3 August 2007
Lagos — The United States (US) government is having a hard time convincing critics that the new US/Africa Command (AFRICOM), will be an opportunity for enhanced engagement rather than the militarisation of relations between the super power and the continent competition with China, fight against terrorism and securing oil.
At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Department of State, Jendayi Frazer, sought to douse fears, reiterating that the civil-military activities of AFRICOM will help strengthen regional security, policies and their implementation.
"We are not at war in Africa, we expect the largely civil-military activities of AFRICOM to help state (USdepartment of state) strengthen regional security, policies and implementation. AFRICOM will draw upon our embassies in the field for most of the information it will use to guide its security co-operation programmes and its overall interaction with Africa," she said.
But testimony after testimony revealed that AFRICOM, launched in February 2007, and structured in such a way that African affairs previously handled through the US European Central and Pacific Commands, will now be overseen by a single unified Command.
The sub-committee heard from Mark Malan of Refugees International who testified at the hearing that AFRICOM is perceived as a threat and that US foreign policy in some parts of the world is clearly seen as a military one. "In Africa, the DoD (department of defense) appears to be putting a civilian mask on the face of a combatant command, with its marketing pitch for AFRICOM. This disingenuous strategy is not working. The veneer ofthe mask is simply too thin and attempts to patch theholes that have emerged by telling us "what AFRICOM is not about" and re-emphasizing a humanitarian and developmental role for the US military in Africa simply make the face of US foreign policy much shadier," he stated.
He observed that the main concern of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is that the command will increase the trend towards militarisation of humanitarian action, adding that this cannot be supported as long as it subsumes humanitarianism within the ambit of military strategy. Militarisation of humanitarian assistance and development can also undermine respect for impartiality and non-partisanship of the humanitarian mission, he emphasized.
Testifying, Director, Africa Program of the Centre forStrategic and International Studies (CSIS), Stephen Morrison observed that the new command is viewed as the triumph of militarism fuelled by energy concerns and the global war on terror.
There also seems to be a misunderstanding on what should be the role of the US Department of State andthe Department of Defense (DoD) and what should be a foreign policy or military judgement. Frazer claims there will be a collaboration between both departments. In June, Principal Deputy Under Secretaryof Defense for Policy, Ryan Henry noted that AFRICOM's mission would include humanitarian assistance, civil action and response to natural disasters.
This has raised concerns that the Pentagon is overstepping its boundaries by taking charge of US development policy and humanitarian assistance usually under the purview of the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development(USAID).To clear this seeming misunderstanding, Senator Dick Lugar asked Frazer what will be the place of the secretary of state in the chain of command. According to Frazer, "I think that in any of these areas of conflict and policy considerations, the secretary of State has the primary lead as the president's foreign policy adviser ..I haven't felt that there has been any weakening of State Department's position as the primary foreign policy actor."
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