) sont partagées entre le Commandement des États-Unis en Europe et le Commandement du Pacifique, le Commandement central».

L’Africom est présenté par le Pentagone comme un instrument servant «principalement à l’aide humanitaire, notamment en cas de désastre, ainsi que les missions de réponse aux crises», une intention récusée par des Etats africains ou mise en doute par de nombreux analystes.

Sollicitée depuis février pour accueillir l’Africom, l’Algérie, considérée par Washington comme un partenaire stratégique en Afrique, avait refusé de donner suite aux demandes qui n’ont jamais été médiatisées. Lors d’une visite effectuée le 12 juin dernier à Alger par Ryan Henry, les responsables algériens lui ont signifié que l’Algérie rejetait un tel commandement et s’en tiendrait aux mécanismes de sécurité collective de l’Union africaine.

La Libye, où le responsable américain s’était également rendu, avait elle aussi opposé son refus de l’établissement de l’Africom. Dès lors, les Etats-Unis ont lancé une campagne de prospection en Afrique pour trouver un pays d’accueil.

Le centre de commandement devrait être complètement opérationnel à la fin de septembre 2008, tandis que le commandant en chef de l’Africom devrait prendre ses fonctions avant la fin de l’année. La nomination d’un officier général à la tête du centre de commandement interviendra à la fin de l’année budgétaire, qui se termine le 30 septembre aux Etats-Unis.

Le Sénat devra ensuite entériner la désignation d’un général cinq étoiles. Le commandant en chef adjoint de l’Africom devrait être, au début, un responsable du département d’Etat, tandis que son effectif comprendra un personnel issu principalement de l’armée, du département d’Etat, des services de renseignement (CIA), de l’agence de la sécurité nationale (NSA) ainsi que d’autres ministères.

Les Etats-Unis possèdent cinq centres de commandement en Europe, en Asie et au Moyen-Orient, tandis que l’Afrique est dotée d’un sous-commandement régional dépendant du commandement général américain en Europe. En outre, l’Africom suscite des réticences de beaucoup d’observateurs qui estiment qu’il est destiné à assoire la mainmise de Washington sur l’Afrique et mieux «exploiter» ses richesses, notamment pétrolières, en évinçant des concurrents solides comme la Chine, devenue l’un des principaux consommateurs d’énergie au monde.

Le sénateur républicain Ed Royce, également vice-président de la sous-commission des affaires africaines à la chambre du Sénat, avait affirmé que «ce projet tombe au bon moment, compte tenu du fait que l’Afrique constitue un pôle stratégique important pour les Etats-Unis».

Dans la perspective de l’installation de l’Africom avant septembre 2008 :
Le Pentagone mène une opération de charme

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U.S. Department of Defense special briefing on Africa Command
with Mr. Ryan Henry, from the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington Virginia

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RABAT, Morocco, June 24, 2007 -- A U.S. delegation seeking a home for a new military command in Africa got a chilly reception during a tour of the northern half of the continent this month, running into opposition even in countries that enjoy friendly relations with the Pentagon.

Algeria and Libya separately ruled out hosting the Defense Department's planned Africa Command, known as AFRICOM, and said they were firmly against any of their neighbors doing so either. U.S. diplomats said they were disappointed by the depth of opposition, given that the Bush administration has bolstered ties with both countries on security matters in recent years.

Morocco, which has been mentioned as a possible site for the new command and is one of the strongest U.S. allies in the region, didn't roll out the welcome mat, either. After the U.S. delegation visited Rabat, the capital, on June 11, the Moroccan foreign ministry strongly denied a claim by an opposition political party that the kingdom had already offered to host AFRICOM. A ministry statement called the claim "baseless information."

Rachid Tlemcani, a professor of political science at the University of Algiers, said the stern response from North African governments was a reflection of public opposition to U.S. policies in the predominantly Muslim region.

"People on the street assume their governments have already had too many dealings with the U.S. in the war on terror at the expense of the rule of law," said Tlemcani, who is also a scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "The regimes realize the whole idea is very unpopular."

The Bush administration announced in February that it intends to create a separate military command for Africa this year. Responsibility for U.S. military operations on the continent is now divided primarily between the Central Command, based in Florida, and the European Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany.

As they search for a place to put a headquarters for the new command, U.S. officials have tried to allay concerns in Africa that the Pentagon has warlike designs in the region.

Ryan Henry, leader of the U.S. delegation and principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said the main mission for the command would be to stabilize weak or poor countries by training local security forces and doling out humanitarian aid.

"It's mostly a headquarters and planning focus," he said after meeting with Moroccan officials. "AFRICOM doesn't mean that there would be additional U.S. forces put on the continent."

Henry said no decision had been made about where to locate the command headquarters, which is expected to have 400 to 1,000 people.

During a stop in Algeria, Henry suggested that the Pentagon might "network" the command from several sites in Africa, rather than have a single headquarters. "If at all possible, that's the way we'd like to proceed," he told journalists during a briefing at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers.

Defense officials acknowledge that one reason they are paying more attention to Africa is because the continent provides an increasingly large share of the U.S. supply of imported oil and natural gas.

Bush administration officials have also touted the new command as a key part of their strategy for countering terrorism threats on the continent. Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have experienced a resurgence in North and East Africa in recent years.

A group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb asserted responsibility for simultaneous suicide attacks in Algiers in April that killed 33 people. Suicide bombers have also struck Casablanca, Morocco, on three occasions since March, including an attack on the U.S. Consulate.

Since 2003, the Pentagon has developed a regional counterterrorism partnership with several impoverished countries in North Africa, including Mali, Niger, Senegal and Chad. Defense officials say parts of the vast Sahara and neighboring regions serve as training and recruiting grounds for extremist groups, in part because local forces are unable to patrol their own territory.

Rear Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Forces in Europe and most of Africa, said the counterterrorism training programs are designed to avoid a large U.S. military presence and usually involve units of only 10 to 15 people, who spend a few months in Africa at a time.

"Some nations remain somewhat concerned about too overt of a U.S. presence in the area," McRaven said in an interview in April. "But the nature of the special operations forces is that we can come in with a very small footprint. We can do that without a lot of visibility."

The North African counterterrorism partnership is headed by the State Department and also includes economic and humanitarian aid programs delivered by civil affairs units. But Tlemcani, the Algerian political scientist, said the U.S. government needed to do much more on those fronts before taking a more prominent military role in Africa.

"The best way to build a strategic relationship is with socioeconomic programs, which haven't been funded very well," he said by telephone from Beirut.

North Africa reluctant to host U.S. command

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July 2, 2007 -- As US plans for an African command (AFRICOM) operations base forge ahead, perceptions that the base's raison d'etre is to gain control over regional oil assets and counter growing Chinese influence are growing.

While Washington is proffering AFRICOM as a largely benign organization, Africans remain wary, having seen that a US military footprint in Djibouti led to operations such as Somalia, and believe that the Pentagon could not resist intervening to protect US investments in oil producing nations such as Nigeria or Equatorial Guinea if their regimes were toppled.

Unveiled on 6 February this year, AFRICOM is slated to be fully operational by 30 September 2008. In March, a transition team, including approximately 60 staff, led by Navy Rear Admiral Robert Moeller was assembled. This team will form the core of the new command.

Previously, Africa was divided between three US Unified Combatant Commands: European Command (EUCOM), Central Command (CENTCOM) and Pacific Command (PACOM). The new AFRICOM will be responsible for the entire continent, with the exception of Egypt, which will remain under CENTCOM's responsibility.

AFRICOM's designated area of responsibility also includes the Atlantic Ocean Cape Verde, the islands of Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, as well as the Indian Ocean Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles islands.

The unit will differ from other US military commands in that it will include diplomatic, developmental and economic staffers from the outset. The Pentagon has announced that AFRICOM's deputy commander position is being reserved for a State Department staffer rather than a military officer, and that half of the command's 200 employees will not be from the Department of Defense.

As ISN Security Watch reported in February The Defense Department defines AFRICOM's mission as to promote US strategic objectives by working with African nations and indigenous organizations to help build regional stability and security, with AFRICOM's military operations primarily focused on deterring aggression and responding to crises.

The creation of a new combatant command requires changes by the president to the Unified Command Plan classified executive document, which defines the underlying organization of US armed forces and is reviewed every two years. The 2006 review recommended the establishment of AFRICOM.

The unit's founding represents a complete reversal in Pentagon strategic thinking over the last decade. In 1995, the Department of Defense in its US Security Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa stated: "Ultimately we see very little traditional strategic interest in Africa." The 7 August 1998 al-Qaida terrorist bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya quickly led to the abandonment of this line of thought.

The current US military presence in Africa is about 1,800 troops, mostly at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, established in May 2003 as part of CENTCOM's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), which began operating in October 2002. CJTF-HOA's US military and civilian personnel cover the land and airspace in Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen, as well as the coastal waters of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

There are also a number of small training teams in such areas as the Sahel and Tamanrasset, Algeria. US troops have also helped train anti-terrorism forces in Algeria, Chad, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda among other countries. The US military presence in African waters is also slowly growing, most visibly with recent naval exercises in the Gulf of Guinea designed to protect oil shipments and operations off Somalia to deter piracy.

The Defense Department's strengthening focus on Africa is epitomized in the increasing revenue directed towards its "Operation Enduring Freedom - Trans Sahara (OEF-TS)." The program is designed to support Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria and Morocco in resisting terrorism, with the revenue spent to send US troops to train with host-nation militaries and other missions. OEF-TS received US$5 million in 2005 and US$31 million in 2006, while this year's funding is US$81.7 million, and is expected to be increased to approximately US$100 million annually for 2008 through 2013, according to EUCOM statistics. OEF-TS is now under AFRICOM's supervision, along with Joint Task Force Aztec Silence, the combined arms organization assigned to implement OEF-TS' missions.....

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Orphan AFRICOM

The Pentagon reportedly plans to establish another dozen bases in the region; in Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia.

But for now, AFRICOM remains an orphan without an African home, with Algeria and Libya rejecting the idea outright, and Morocco being distinctly cool.

The Transition Team will be housed temporarily at the US Army's Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart-Mohringen, Germany until the issue can be resolved. AFRICOM initially will be a sub-unified command, subordinate to EUCOM, also based in Stuttgart, with a projected Initial Operational Capability (IOC) by October 2007. As the Defense Department continues to search for a suitable African host country, high among its concerns is providing for the safety and security of an estimated 500 American personnel and their families who will staff the command.

Ryan Henry, principal Defense Department under secretary for policy, first toured Africa in April, visiting six African countries including South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Senegal trying to drum up support for the concept. During a second round of visits earlier this month, Henry traveled to Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Djibouti and the African Union, but to little avail.

One of the greatest fears among Africans is that AFRICOM will suffer from mission creep, moving steadily away from its humanitarian aspirations towards a more distinctly interventionist role. Such fears were heightened in January when US forces with AC-130 gunships secretly operating from Ethiopia carried out at least two air strikes in Somalia, targeting suspected al-Qaida members.

In the "frequently asked questions" section of its website, AFRICOM is clearly concerned about perceptions increasingly common in Africa that its purpose might be to gain control over regional oil assets and counter growing Chinese influence. One query asks: "Is this an effort by the United States to gain access to natural resources (e.g. petroleum)? Is this in response to Chinese activities in Africa?" AFRICOM's reply: "No."

Henry told reporters that AFRICOM's purpose was not to wage war, but "to work in concert with our African partners for a more stable environment in which political and economic growth can take place," adding that another formal round of talks on AFRICOM would take place with representatives from the UK, France and other European countries sometime in the fall.

Henry's earnestness is somewhat undercut by EUCOM commander General Bantz Craddock, who last month told journalists in Washington, "You look at West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, it becomes more focused because of the energy situation," with the result that protecting energy assets "obviously is out in front."

Africans have also increasingly come to criticize AFRICOM. Michele Ruiters of Johannesburg's Business Day magazine wrote in a February op-ed piece that "It is necessary for Africans to oppose the expansion of US military power in Africa.[...] AFRICOM would destabilize an already fragile continent and region, which would be forced to engage with US interests on military terms," Ruiters wrote.

Commentaries in South Africa and Kenya have opined that AFRICOM was less about fostering African prosperity than it was an attempt to counter China's growing presence while securing access to African energy resources.

On 8 February, Kenya's The Nation wryly noted in an editorial that "Ironically, AFRICOM was announced as Chinese President Hu Jintao was touring eight African nations to negotiate deals that will enable China to secure oil flows from Africa."

A 12 April editorial in Zambia's The Post daily newspaper was even more blunt, alleging that AFRICOM was "aimed at influencing, threatening and warding off any competitors by using force," a direct reference to China's growing presence in Africa.

'Mission creep' fears

Many Africans fear that the nexus of energy, poverty and terrorism may swiftly push AFRICOM beyond its stated humanitarian objectives. The rising violence in Nigeria's Delta region may well be the rock upon which AFRICOM's humanitarian focus founders.

Since the insurgency began there in 2004, when protesting armed youths of the oil and gas region took to the creeks, violence has caused a sharp upturn in global world energy prices, with Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation sources in Port Harcourt claiming off the record that Nigeria's oil production has been reduced by nearly 40 percent because of militant activity (other sources say 25 percent).

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has dismissed AFRICOM, saying it smacks of typical American braggadocio "which has no place in the realism of living in today's world."

MEND militants have already succeeded in shutting off approximately 711,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Nigeria's daily output of 2.5 million bpd, nearly 25 percent of the country's exports. If a combination of militant attacks and general strikes completely paralyzed Nigerian production, it would seem rather unlikely that US military forces would sit by idly as oil shipments from America's third largest oil importer ground to a halt.

And oil is hardly the continent's sole export of interest to the Pentagon. US military sources estimate that up to a quarter of all foreign fighters in Iraq are from Africa, primarily from Algeria and Morocco. Such a connection makes it further unlikely that the Pentagon would stand by passively digging wells and building schools while passing up the chance of eliminating hard-core terrorists.

The lure of African oil

World attention must necessarily increasingly focus on African energy reserves, underlined by massive recent oil discoveries in Ghana (which is currently discussing hosting a US military base), Equatorial Guinea and Angola, all countries of rising US interest. Western oil giants including American companies ExxonMobil and Chevron, France's Total and Britain's BP and Royal Dutch Shell plan to invest tens of billions of dollars in sub-Saharan Africa over the next several years.

The US currently consumes about 20 million bpd. Last year 22 percent of US crude imports came from Africa, in comparison with only 15 percent in 2004; the rate now slightly exceeds US imports from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Over the last five years US oil imports from Africa have nearly doubled. The National Intelligence Council projects that African oil imports will account for 25 percent of total US imports by 2015, primarily from Gulf of Guinea countries, Nigeria and Angola. Other estimates place the percentage as high as 35 percent for the same period. Between 2004 and 2007, African oil production climbed from seven million barrels per day (bpd) to 9.5 million bpd, and a US Department of Energy study estimates that African oil production will rise 91 percent between 2002 and 2025. In March, Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, overtook Saudi Arabia as the third largest oil exporter to the US.

The region's surging oil production is occurring amid rising social tension, most notably in Nigeria. West Africa remains the most poverty stricken region in the world, with 23 West African nations sitting on the bottom of the UN human development index on poverty despite rising energy revenues.

Despite its rising prominence in US energy imports, Nigeria's continuing instability has had a marked impact on global prices. World oil rates rose above US$60 per barrel in April 2007 after Nigeria held elections widely dismissed as fraudulent and again in May 2007 after attacks on pipelines in the Niger Delta.

Despite such fluctuations, increasing focus on African energy reserves is inevitable. In his 2006 State of the Union address, President George W Bush announced his intention "to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." It is difficult to see how such a goal could be achieved without a massive increase in African oil imports.

Questioning AFRICOM's intentions