The US in Africa

With the US announcing that 100 troops will be sent to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army, Gary K. Busch unpacks the history of US intervention in Africa - and points to recent oil discoveries in East Africa as the real reason for the military intervention.

US President Barack Obama said on Friday 14 October 2011 that 100 troops would help Uganda track down Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel chief Joseph Kony and other senior LRA leaders. This is interesting, indeed, but it is not news. The US has been among those who have been fighting LRA for over 15 years without any discernible success. The fight against the LRA has brought together in the US Congress a consensus from all wings of the political process - from one extreme to the other. The legislation was sponsored by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold and involved almost every humanitarian NGO and outraged citizen groups arrayed against the depredations of the LRA.

The US has a very poor track record in attacking the LRA. An earlier US military co-involvement with Uganda's army - Operation Lighting Thunder - in December 2008, was a disastrous failure, leading to additional massacres of Congolese civilians. There's not a single place in Africa where US military intervention has resulted in a favourable resolution and restoration of peace and stability. It is not for the want of trying.

There are around 2,500 service personnel permanently stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The Camp supports approximately 2,500 US, joint and allied forces military and civilian personnel and US Department of Defense contractors. Additionally, the base provides employment for approximately 1,200 local and third country nation workers. Camp Lemonnier provides, operates and sustains and supports regional and combatant command requirements; and enables operations in the Horn of Africa and nearby.

• There are around 320 additional Special Forces personnel operating in West Africa, including three teams in the Niger Delta. 
• The upsurge of Boko Haram violence in Northern Nigeria has attracted more. 
• Others are working, with the Marines, in training exercises across Africa. 
• There are three 'Psychops' groups operating in East Africa, especially in Kenya's Northeast Frontier. 

This is in addition to scores of private military corporations (like Dyncorp or the several companies formed by retired US brass).

THE US IS AT WAR IN AFRICA

The US is at war in Africa. It has been at war as an integral part of the Cold War. It has had practical experience in African wars. America has been fighting wars in Africa since the 1950s - in Angola, the DRC, Somalia, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Morocco, Libya, Djibouti to name but a few counties. In some countries they used US troops, but in most cases the US financed, armed and supervised the support of indigenous forces. In its support of the anti- MPLA forces in Angola it sent arms and equipment to the UNITA opposition.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Larry Devlin of the CIA was an unofficial Minister of Mobutu's government; the US ran its own air force in the Congo at WIGMO. US airmen supported the South African forces in Kwando, Fort Doppies and Encana bases in the Caprivi from WIGMO. At these bases one could also find soldiers from Southern Rhodesia (in their DC3s) and German, French, Portuguese and other NATO troops.

One of the largest of these bases was at Wheelus Field, in Libya. Wheelus Air Base was located on the Mediterranean coast, just east of Tripoli, Libya. With its 4,600 Americans, the US Ambassador to Libya once called it 'a Little America'. During the Korean War, Wheelus was used by the US Strategic Air Command, later becoming a primary training ground for NATO forces. Strategic Air Command bomber deployments to Wheelus began on 16 November 1950. Wheelus became a vital link in SAC war plans for use as a bomber, tanker refuelling and recon-fighter base. The US left in 1970.

Another giant base was Kagnew Field in Asmara. The base was established in 1943 as an army radio station, home to the US Army's 4th Detachment of the Second Signal Service Battalion. Kagnew Station became home for over 5,000 American citizens at a time during its peak years of operation during the 1960s. Kagnew Station operated until 29 April 1977, when the last Americans left Kagnew Station.

However, with the end of the Cold War, the US has found itself fighting a much more difficult and insidious war; the war with Al Qaida. This is much less of a war that involves military might and prowess. It is a war against the spread of drug dealing, illicit diamonds, illicit gold and the sheltering of Salafists (Islamic militants) who use these methods to acquire cash which has sustained the Al Qaida organisation throughout the world. The political dichotomy between the Muslim North in Africa and the Christian/Animist South is not only a religious conflict. It is a conflict between organised international crime and states seeking to maintain their legitimacy.

There are now several 'narco-states' in Africa. The first to fall was Guinea-Bissau, where scores of Colombian cartel leaders moved in to virtually take over the state. Every day an estimated one tonne of pure Colombian cocaine is thought to be transiting through the mainland's mangrove swamps and the chain of islands that make up Guinea-Bissau, most of it en route to Europe This drug trade is spreading like wildfire in West Africa, offering remuneration to African leaders, generals or warlords well in excess of anything these Africans could hope to earn in normal commerce.

This burgeoning drug business was an offshoot of the political, economic and military connections which were made by Al Qaida in pursuit of their takeover of the 'blood diamond' business in West Africa.

• During the civil wars in Sierra Leone the Revolutionary United Front ('RUF') took over the diamond fields in the country; initially at Kono. The diamonds were mined by RUF rebels, who became infamous during Sierra Leone's civil war for hacking off the arms and legs of civilians and abducting thousands of children and forcing them to fight as combatants. 
• The country's alluvial diamond fields, some of the richest in the world, were the principal prize in the civil war, and they were under RUF control for years. 
• Small packets of diamonds, often wrapped in rags or plastic sheets, were taken by senior RUF commanders across the porous Liberian border to Monrovia, where they were exchanged for briefcases of cash brought by diamond dealers who flew several times a month from Belgium to Monrovia, returning to Pelikaanstraat in Antwerp.

Now the battle is with Al-Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM) which combines drug and diamond smuggling with terrorist acts. This battle has required a lot of troops on the ground, as advisers and trainers, as well as teams of DEA agents across West Africa.

BACKGROUND TO AFRICOM

These are not unique examples. According to a US Congressional Research Service Study[1] published in November 2010, Washington has dispatched anywhere between hundreds and several thousand combat troops, dozens of fighter planes and warships to buttress client dictatorships or to unseat adversarial regimes in dozens of countries, almost on a yearly basis. The record shows that US armed forces intervened in Africa 47 times prior to the current LRA endeavour.[2] The countries suffering one or more US military intervention include the Congo, Zaire, Libya, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Between the mid 1950's to the end of the 1970's, only four overt military operations were recorded, though large-scale proxy and clandestine military operations were pervasive. Under Reagan-Bush Sr. (1980-1991) military intervention accelerated, rising to eight, not counting the large scale clandestine 'special forces' and proxy wars in Southern Africa. Under the Clinton regime, US militarised intervention in Africa took off. Between 1992 and 2000, 17 armed incursions took place, including a large-scale invasion of Somalia and military backing for the Rwanda genocidal regime. Clinton intervened in Liberia, Gabon, Congo and Sierra Leone to prop up long standing troubled regimes. He bombed the Sudan and dispatched military personnel to Kenya and Ethiopia to back proxy clients assaulting Somalia. Under Bush Jr. 15 US military interventions took place, mainly in Central and East Africa.

Most of US African outreach is disproportionally built on military links to client military chiefs. The Pentagon has military ties with 53 African countries (including Libya prior to the current attack). Washington's efforts to militarise Africa and turn its armies into proxy mercenaries in protecting property and fighting terrorists were accelerated after 9/11.[3]

The Bush Administration announced in 2002 that Africa was a 'strategic priority in fighting terrorism'.[4] Henceforth, US foreign policy strategists, with the backing of both liberal and neoconservative congress people, moved to centralise and coordinate a military policy on a continent wide basis forming the African Command (AFRICOM). The latter organises African armies, euphemistically called 'co-operative partnerships', to conduct neo-colonial wars based on bilateral agreements (Uganda, Burundi, etc.) as well as 'multi-lateral' links with the Organisation of African Unity.[5]

The Rest @ AllAfrica ...

State of AFRICOM Speech, Jul 2011

AFRICOM: Promoting Partnership for Global Security in Africa

July 26, 2011

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Payne, honorable Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me to testify before you today on USG cooperation in Africa since AFRICOM was created. As you know, we are currently witnessing some of the greatest changes on the African continent since the era of independence. These changes present both challenges and opportunities, and since its inception in October 2008, AFRICOM has been a critical partner for the Department of State in addressing conflict and transnational issues across Africa, in addition to the prominent role it has played in traditional military operations, such as the conflict in Libya.

Today I am here to tell you why AFRICOM matters and how we are working together to pursue our common foreign policy objectives.

Without effective cooperation within the U.S. Government, we will not be able to address the issues of terrorism, piracy, and conflict in places like Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Before the creation of AFRICOM, the Department of State had to coordinate with three different geographic combatant commands, each of which had varying priorities and security cooperation objectives. The Department of Defense was able to unify these efforts by placing all of the previous areas of responsibility for Africa under one command solely focused on Africa 365 days a year.

We have seen how this new focus in places like Liberia can have success in building sustainable, indigenous African security capacity that respects civilian authority and human rights, and contributes meaningfully to economic and social development.
Given the important role militaries play in the region, AFRICOM’s work is critical to the success of our Administration’s broader efforts to build a more peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Africa.

AFRICOM’s previous and first commander, General Kip Ward, used to say that standing up a new combatant command was like trying to build an airplane in flight, and we appreciate that the State Department has been allowed to be part of this process of growth from the beginning. Since its inception, AFRICOM has strived to be a collaborative combatant command with a core function of not just overseeing U.S. forces on the continent, but also preventing and resolving armed conflict through building partner nation capacity. For the past three years, the U.S. Department of State has coordinated and collaborated with AFRICOM as it worked to achieve the Administration’s highest priority goals related to democracy, good governance, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and transnational challenges.

President Obama’s speech in Accra in July 2009 laid out a clear framework for our Africa policy, and we believe that AFRICOM has played an important supporting role in implementing this framework. It is doing this by supporting efforts to build professional, capable militaries that respect human rights and civilian control, which in turn supports efforts to resolve armed conflicts, address transnational challenges, and safeguard democratic institutions.

AFRICOM has two co-equal deputy commanders – a civilian deputy and a military deputy. The Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities (DCMA) is a senior U.S. diplomat, and provides direct policy input and advice to the Commander of AFRICOM.

The State Department further augments the AFRICOM headquarters staff with a foreign policy advisor and five additional Foreign Service officers, including a senior development advisor provided by USAID who reports directly to General Ham. Most of the other Foreign Service officers in the command have regional responsibilities. Additionally, each of AFRICOM’s component commands also has a Foreign Service officer serving as a foreign policy advisor.

The State Department currently has four other employees seconded to AFRICOM and is in the process of adding five additional officers. Similarly, AFRICOM has significantly expanded the number of DoD personnel who are integrated into embassies across the continent over the past three years. These personnel are valuable members of our country teams, as they provide direct and sustained support for both DOS and DoD-funded activities.

AFRICOM has strived to not just do more, but do better in its activities on the continent and these expanded offices of security cooperation have enabled our embassies to increase the quality of our engagement on the continent. Effective collaboration is possible because the Department of State and AFRICOM are imbedded in each other’s organizations.

This structure has allowed us to work together effectively on a number of programs over the past three years, and I would like to outline these collaborative efforts for you today. I also want to discuss briefly AFRICOM’s relationship with our partner nations.

The Department of State collaborates with AFRICOM on a long list of issues such as

• military professionalization;
• building counterterrorism capacity;
• disaster management;
• peacekeeping capacity building;
• humanitarian operations coordinated with USAID;
• demining and ammunition handling training;
• nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
• destruction of excess small arms and light weapons and unstable ammunition; reduction of excess and poorly secured man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS); Defense Sector Reform in Liberia, DRC, and South Sudan; counterpiracy activities off the Somali coast;
• maritime safety and security capacity building;
• civil-military cooperation.

AFRICOM elements at our embassies implement Department of State-funded Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and International Military Education and Training (IMET) programs, which further U.S. interests in Africa by helping to professionalize African militaries, while also assisting our African partners to be more equipped and trained to work toward common security goals.

In the realm of counterterrorism, AFRICOM plays a critical and central role in both the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) and the Partnership for Regional East Africa Counterterrorism (PREACT), our primary programs to support the long-term counterterrorism (CT) capacity building of member countries in northwest and East Africa.

• Both programs are led by State, but are managed in close coordination with DoD and AFRICOM, as well as USAID.
• DoD launched Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans-Sahara (OEF-TS) in 2007 to support TSCTP programming. OEF-TS adds both funding and essential staff to TSCTP, including military trainers and advisors.

State also collaborates with AFRICOM on a range of transnational issues. We continue to work together to develop U.S. maritime engagement in Africa from one of individual, isolated efforts to a more comprehensive and sustainable approach. Early and close coordination on AFRICOM programs such as the Africa Partnership Station, which State provides funding to support the training of African maritime forces, and Africa Maritime Law Enforcement Partnership, which provides operational support, both contribute to a whole-of-government approach. Nonproliferation and counternarcotics are two other key areas of cooperation.

Recently, DoD began to design and implement cooperative threat reduction programs in East Africa, focused on improving security around sites housing potential biological threats. The AFRICOM Counternarcotics Office has been active in West Africa supporting maritime and airport interdiction efforts and funding the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s and Drug Enforcement Administration’s training activities throughout the region.

If there is a downside to this level of engagement, it is that the large numbers of AFRICOM temporary assignment personnel deploying to the continent often present significant logistical challenges for U.S. Missions, which sometimes find it difficult to maintain full visibility and provide support given their own very limited staffing levels.

This large and growing AFRICOM presence and programming in Africa at times risks overwhelming the “soft power” of USAID and State programs and personnel. Additionally, the constant turnover of temporary military personnel working on three and six month rotations can cause significant confusion with both the country team and the host nation if not carefully and managed.

Nonetheless, we will continue to work together and coordinate closely in order to mitigate and manage these challenges.

However, the downside of additional DoD personnel on the continent is far outweighed by the positive gains AFRICOM made in the past three years.

I can report to you today that cooperation between AFRICOM and our African partners is at an all-time high despite a continuing lingering wariness towards AFRICOM on the part of some African nations.

This cooperation begins at the highest levels, where AFRICOM assists the African Union Peace and Security Commission. It continues down through the African Standby Force regional brigades, and ends with extensive partnering at the bilateral level.

The capacity that AFRICOM builds at the regional level improves the relationship not just between the United States and the AU, but between the African nations themselves, increasing overall cooperation exponentially. An example of this is AFRICOM’s Exercise African Endeavor, which assists African nations and their regional organizations in communicating with one another over a variety of spectrums, making greater regional cooperation possible. AFRICOM exercises, like Natural Fire in East Africa, bring together biannually forces from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda, and the United States to conduct interoperability training in a humanitarian response scenario. These specific examples demonstrate how AFRICOM is increasing cooperation and building trust bilaterally through its interactions with African regional organizations.

Engaging with regional organizations is just one way that AFRICOM is improving cooperation on the continent. Since its inception, AFRICOM has worked in concert with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners to provide effective security engagement through military-to-military programs and activities designed to promote a stable and secure African environment.

The Department of State applauds these efforts, and believes that, despite the difficult challenges it has faced, AFRICOM is on a positive trajectory of better cooperation with both other U.S. Government agencies and our partner nations.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you, today. I will be happy to answer any questions.

The Rest of the Speech by Don Yamamoto to Congress, July 26th, 2011 in Newsroom Magazine recorded in Newsro

Al Shabaab Reaching out to LIFG?

TBDA Suggests that someone, perhaps al Shabaab, in Somalia may be trying to reach out by Nokia Smartphone to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) in Libya, based on news that AQIM may have acquired SAMS from LIFG:

4th April 2011

17:46:11

196.201.205.237 Publish Post

Woqooyi Galbeed,

Hargeysa

Telcom Somalia - Isp

Opera -

SymbianOS

Africom Acive In West Africa To Impact Drug Trafficking

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jun 26, 2009 — The top U.S. military officer with responsibility for Africa concedes he's worried about the threat of violent extremists taking hold there, particularly in Somalia, and said U.S. Africa Command is working to help regional governments prevent it.

"We clearly worry about the threat of violent extremists taking hold in any parts of the continent where there are spaces that are under-governed or not in full control of the government," Army General William E. "Kip" Ward told National Public Radio yesterday. "

And so Somalia is, indeed, a place that we are concerned about," he said. "In that regard, our policy is to provide support to those governments that are in position in various parts of the continent as they seek to maintain their control over their spaces."

While not actively involved in training the Somali military, U.S. AFRICOM is working through the State Department to provide other assistance, he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Africa Command also is working under the auspices of the State Department to help Liberia, which is emerging from a brutal civil war, stand up its new armed forces, he said.

"We also provide training support to other African nations who conduct military peacekeeping operations," Ward said.

That support includes military mentors and technical training assistance, and focuses not just on military skills, but also in respect for human rights and rule of law. U.S. Africa Command also is a key player in a broader effort to crack down on narcotics trafficking in Western Africa, William Weschsler, deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics and global threats, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week.

• "Although we are still defining the scope, we know that drug trafficking in West Africa is a major problem, it's growing rapidly, and we expect it to grow over the coming years," he said at the June 23 hearing.
• The repercussions are far-reaching, Weschsler warned. "This endangers peace, stability, democracy [and] our efforts to promote security sector reform in West Africa, and poses an increasing threat to both our Africa and our European partners," he said.
• Addressing this challenge requires an integrated approach that incorporates interagency and international capabilities to equip, train and maintain regional partners' counter-narcotics organizations, he said.
• Weschsler pointed to initiatives already under way, in which U.S. Africa Command is working hand in hand with U.S. Southern Command's Joint Interagency Task Force South, the Defense Intelligence Agency, Naval Forces Africa and others to monitor the drug flow and support projects aimed at stemming it.
• Projects already under way in West Africa include constructions of boat and refueling facilities for the regional navies and coast guards, student sponsorship for classroom training, construction of a screening facility in Ghana and establishment of an information fusion center in Cape Verde, he said.

"All these programs are -- it must be stressed -- a result of a real interagency development process, and that's critical for the success of any of these programs," Weschsler said, emphasizing the need for more and closer cooperation. The time to deal with the drug trafficking problem, he told the committee, "is now, before it undermines our strategic interests on the African continent."

Source: DefenseLink

Obama ation Administr Announces its Africa Policies

....The U.S. has implemented a strategy to operate more effectively in a world where non-state actors and illegal trans-border activity can pose major threats to even the most powerful of countries.

The goal is to develop a network of well-governed states capable through responsible sovereignty of protecting themselves and contributing to regional security. By so doing, they also protect the international system.

Our new Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, last week reaffirmed the extremely high priority of security. She said that, "...we all know that there are real threats to the United States and our friends and allies around the world. And the State Department has an important role to play ... to be a good leader and a good partner..." In a word, this means partnership.

This vision supports African leaders as strategic partners and seeks to build up Africa's institutional capacity. In other words, doing things with Africans, not for Africans.

We believe these sentiments coincide with Africa's own growing emphasis on the values of freedom, the rule of law, and collective security, as embedded in the African Union's New Partnership for African Development.

The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) Peer Review mechanism reinforces African leaders' own efforts to promote democracy and good governance among their peers.

The U.S. understands that there are new, rising strategic powers around the world, including Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nations such as South Africa and Nigeria have used their diplomatic, economic, and military power to shape the continent for the better.

• Mali
• Mozambique
• Liberia
• Ghana
• Botswana
• Benin

and many other African countries are leading the way as examples of the power of democratic rule of law.

We are pursuing the shared goal of ending conflict in Africa by supporting African conflict mediation and strengthening African capacities to mitigate conflict and carry out peace support operations.

To do so, we work directly with lead African mediators, bilaterally with African Governments, and multilaterally with the African Union, the United Nations, and African sub-regional organizations.

...To put it more simply, we want to support African leadership and African solutions to African problems...

There is considerable evidence that this approach works. We've had success working with African partners in ending seven major conflicts in the past seven years:

• the Democratic Republic of Congo,
• Sierra Leone, Liberia,
• Cote d'Ivoire,
• North-South Sudan,
• Ethiopia-Eritrea,
• Angola.

Although the current peace is fragile in several of these countries -- and challenges persist in Darfur, Eastern Congo and Somalia --

Africa has demonstrated that it is committed to resolving conflict and promoting stability.Let me now focus on four U.S. priorities in our relations with African nations

Our first priority

is providing security assistance programs that are critical to securing the objective of a peaceful African continent. We are working with our African partners to build capacity at three levels:

(1) at the level of the African Union,

(2) at the sub-regional level, and

(3) at the level of individual states.

At the level of the AU, we are supporting the Strategic Planning and Management Unit at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa with advisors and equipment.

At the sub-regional level, we have provided assistance to peacekeeping training centers in

• Senegal,
• Ghana,
• South Africa,
• Mali,
• Kenya.

The United States provides a peace and security advisor at ECOWAS headquarters, and continues to support the ECOWAS logistics facility in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

An important step was taken in early 2007 when the decision was made to create a Department of Defense Unified Combatant Command for Africa -- the U.S. Africa Command, or "AFRICOM." This decision to create AFRICOM marks the beginning of a new era where African security issues can be addressed from an Africa-centric perspective. AFRICOM is a new type of command that will focus on building African regional security and crisis response.

Its objective is a more secure Africa, but it is not expected to have any assigned forces to the African continent.

Rather, AFRICOM is a headquarters staff that coordinates the kind of support that will enable African Governments and existing regional organizations to have greater capacity to respond in time of need.

Through programs like

• the International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program
• Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) Program,

we are working to build the capacity of the African militaries to respond to African problems. Over 100,000 African peacekeepers have been trained by ACOTA or by ACOTA-trained trainers, and eight African nations are now in the top 20 of all contributors to UN peacekeeping operations.

African states are contributing peacekeepers to missions not only in Africa but also to UN operations in Lebanon and Haiti. We will continue to work with the AU, sub-regional organizations, and member states as they work to stand up the Africa Standby Force.

This includes civilian aspects of the African Peace and Security Architecture, such as the Continental Early Warning System and Panel of the Wise.

In Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and southern Sudan, we are helping to rebuild professional military forces for these post-conflict states, and are looking to engage in similar Security Sector Reform (SSR) activities in Somalia as soon as the situation will permit.

In addition to long-term capacity building, we are working to provide logistics support and equipment for African peacekeeping units deploying to Darfur and Somalia. The United States has supported the deployment of additional infantry battalions to the UN-AU Hybrid Mission in Darfur, with more than $100 million in peacekeeping operations funding for equipment and training.

The United States has made the largest contribution of any international donor to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), and will continue to provide equipment and logistics support to troop- contributing countries in the future.

We will continue to work with our African partners to build the necessary sustained capacity to disrupt and ultimately eliminate the ability of terrorists to operate in the region and secure safe havens, recruits, popular support, finance, and freedom of movement across borders.

• The Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) and the East Africa Regional Security Initiative (EARSI) are two initiatives that seek to identify resources throughout the United States government to support specific areas of cooperation identified by our partners in the region.

Maritime security is gaining in importance. For example, Nigeria has now surpassed Somalia as the most dangerous maritime region in Africa, with only Indonesia registering more incidents in 2007.

• The US Government will continue to work with African maritime security forces to secure their maritime domains from threats such as piracy, illegal fishing, and trafficking in persons and illicit goods.
• Through AFRICOM's deployment of the African Partnership Station, we are building the capacity or West and Central African states to protect their territorial waters, respond to oil spills and other disasters, and patrol vital oil and gas platforms.

Our second priority

on the continent is promoting democratic systems and practices -- we are engaged in supporting the rise of freedom and democracy on the continent.

• It is not enough to just end wars, but we must move beyond post-conflict transformation to consolidate democracies.
• Moreover, we must work with African societies on the critical issues of governance, transparency, and accountability as a means of helping establish pluralistic communities where open political dialogue is the channel for reform and progress.
• During the past two decades, progressive democratic reform has adapted to local values, customs, and practices throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Outgrowths of democratic, well-governed states that adhere to the rule of law, support the will of their people, and contribute responsibly to the international system are developing.

One U.S. think tank that has studied Africa, Freedom House, has determined that three quarters of African countries are now "free or partly free," as opposed to less than half the states in 1990.

Despite significant progress, the recent military coups in Mauritania and Guinea and the flawed elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe have hindered these advances.

• The international community is urging Mauritania to restore its democratically-elected government and
• is pressing Guinea to hold democratic elections this year.
• The Kenyan and Zimbabwean elections, marked by voting irregularities, contestable results, and post-election violence, demonstrate that the path to democracy is often difficult. As a result, we must and will continue to assist and encourage our African partners in building democratic institutions, conducting free and fair elections, and governing justly.
• This means providing support to civil society and media, strengthen political parties and elections monitoring mechanism, providing support to legislatures, building the capacity of key ministries, and encouraging political transparency.

Our third foreign policy priority

is promoting sustainable and broad-based, market-led economic growth. While sub-Saharan Africa has experienced impressive growth rates in recent years, Africa can still be characterized as a rich continent in an impoverished state.

The United States must help our African partners

• raise income levels,
• promote sustainable growth that benefits all in a society,
• opens markets for African exports,
• reduces barriers to investment,
• and identifies opportunities and comparative advantages.

Responding to this challenge, the United States implemented the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a revolutionary foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth by awarding sizeable grants -- not loans -- to countries that practice good governance, seek to take responsibility for their own development, and are committed to achieving results.

• Of the 18 compacts signed to date, ten totaling over $3.8 billion have been signed with sub-Saharan African countries.
• Two other African countries, Senegal and Malawi are in the process of developing compacts.

The United States Government has also enacted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a program that allows responsive and responsible partners in Africa to benefit from preferential access to American markets.

• With 40 countries presently qualified for this program, AGOA has become a cornerstone of our trade and investment policy in Africa.

The United States has been in the forefront of efforts to forgive the debts owed by poor countries , but only if those countries' governments first demonstrate their commitment to poverty reduction and good economic management.

MCC and AGOA are important programs strengthening African economic health and underscore the cardinal interest of the United States in the continent's economic affairs.

I should note that even in this tough time of economic recession overtaking the world, the United States does not anticipate any reduction in the support that we have provided to African nations.

We want to continue to be a leader in supporting development on the African continent.Related to this effort is our focus promoting enhanced food security and agricultural development.

This means reducing poverty and hunger, raising agricultural output and reducing dependence on imported food, raising rural incomes, improving the livelihoods of women, children and families, and improving land management.

Between FY2008 and FY2009, the United States will have committed over $1 billion in food assistance worldwide, with much of this assistance focused on Africa. U.S. efforts in West Africa include programs designed to increase the productivity of staple crops, stimulate supply response, and expand the trade of staple foods. In East Africa, the United States has supported a targeted response to meet urgent food security needs and strengthen staple food markets.

Our fourth U.S. foreign policy priority

in Africa is promoting health and social development. As the leading cause of death on the continent, disease is one of the greatest challenges to Africa's future. Rising to meet this challenge, the United States, through public health initiatives targeting the prevention, care and treatment of disease, is partnering with sub-Saharan nations to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

• The United States has responded to the severe and urgent HIV/AIDS crisis with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. PEPFAR is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative. Through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government has already provided $18.8 billion in HIV/AIDS funding, with a reauthorization of up to $48 billion for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria over the next five years. Thus far, PEPFAR has provided treatment for 2.1 million people, care for more than 10 million people living with HIV/AIDS, including more than 4 million orphans and vulnerable children, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during nearly 16 million pregnancies, thus allowing nearly 240,000 children to be born HIV-free.
• Responding to the malaria crisis, the United States launched the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2005. The U.S. committed $1.2 billion in new malaria funding to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. In 2007, the Malaria Initiative reached more than 25 million people with effective prevention and treatment interventions. Under this program we have virtually eradicated malaria from the island of Zanzibar and are making great strides in other places on the continent through aggressive indoor spraying, the distribution of treated bed nets, and the distribution of medication.

Through the prevention and treatment of disease, programs such as PEPFAR and PMI are touching the lives of millions. In collaboration with our regional partners, we will continue to develop sustainable healthcare infrastructure so African nations can address these challenges through their own national institutions.

U.S. Department of State

Flintlock Underway in Mali

STUTTGART, Germany — A two-week joint military exercise intended to help prepare for future peacekeeping and humanitarian missions will start Monday in Mali, according to U.S. Africa Command.

The exercise, dubbed Flintlock, is the latest in a series of exercises conducted between Malian and U.S. military forces and partner nations throughout Africa.

The focus of the mission is to strengthen military and regional relationships, according to AFRICOM.

While in Mali, Malian and U.S. military personnel will conduct

• Medical Civic Action Programs
• Veterinary Civic Action Programs aimed at providing services to rural communities in Mali.
• American military aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules and the CV-22 Osprey also will be involved in the exercise.

Flintlock, which runs until Nov. 20, is an ongoing series of military exercises conducted under the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership program and involves the U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and the Defense Department.

The Rest @ Stars and Stripes

Two US Soliders Found Dead in Hotel room in Ghana

Jan 1 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy sailors were found dead on Tuesday in their hotel room while on shore leave in the West African country of Ghana, the U.S. Navy said.

The cause of death was unknown and was being investigated by Ghanaian authorities in cooperation with U.S. Navy officials, the Navy said in a statement.

"Currently there is no suggestion of foul play," Lieutenant Patrick Foughty, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy Sixth Fleet, told Reuters by telephone from Naples, Italy.

The sailors, who were not identified, were stationed aboard the Fort McHenry, a 600-foot (185-
metre) dock landing ship based in Little Creek, Virginia.

The vessel was docked in the Ghanaian port of Tema, some 18 miles (28 km) east of the capital Accra, as part of a U.S. naval partnership programme in West Africa.

During a six-month mission, the Fort McHenry will train West African navies to fight drug smuggling and maritime security threats in a region which supplies nearly a fifth of U.S. oil imports.

Foughty said the sailor's deaths would not prevent the training mission from going ahead.

The Rest @ Reuters Africa

RIA Novosti Announces Russia is Trying to Return to Africa

I found this quaint commentary-propaganda piece by RIA Novosti commentator Dina Lyakhovich, dated the 8th of October, 2007. There are others like it out there too. All by the same commentator and agency, trying to convince African countries that AFRICOM is a bad idea (who knows what US intent is) but what I find most interesting is a comment late in the text, and I quote.....

.... "In fact, what the United States wants in Africa is oil, which will soon account for 25% of American oil imports. It needs to protect and guarantee future deliveries, because competition is growing in Africa at breakneck speed. Apart from traditional rivals - France and Britain - it may have to compete with Russia, which is trying to return to Africa."[emphasis added by Shimron]...........

RIA Novositi, the international propaganda news of Putin-controlled Russia, may have made an announcement here.

Look into

Gazprom - is the world's biggest gas exploration and production company Contact: , Phone: (+709) 57 19 30 01, Fax: (+709) 57 19 83 33Moscow, RUSSIA, Europe(North)www.gazprom.ru
Gazflot - russian exploration and ship owning company
Gazprombank - services to enterprises and employees of other sectors (chemical, engineering, defence, nuclear etc.)
Geobyte ltd - geological exploring of resources of potential regions of oil and gas resources and condensate
Lukoil - is Russia's leading oil company
MNP Group incorporates - engaged in shipbuilding, offshore units design and construction.
Morneftegazproekt - provide integrated development of project documentation for offshore field development
Murmansk Shipping Company - crude oil transshipment and icebreaking services in Russian frozen ports and along the Northern Sea Route in Arctic waters
Polar Marine Geosurvey Expedition - complex geological and geophysical research in Arctic, the world ocean and Antarctica, in inland reservoirs
Rosneft - russian oil and gas exploration company
Sakhalin Energy - commercially develop, operate and market the hydrocarbon resources
Sea Soft Packages and Tehcnologies Ltd - developing software for realtime video integration with heterogeneous digital data
Sevmorgeo - Marine geological, geophysical and geoecological research of Russian offshore and the world ocean
an
Russian oil expansion activities in Africa have exanded significantly last few years, showing that this announced policy is well under way. But make no mistake, it is Putin himself, not private companies that are directing the activites of these companies. The state has taken over enormous private companies, like Gazprom (oil) and Alrosa (diamonds) and wields them as Arms of Russian government policy. Russia is not alone. In fact China has done he same thing with its largest oil companies, like the Chinese National offshore Oil Company
and Chinese National Petroleum Corporation, but that is a story for another day.

Africa, understand this: when you read any propaganda - US, Russian, Chinese, or Arab states, understand it for what it is, and make the best decisions for all your people.....and make it together, or we will be divided...as we have in the past, by our own choices.

-Shimron Issachar

AFRICOM Opens today in Stuttgart

The command begins with a staff of 120 under Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward and will increase to about 800 over the next year, said Air Force Maj. John Dorrian, a spokesman for U.S. European Command in Stuttgart.

• It will initially operate from the U.S. Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, but diplomatic efforts are still under way to find a permanent location in Africa, Dorrian said.
• U.S. officials say other nations have made private offers.
  Still, the plans have met with sharp resistance from many other African nations, most recently Nigeria
• Over the next year programs currently overseen by those commands - like joint training exercises and humanitarian operations - will be taken over by Africom, Dorrian said.
• The U.S. plan foresees a small headquarters, and five regional teams.
• The Pentagon says is not building new bases.
• "Plans call for the footprint of U.S. forces to be small," Dorrian said.

Africom is a so-called "unified combatant command" that will be made up of

• all branches of the military,
• Defense & State Departments
• Agriculture
• Treasury
• Commerce
• USAID

The full article from the AP

AFRICOM - Will It Bring More China, Russia, Arabia and Persiana to Africa?

By Pascal Fletcher

DAKAR, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. military presents its new Africa Command (AFRICOM) as a helping hand offering aid and training to the world's poorest continent, but many Africans fear it could bring double trouble to a conflict-racked region.

U.S. officials dress the new regional command to be launched on Monday in a shiny altruistic uniform, saying it is designed to help Africa improve its own stability and security through good governance, the rule of law and economic opportunity.

But Africans, citing Iraq and Afghanistan, see twin dangers from AFRICOM in the form of increased U.S. meddling and possible military intervention, and by making Africa a target of America's global enemies.

"The U.S. military will only bring more harm to Africa," said Bile Abdi, an unemployed worker in Somalia, where U.S. soldiers were killed during a disastrous "humanitarian" intervention in the early 1990s.

Some Somalis also criticise recent U.S. support for the Somali interim government and its Ethiopian allies against Islamist forces as bringing more violence to the Horn of Africa.

"If America spreads itself in Africa, its enemies -- Russia, Iran and China -- will definitely come too," Abdi added.

Analysts see hard-nosed strategic motives behind AFRICOM.
They say the United States wants to secure oil flows from a continent that is already a key source of U.S. energy imports in a volatile world. Gulf of Guinea producers like Nigeria and Angola will soon be supplying a quarter of U.S. oil imports.

The deserts and mountains of the Horn of Africa and the arid Sahel have also become a new frontier in the U.S. global war on terrorism, in which sub-Saharan oil suppliers may be vulnerable to violent Islamic militancy infiltrating down from the north.

U.S. officials say AFRICOM will mean no new military bases in Africa -- beyond an existing one in Djibouti. But some observers see the reinforced U.S. footprint aimed at countering a commercial and diplomatic charge by China to lock up one of the world's still largely untapped troves of oil and minerals.

"The U.S. initiative is aimed at weakening the increased presence of other powers like China," said Algerian political sciences professor Ismail Maaref Ghalia.

"There are two major agenda items: one is to secure resource flows, especially oil, and then counter-terrorism," Peter Takirambudde, Africa Director of Human Rights Watch, said.

"GIANT IN YOUR HOME"
He told Reuters that while AFRICOM could boost international capacity to detect and respond with credible force to African humanitarian catastrophes like Darfur and their massive rights abuses, selfish strategic considerations may end up prevailing.

"When you have conflicts involving counter-terrorism and energy security, both tend to trump human rights," he said.

Although AFRICOM will initially remain based in Germany, it will eventually transfer to the continent, and finding an African home poses a tricky diplomatic problem.

Some U.S. allies welcome the initiative.

• "AFRICOM will be a very good idea to enhance stability and fight terrorism on the continent," Uganda's minister of state for defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, told Reuters.
• At least one country, Liberia, founded by freed African slaves from America in 1847, is offering to host AFRICOM. "The command coming here will mean a lot for both countries," Information Minister Lawrence Bropleh told Reuters.
• But Africa's southern segment including continental power South Africa appears virulently opposed to U.S. bases. "There will be no military base in Zambia or the SADC region," Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, current head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said recently. Zambian chief government spokesman Mike Mulongoti told Reuters: "It is like allowing a giant to settle in your home. And what would you do if you find him with your wife?".
• U.S. officials say AFRICOM staff would be distributed across several African states instead of concentrated in one site.
• Kurt Shillinger, an analyst at the South African Institute for International Affairs, believes "neo-imperialistic conspiratorial" objections to AFRICOM may eventually fade.
• "I think over time host nations stand to gain far more than they risk in terms of more professional militaries, stronger civilian-military relations, better disaster response," he said.
• "Time, I suspect ... will settle the dust," he added.

The Rest @ Reuters Africa

Africa: The Next Battle

Next week Newsweek is coming out with an article on Africom and its search for a home in Africa. There is nothing there that we have not been saying for some time, Now the rest of the world is becoming more and more aware that Africa is where the next battle will be fought. Actually where it is already being fought. Here are some Pre-Battle Points of interest.

• China has more embassies and"listening posts" in Africa than the US
• the Sahel region appears to be a priority for Africom
• They are operating in Djaboutit and Ethiopia
• The most likely Location for headquarters and other locations are Ghana, Liberia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. (Though Tanzani has publicly said no)

It is the 3D Strategy:

• Diplomacy
• Defence
• Development

There are Four Groups using it:

• China
• Arab Countries led by Libya
• United States
• Russia

I will do a separate post on Each of the groups, and how they implement the 3d Strategy.

Lekota Threatens any African Acountry who Hosts Africom

Wyndham HartleyCape Town
More armed US soldiers are not welcome in Africa, said Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota yesterday.
Any country that allowed itself to be a base for the US strategic command in Africa (Africom) would have to live with the consequences, Lekota said.

Africom's recent creation has been interpreted as the US suddenly recognising the strategic importance of Africa to the US.

Last month it was reported that Lekota was not responding to US requests for him to meet the first Africom commander, Gen Kip Ward.

Briefing the media yesterday, Lekota said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) defence ministers had, at the summit in Lusaka this month, decided that no member states would host Africom and more armed US soldiers.

He said this was also the "continental position" of the African Union.

However, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has evidently already offered her country as a base for Africom.

Lekota said as far as he knew most African countries supported the view that the Americans should keep their distance.

The Rest @ All Africa.com

Since the announcement of the creation of AFRICOM, the new military command post in Africa by the United States, the Liberian government has been pressing for the establishment of Africom's headquarters in the country.

There had been behind the scene discussions within official circles on the issue. Until Wednesday, the Liberian government had not made a decision.

Now, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has made a decision officially 'offering' Liberian territory to be used for the establishment of a U.S. Base.

Speaking Wednesday at a reception marking the 231st Independence Anniversary of the United States, President Sirleaf said "Liberia, the U.S. historic ally, has stood resolutely with the United States, through good times and bad, and is offering its territory as it has done in the past, for the establishment of AFRICOM headquarters."

The Chief Executive indicated that historical and strategic reasons make Liberia an ideal location for this important American initiative that will undoubtedly have a most beneficial effect on the West African sub-region, as well as the entire continent.

President Sirleaf welcomed the new United States policy towards Africa's security and development as reflected in the proposed establishment of a new Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The Liberian leader described the move as not only a project of U.S. interest and power, but as a new approach to assisting African countries that are committed to democratic governance, sustainable development and improving the quality of life of their people, in a secured environment, and with the cooperation and support of the United States.

President Johnson-Sirleaf also described the United States decision to construct a new Embassy complex in Monrovia and as well as other significant support Liberia receives from institutions, foundations, Universities and individuals as vivid expressions and indications of the new mutually beneficial partnership that is beginning to evolve between Liberia and the United States of America.

The Liberian leader also made particular reference to the financial support being given by the United States government towards the country's development.

President Sirleaf then lauded the U.S. government's support toward debt relief and disclosed that Liberia will shortly benefit from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation for development assistance, having met most of the benchmarks.

The President congratulated the government and people of the United States on the occasion marking the 231st independence anniversary, and spoke highly of the partnership existing between the two countries.

President Johnson Sirleaf lauded the United States government for its role in ending the civil conflict in Liberia and its continued support toward the country's reconstruction efforts.

In a recent article written by President Johnson Sirleaf and posted on allafrica.com website, the Liberian leader said Africom should be seen as a recognition of the growing importance of Africa to U.S. national security interests, as well as recognition that long time African security lies in empowering African partners to develop healthy security relations.


The Rest @ All Africa.com