myMADRE on Africa: AFRICOM

Though President Obama ostensibly puts a high premium on transparency and also has the reputation of differing greatly from his predecessor on foreign policy, thus far he has said little on Africa.  What he has said has been largely a continuation of a Bush-era approach. This mini-series will attempt to shed some light on President Obama's Africa policy.

AFRICOM

The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) was launched by Bush in February 2007 and became operational in October 2008. Previously the African continent was divided into relationships with three different U.S. military headquarters: EUCOM, PACOM and CENTCOM. (SOUTHCOM and NORTHCOM round out the worldwide list.) With responsibility for every African nation except Egypt, AFRICOM includes more countries than any other command.

The command is headquartered in Germany "for the foreseeable future." General William Ward, the head of the command, has characterized AFRICOM as a "listening organization," according to the AFP. According to the AFRICOM Web site and other press statements, the command's focus is on "war prevention" not warfare.

Still, many people spoke out against increased U.S. military presence in Africa, critiquing it as a self-interested attempt not only to secure a front of the "war on terror," but to lay a claim to Africa's resources.

The Obama Administration has thus far either continued or increased most of the Bush funding for military initiatives in Africa. He plans a big upsurge in funding for the Peacekeeping Operations program and will nearly double the counter-terrorism funding. This article by Daniel Volman, director of the African Security Research Project in D.C., goes into greater detail about the administration's plans.

The one-year anniversary of AFRICOM being operational saw training exercises that drew controversy.  In one, General Ward was forced to defend the decision to hold a training exercise in Gabon when the country was reeling after violent protests followed a contested election in early September. Some were concerned that the training could be misused by soldiers, who were deployed to quell post-election violence.

The tone of AFRICOM official statements is that it's simply a slow process to convince the people of African nations that they can trust U.S. intentions. At any rate, it's clear Obama is not turning back the clock on Bush's militarization of Africa.