Oliver Mathenge
1 October 2008
Nairobi — The United States' new unified military command for Africa, Africom, became fully operational on Wednesday as officials dismissed claims it had a hidden agenda.
Deputy assistant Secretary of Defence for African Affairs, Theresa Whelan rejected claims of the new command representing a militarisation of US foreign policy in Africa.
"Africom's leadership (half military and half civilian) will be more cautious about looking for military solutions to problems in Africa," she said on Africom's website.
The new command has been received with scepticism on the continent, with critics saying it reflects US concerns on tackling Islamic extremism, securing oil supplies and countering Chinese influence in Africa.
African nations argue that Africom will militarise US-Africa relations, stoke radical movements in some countries and further embroil Africa in Washington's "global war on terrorism."
President Bush announced the command's creation on February 6, 2007.
Ms Whelan said it will now be easier to develop and maintain good working relationships with African nations, pointing to Africom's ability to provide effective peacekeeping training and technical support for AU's African Standby Force, which is developing a peacekeeping brigade for each of five regions of the continent.
Africom will be the most visible element of the US goal of strengthening ties with Africa through sustained engagement.
Previously, Africa was divided between three US military commands. The Central Command (Centcom) had responsibility for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya.
Adapt and evolve
The European Command (Eucom) was responsible for the rest of the countries on the African mainland and the Pacific Command (Pacom), was responsible for Madagascar, the Seychelles and Indian Ocean area.
The command's headquarters will continue to be in Stuttgart, Germany, but will adapt and evolve as it adds staff to grow to 1,300 people and develops a cadre of Africa specialists, according to the report.
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Bro. Rafil,
I is so good to get your words as you have written. I am now in the belly of the beast that devoured our motherland. You are so correct and on point that I hope you talk with your peers to spread your message until it covers the whole land of africa. As a teacher of African Past I was wondering if we as a people had gotten any wiser about dealing with the whitefolks who only want to help africa. America feels she owns the entire african continent. As an African born in America the idea of… [Read Full Text]
Brother it's too late! WE have no one, OUR leaders are weak and incompetent, they don't know how to govern, can't govern though we've had the continent to ourselves for over a decade. The world can't live without the resources OUR AFRICAN CONTINENT. The African leaders leave their people to live in slums, eat out of garbage heaps on street corners, OUR BABIES, FUTURE OF AFRICA BEG AND SLEEP ON THE STREETS, have NO power, NO running water, OUR enviroments soaked in oil while OUR live stock and fish are dying from enviromental damage brought on by oil companies. All… [Read Full Text]
Please know that not all Americans, not even all white Americans, want to pillage the African continent. You are right not to trust our government(s)! You are right to oppose our military installations and our imposition into your national affairs, and you are right that for half a millennium Europeans and Americans have been doing this. You have suffered from it, but also we suffer from the results of our past sins. I am an American, and white, and of Dutch descent, but I oppose the militarization of our own nation and the way we seek to dominate by… [Read Full Text]
It is annoying to hear that the American administration is creating US AFRICOM despite oppositions from our reasonable leaders. They should go and create USCOM for themselves. They should leave us alone because Africa had been existing without US AFRICOM, if they and their military had lost in the Middle East and could not get enough oil, then they should not steal our natural resources by force. Instead, they can bargain with African countries for more supply rather than turning Africa into battle ground for foreign powers with selfish interest or another battle ground as Middle East – killing our… [Read Full Text]
Won,t these people leave us to our fate and stop intruding into our continent and lives.No matter the reason for wanting to station a standby force, we did not ask for it and ultimately don,t want a force like this in our backyards.Ironically, Africans were not consulted before the creation of such a force, why try to lump it down our throats.We know that if you want to help protect somebody the recipient has got to know of it initially, and protection from whom,them(west) of course.We don,t need your protection and stop coming to steal using another pretext,we,ve had a… [Read Full Text]