U.S. eyes Algeria as key partner in war on terror

[Al-khiyal]

Dimanche 4 mars 2007 - - L’Algérie n’a jamais accepté l’installation de bases étrangères sur son sol et n’est pas près de l’accepter, a déclaré hier le ministre des Affaires étrangères, Mohamed Bedjaoui, interviewé par la Chaîne III. «Le territoire algérien n’est pas concerné par le commandement américain projeté.

L’Algérie n’a jamais accepté l’installation de bases étrangères sur son sol (qui seraient) incompatibles avec sa souveraineté et son indépendance», a ajouté le ministre en réaction aux spéculations sur l’accueil du siège de l’Africom, le commandement régional Maghreb-Sahel que les Etats- Unis veulent établir au sud du Sahara pour lutter contre le terrorisme.

Pour rappel, le Jeune Indépendant a été le premier organe à avoir publié, le 3 janvier dernier, un télégramme informant qu’«Alger ne devrait pas accueillir le siège de l’Africom malgré les insistantes sollicitations des Etats-Unis».

Baptisé Africom et indépendant de l’Eurocorp, le centre de commandement, dont le projet est en cours d’approbation par le président George W. Bush, sera chargé principalement de missions de lutte contre le terrorisme, en plus des actions classiques d’aides humanitaires.

Grâce à la mise en place de l’Africom, les militaires américains disposeront d’un dispositif mieux organisé qui leur permettra d’opérer des actions préventives facilitant par la suite les actions politiques du gouvernement américain.

M. Bedjaoui a par ailleurs souligné que l’Algérie «mène avec les Etats-Unis une coopération féconde, jugée profitable» en matière de lutte contre le terrorisme. Après avoir rappelé que l’Algérie avait «souffert du terrorisme qu’elle avait combattu seule et dans l’indifférence» internationale dans les années 1990, il a souligné qu’Alger appliquait une politique de solidarité dans ce domaine avec les pays touchés par le terrorisme.

Lors d’une conférence tenue le 6 février dernier à Dakar placée sous l’égide du Partenariat transsaharien (TSCTP), les Etats-Unis avaient fait officiellement état d’un projet de création d’un commandement chargé de l’Afrique au Pentagone afin de prévenir l’implantation de groupes terroristes dans les zones transfrontalières au Sahara et au Maghreb.

Les chefs d’état-major des armées du Tchad, du Mali, de la Mauritanie, du Maroc, du Niger, du Nigeria, du Sénégal et de la Tunisie étaient présents à la réunion de Dakar. L’Algérie était représentée par un officier de l’état-major, mais pas par le chef d’état-major de l’ANP, le général de corps d’armée Ahmed Gaïd Salah.

La sous-secrétaire d’Etat américaine pour la diplomatie publique, Karen Hughes, avait évoqué la création de cette nouvelle structure militaire lors d’une visite à Alger, qui s’est achevée la semaine dernière. M. Bedjaoui a réitéré, hier, ce qu’il avait déjà déclaré à la sous-secrétaire d’Etat américaine, à savoir que le projet de création d’un commandement américain au sud du Sahara «est une question propre aux Etats-Unis».

«L’Algérie n’acceptera pas l’installation d’une base étrangère sur son sol quel que soit le pays qui le lui demanderait», a souligné le ministre. UMA : l’Algérie n’est pas responsable du blocage Interrogé sur l’origine du blocage de la constriction de l’UMA, M. Bedjaoui a démenti qu’Alger soit responsable du blocage du processus de construction de l’Union du Maghreb arabe (UMA - Mauritanie, Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie, Libye).

Le conflit du Sahara occidental n’en est pas la cause, a-t-il ajouté. «On tente de faire accréditer la thèse que c’est le problème du Sahara occidental qui entrave le processus d’édification maghrébine, or nul n’ignore que ce problème existait déjà avant la création de l’UMA en 1989 et qu’il avait été convenu, lors de la création de cet ensemble régional, de laisser à l’ONU le règlement de la question sahraouie, a ajouté le ministre.

M. Bedjaoui a ensuite réaffirmé que l’Algérie était pour une «solution conforme à la légalité internationale et au droit à l’audotermination du peuple sahraoui» du conflit du Sahara occidental qui dure depuis 1975. «L’UMA fait partie de nos aspirations les plus profondes.

Elle constitue un choix stratégique pour l’Algérie», a déclaré M. Bedjaoui, ajoutant que l’Algérie était parmi les pays membres de l’organisation à avoir ratifié le plus de conventions maghrébines. La constriction de l’UMA est en panne depuis 1994, date de son dernier sommet régional.

Les cinq partenaires avaient échoué en mai 2005 dans leur tentative de tenir un sommet à Tripoli pour relancer le processus de construction maghrébine.

Le ministre des Affaires étrangères rend public le refus d’accueillir le siège de l’Africom :
L’Algérie n’accepte pas de bases étrangères sur son sol

[Al-khiyal]

Lundi 5 mars 2007 - - Notre ministre des Affaires étrangères a fini par mettre fin aux rumeurs sur l’éventualité d’une base militaire américaine sur le sol national, récupéré au bout d’énormes sacrifices, dont la dernière vague libératrice nous a coûté 1 500 000 martyrs.

En réalité, la mondialisation, le Grand Moyen-Orient, le bifteck de l’Oncle Sam, et toutes ces choses-là, cela a chez nous des lignes rouges qu’il serait hasardeux de franchir. «L’Algérie n’a jamais accepté l’installation de bases étrangères sur son sol», car c’est «incompatible avec notre souveraineté et notre indépendance que nous avons chèrement acquises», déclarait M. Mohamed Bedjaoui.

C’est simple et sans ambiguïté ! Pour nous, comme pour les peuples de la région, cela ne peut être que rassurant ! Lorsqu’elle se trouvait dans le pétrin, l’Algérie n’a pas pensé à combattre le terrorisme au-delà de ses frontières sur le sol américain ou sur une quelconque autre partie du monde ! Pourquoi donc notre pays devrait-il servir d’arène à une guerre dont il n’y a que Dieu pour savoir quand elle prendra fin.

Une guerre destinée à stopper et à fixer le terrorisme loin des Etats-unis afin que le citoyen américain continue à bénéficier d’une vie paisible, loin des incendies que ses dirigeants allument dans les continents tiers-mondistes. En Algérie, nous n’avons pas besoin de rallumer le feu, nous avons un besoin pressant de paix, d’autant que la volonté nationale privilégie les solutions qui éliminent le terrorisme pacifiquement.

Les Algériens ont suffisamment souffert de la guerre, elle n’a fait que les affaiblir ! Ils ne vivaient que drames et destructions, leur pays, devenu aphone, ne rayonnait plus. L’Algérie faisait figure de proie facile à domestiquer.

D’où les inquiétudes nées des rumeurs sur l’installation d’une base militaire américaine dans notre Sahara. Des inquiétudes qui traduisent, en réalité, le manque de confiance des Algériens en leurs dirigeants. Les Algériens en arrivaient à douter de la fermeté du pouvoir dans ses rapports face aux puissances étrangères.

Il est vrai que l’Algérie, telle une vaincue, n’osait plus afficher ses positions concernant les causes sur lesquelles elle était intransigeante naguère, y compris la Palestine. Aujourd’hui, ce sont les américains qui nous font vivre un phénomène nouveau.

Là où ils sont, le terrorisme et le pétrole avancent tels deux rails d’une même voie ferrée. Et avec les nouvelles découvertes, l’Afrique du nord s’avère être une région qui regorge de pétrole, alors que ses côtes ouest sont plus proches du continent américain que les terminaux du Proche-Orient.

Il devient alors normal que les américains pensent à assurer la sécurité des approvisionnements. Mais Washington doit savoir qu’à l’époque la rumeur donnait la base de Mers El-Kébir comme convoitée par l’ex-URSS. Les américains doivent se souvenir qu’en revanche l’évacuation des troupes coloniales françaises s’y était faite précocement.

De toutes façons, dans l’Algérie d’aujourd’hui, le terrorisme se fait moins tatillon : une attaque à Bouchaoui contre les intérêts américains, puis une autre à Aïn Defla contre les intérêts russes. L’équilibre y est, pourrait rétorquer M. Bedjaoui !

L’Algérie, une arène ?

[Al-khiyal]

Unity of the African continent, favored for decades by political intellectuals like Kwame Nkrumah, might happen eventually - not because of theories, but rather because of a common interest in political reform and economic integration, a panel of Africa experts said recently.

"A new era is dawning for Africa - with itself and with new partners," Algerian Ambassador Amine Kherbi told a February 28 panel at Washington's Howard University on "Bridging the Divide Between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa."

Despite geographic and trade barriers imposed by Europeans, the new Africa will have freer trade, easier travel and more democracy, lessening "the trend toward marginalization in this era of globalization," said Kherbi, who began his 40-year diplomatic career specializing in sub-Saharan African affairs.

The discussion was sponsored by Howard University's Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center and the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa. The Africa Society is a seven-year-old advocacy organization seeking closer ties between the United States and the continent.

Acknowledging the traditional divide between northern, mainly Muslim Maghreb states and the other 47 nations of mainly animist and Christian sub-Saharan Africa, Kherbi said, "We also have a horizontal as well as vertical divide."

This means it is sometimes more convenient to fly to Europe first in order to get from Tunisia to neighboring Morocco, he said. Even trade between Algeria and its neighbors is far less than that with Europe, despite the fact that European products need to be shipped by sea or air to reach the continent.

For Kherbi, the integration of Africa, economically and politically, is not a question of "if" but "when." Trade and travel barriers eventually will be overcome, he said, as integration occurs, driven by a public demand for prosperity that only open markets can deliver.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield agreed with Kherbi that on major issues like health, education and good governance, policy toward the continent should be "approached holistically." But on a day-to-day basis, she said, the State Department's Africa Bureau tends to focus on bilateral or country-to-country relations.

That said, she added: "We do not ignore regional relationships. We work very closely with the African Union [AU], in which the North African countries are equal members. The Africa Bureau also has strong working relationships with ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States] IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and SADC [Southern African Development Community]."

Certain U.S. policies are targeted toward sub-Saharan Africa, the American diplomat acknowledged. For example, 12 out of 15 countries in President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) are in Africa. In addition, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) currently grants 38 eligible sub-Saharan countries favorable trade benefits.

But northern African countries are covered by other initiatives like the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), she said. As with other programs, like those under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), "there is no distinction between countries north or south of the Sahara."

Touching on security matters, Thomas-Greenfield said "the nations of sub-Saharan Africa are home to many Muslims - along with Christians and animists. While we are aware of the issue of Islamic fundamentalism, most notably now in Somalia, for the most part the Muslims of sub-Saharan Africa are conservative, not extremist or fundamentalist."

One result is crossborder cooperation with the United States on initiatives like the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI), which has prevented large areas of desert from becoming safe havens for terrorist groups.

On the political side, Ghanaian Ambassador Kwame Bawuah-Edusei said the good news is that "good governance and democracy are now universally acknowledged as the most rapid way to achieving progress."

Good governance and democracy require "more active participation of the private sector," which, he said, will lead to falling trade barriers, direct transportation links and reduced government bureaucracy.

A driving engine to that process, Kherbi said, is the economic plan called the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). This road map for prosperity, formulated by African heads of state, emphasizes private-sector-led growth in combination with lowered corruption and increased transparency in governance.

NEPAD's "peer review mechanism is accelerating the democratic process," the diplomat pointed out, and is "acting as a bridge toward integrating all of Africa into the global economy."

While critical to Africa's future well-being, he added, democracy "is also vital to the security of the United States and should be looked on as a whole, especially concerning important issues like terrorism and economic development."

Africa: Democracy, economic reform bridge north-south divide in Africa

[Al-khiyal]

"Algerian territory is absolutely not concerned with the settlement of the United States' regional command for Africa (Africom)," Algerian Foreign Minister Mohamed Bedjaoui has declared recently in an interview on the national radio, noting that Algeria has never accepted any installation of foreign military bases on its soil.

In view of the multiplication of exchanges between Algeria and the U.S. in recent years, Bedjaoui's statement on Africom is bound to attract attention from all corners.

According to analysts, Algeria's refusal to host Africom is logical, which can be explained by the following factors:

First of all, African countries such as Algeria still doubt the real intentions of Washington of creating Africom under the pretext of fighting against terrorism.

The 1990s, when terrorism was rampant in Algeria, were described by Algerians as the "dark decade" which claimed more than 150,000 lives, excluding considerable material loss.

Algeria "suffered tragically as a result of terrorism" and fought "alone" against this scourge during that time, emphasized Bedjaoui, adding that his country emerged "victorious" at the cost of considerable loss at both human and material level.

People are naturally wondering why U.S. is in such haste today to "strengthen cooperation with Algeria in the field of fighting against terrorism" whereas Algeria's security situation has improved.

Observers think that apart from fighting against terrorism, Washington is also seeking to increase its influence in Africa and covet the continent's rich natural resources, such as oil.

Secondly, Algeria, which attaches great importance to its national sovereignty and independence, does not accept interference from outsiders.

After an armed struggle with more than 50 insurrections against colonization for more than a century, Algerians won their national independence in 1962, with a big number of fallen martyrs in the battle fields.

Algeria still considers the presence of foreign military bases on its soil as "incompatible" with its national sovereignty and independence, the minister noted during the interview. This declaration gave credence to perception that Algeria can not give up at all to short term interests. Put in another way, it is clear that Algier's security cooperation with Washington exists notably in personnel training and it seems there is a limit that cannot be over stepped.

Thirdly, Algeria as a Muslim country is dissatisfied with U.S. actions in the Middle East, for numerous cases, under the pretext of fighting against terrorism. The painful reality in the Middle East can only strengthen Algerians' doubts on the U.S. motives for creating Africom.

Moreover, North African countries, including Algeria, are situated at the junction between the African and the European continents, and also link the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, which underlines their weight on the geo-strategy level. World's powers are trying to strengthen their presence in this region.

It is therefore logical and reasonable for Algeria, an important nonaligned country, to conduct a balanced cooperation with all, in order to avoid becoming a tool of rivalry between powers. What Algeria needs as a priority now, according to the analysts, is a stable and favorable external environment for a quick recovery of its economy which has been seriously affected by terrorism.

Analysis: Why Algeria rules out hosting Africom on its territory

[Al-khiyal]

The US plan to set up its African Command has been unpleasant and out of sorts from the very beginning. An ediorial carried by the Gabonese newspaper "Reporter" has appealed to African countries to say "no" to the US African Command and not to partake in any activities for the construction of any US military facility on the African continent. Meanwhile, the Algerian government also announced its refusal to allow the US Africa Command to locate within its territories.

US President George W. Bush gave green light to a plan to set up the US African command in February 2007. According to the plan, the Command is set to complete and go into service in 2008. The United States had reportedly intended to build it in Algeria but it was turned down, so it had to relocate it in Stuttgart, Germany for the time being.

The United States claimed that the main purpose of establishing its African Command was to fight the war on terror and provide a humanitarian aid. African countries, however, hold that it has harbored with "ulterior motives." Mohamed Bedjaoui, the Algerian minister of state and foreign affairs, questioned that why no one had ever proposed for any anti-terror cooperation with Algeria in the 1990s when terrorist violence went rampant and wrought great havoc? Some analysts hold that the destabilization of the situation in the Middle East region has beefed up the US's dependence on African oil resources. To protect its potential oil interests in Africa is precisely a major reason for the U.S. to set up its African Command.

Even as the Americans asserted their US military forces have come to Africa to combat terrorist activities, African countries are still concerned that the US African Command could become an destabilizing factor in their countries instead of helping to uproot terrorism. In both Afghanistan and the whole Middle East region, the US military forces, hoisting high the banner of anti-terrorism, only plunged these areas into a prolonged turmoil, with their followers enduring repeated terrorist attacks. The Algerian newspaper "Reporter" warned the African countries that "they should wake up after seeing the scars of others." Furthermore, the countries having been under the yoke of a prolonged colonial abyss are also worried about their state sovereignty to be encroached upon.

Americans, having a complex sense of self-arrogance or self-importance, often seem to act in line with their own wishful thinking. Their embarrassment in an initial plan period to set up the US African Command has once again added an obvious, new evidence. Perhaps only by capitalizing on the advantage of its might, the United States would perhaps be able to find a seat for its command on the African continent. However, the role of the African Command will remain doubtful, if it does not taken into fuller account of the desires of African nations and truly serve the stability and development of the African continent.

U.S. embarrassment in Africa

[Al-khiyal]

WASHINGTON (American Forces Press Service, March 15, 2007) - The United States is keeping a watchful eye on developments in North Africa to ensure terrorists don't gain a foothold there, a senior U.S. military officer said in remarks provided to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee at a hearing here today.

The Defense Department is participating in the U.S. State Department's Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorism Partnership, Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock stated, because of concern that Islamic terrorist organizations like al Qaeda may use ungoverned areas of North Africa to gain new recruits and train for future attacks.

Craddock is chief of U.S. European Command. Headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, the command is responsible for large swaths of Africa, as well as Europe. African nations that now fall under EUCOM's purview will be transferred to the new U.S. Africa Command that's scheduled to stand up October 1.

"Like all combatant commands, EUCOM is dealing with terrorism in all its forms," Craddock stated.

In northern Africa, "al Qaeda-affiliated groups exploit ungoverned spaces to gain sanctuary, recruit, indoctrinate, train, equip, transit and mount operations," Craddock said. "The Trans-Sahara region, in particular, offers sanctuary to Islamic extremist terrorists, smugglers of drugs and contraband and insurgent groups."

There's evidence that al Qaeda has stepped up recruitment of North Africans to carry out attacks against U.S., coalition and pro-Iraqi government forces in Iraq, the general said.

The DoD-State Department initiative in North Africa "strengthens regional counterterrorism capabilities and assists participating nations in halting the illegal flow of arms, goods and people through the region," Craddock said. He noted that Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria and Tunisia are participating in the initiative.

The U.S. military contribution to TSCTP is called Operation Enduring Freedom Trans-Sahara, Craddock said.

"The military component (of TSCTP) utilizes special operations forces to train partners on the conduct of counter-terrorism operations," he explained. The program also helps participants get better control of their territory and prevents terrorist groups from using large, open areas as safe havens.

Globalization and modern communications systems enable terrorists to establish networks anywhere in the world, Craddock pointed out, noting, "the damage individual states or groups within those states can do is unprecedented."

However, the DoD-State Department anti-terror program in North Africa has the potential to produce significant results, and at modest cost, Craddock said.

"It can be a powerful brake on future terrorist expansion," he said.

U.S. military targets terrorism in North Africa

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria says it won't allow U.S. command

Bouteflika: “The U.S. didn’t request the setting up of a military command in Algeria”