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U.S. Military's Africa Command Set To Start

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McClatchy-Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - The U.S. Africa Command, the Pentagon's first effort to unite its counterterrorism, training and humanitarian operations on the continent, launches Wednesday amid questions at home about its mission and deep suspicions in Africa about its intentions.

U.S. officials have billed the new command, known as Africom, as a sign of Africa's strategic importance, but many in Africa see it as an unwelcome expansion of the U.S.-led war on terrorism and a bid to secure greater access to the continent's vast oil resources. Several countries have refused to host the command, and officials say that Africom will be based in Stuttgart, Germany, for the foreseeable future.

U.S.-based aid groups and some members of Congress have expressed worries that Africom will tilt U.S policy in Africa away from democracy-building and economic development and toward security objectives such as stemming the growth of militant Islamist groups in Somalia and North Africa, some of which have ties to al-Qaida.

The fledgling command's image problem, at home and abroad, is a cause for concern because of Africa's growing importance to the United States.

The Department of Energy says that 17 percent of U.S. crude oil imports come from Africa, more than the United States gets from Persian Gulf countries. However, rising powers such as China have strengthened ties with Africa and become a powerful counterweight to U.S. influence.
Pentagon officials reject claims that Africom is about oil or China, but those perceptions remain strong in Africa.

Although the public face of the U.S. military in Africa has been that of a benign partner, human rights activists say the Bush administration's focus on terrorism has fueled suspicion of Africom.

"Anything to do with the U.S. military evokes some level of anxiety," said Hassan Omar, a member of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. "There is a strong feeling that America would overlook a crisis within a government or violations by certain governments if only they could secure more cooperation on matters of security."

Egypt will continue to fall under Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base.

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