No Welcome Mat for Afrikom

It was conceived by Donald Rumsfeld and that alone might go some way to explaining why Arican nations have been stubbornly unwilling to allow American forces a toehold on their continent.

Afrikom (actually “AfriCom” or Africa Command) is a tribute to America’s too little, too late attitude to Africa; Washington’s foreign affairs disasters in the Middle East; and the dramatic spread of Chinese influence into many African countries. Africans now know that the kindly grandma with the big teeth really is a wolf after all.

Africa has become of great strategic interest to the United States. A quarter of America’s imported oil comes from Nigeria and Angola. And the Chinese are going into overdrive to tie up Africa’s vast natural resources. Suddenly Africa matters – a lot.

It’s a tale of bungled diplomacy and an awfully bad reputation. From the Washington Post:

“With its headquarters on the continent, liaison groups of 20 to 30 military personnel
established in key countries and U.S. units brought in to help with development and relief tasks, the command was envisioned as an example to Africans of how their own armed forces and civilians could work together for the good of their nations.
The trouble was, no one consulted the Africans. “Very little was really known by the majority of people or countries in Africa who were supposed to know before such a move was made,” said retired Kenyan army Lt. Gen. Daniel Opande. Worry swept the continent that the United States planned major new military installations in Africa.

“If you know the politics of Africa,” said Opande, who has headed U.N. peacekeeping forces in Sierra Leone and Liberia, “you know there are certain very powerful countries who said, no, we are not interested in having a headquarters here.” South Africa and Nigeria were among them, and their resistance helped persuade others.”

“I think everyone thought it would be widely greeted as something positive,” the Africom officer said. “But you suddenly have wide publics that have no idea what we’re talking about. . . . It was seen as a massive infusion of military might onto a continent that was quite proud of having removed foreign powers from its soil.”

The United States “equates terrorism with Islam,” senior Kenyan diplomat Bethuel Kiplagat said, and few African governments wanted to be seen as inviting U.S. surveillance on their own people.”

AfriKom is set to go into business on October 1st. For the foreseeable future it’ll have to look on Africa from a distance, from its headquarters in Stuttgart.

 

AfriCom Really Is AfriKom After All

The US Army’s newest overseas command, AfriCom, is getting a rough reception from most African leaders. In fact, only Liberia has offered to host American military installations on that continent.

When the Pentagon first began scouting for basing privileges in host nations, it assured them that AfriCom – make that AfriKom – would have a humanitarian, not a military focus. They expressly assured all and sundry they wouldn’t be using AfriKom to hunt down Islamists in those lands.

What sharp teeth you have, Grandma!

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, in a move destined to set the Pentagon and White House wolves howling, has come right out and said that AfriKom’s focus is military, not humanitarian:

In a key briefing to Congress on 13 March, General William “Kip” Ward, head of the US Command for Africa, AFRICOM, devoted only 15 seconds of his four-and-a-half minute opening remarks to a possible humanitarian role.

Focusing instead on military training, security and counter-terrorism, his remarks came in sharp contrast to a year ago when officials announced that the command would concentrate on humanitarian assistance, alarming many aid agencies, which were concerned that US military involvement in humanitarian aid would undermine their neutrality.

The UN is concerned about AfriKom stepping on the toes of humanitarian NGOs operating in Africa. Many African leaders, however, are more worried about AfriKom stepping on their necks.

Now that the US is relying on Africa for an increasing share of its imported oil and with the recent appearance of China in competition for African resources, the Dark Continent has come in for much more attention from Washington. Given what they’ve seen happen elsewhere in the world, that has a lot of African leaders openly questioning why they need, or would want, the US Army there anyway?

 

No Welcome Mat for Africa Command

It looks as though the US military’s Africa Command will be headquartered in Germany for the time being.

The latest US military command, created last October, has been unable to find an African nation, save for Liberia, willing to accommodate it. According to Voice of America, several African countries have “expressed reservations about having AFRICOM on the continent, claiming it could signal an expansion of American influence there.”

“… it’s the military component of AFRICOM that seems to be the problem for Africans. The Southern African Development Community, or SADC, has said it will not welcome American forces on any of its member country’s territory.”

Observers say some African nations worry AfriKom may be a Trojan Horse to insinuate American military muscle onto the continent.