U.S. Bases in Africa - Lessons for Continent from Afghanistan?

The ineffectiveness of military interventions has been underscored by the U.S. failure in Afghanistan. This should lead to a rethink in Africa, opines Mimi Mefo Takambou for Deutsche Welle.

"The U.S. was in Afghanistan for 20 years, spent U.S.$2 trillion, and left the country in the hands of a maniacal terrorist organization. The rationale for the continuous existence of their troops in Africa, is therefore at best contentious. From the era of the Cold War to the dawn of the global fight on terror, every intervention, whether unilateral or multilateral, has been whitewashed with the polemics of protecting the values of liberal democracy. I would therefore conclude that the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) has outlived its usefulness, if there ever was one. Except, of course, the raison d'être for these troops in Africa, has nothing to do with ending conflicts or engaging in nation-building," Takambou writes.

New Frame reports that the military presence of the United States in Africa is strategic and enduring. It ensures a fragmented continent, easily pliable to the West's interests and a convenient site for the 'new Cold War'.

A lightly edited excerpt from Defending our Sovereignty: US Military Bases in Africa and the Future of African Unity co-published by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the Socialist Movement of Ghana's Research Group says: "The presence of foreign bases arouses popular hostility to the neo-colonial arrangements which permit them more quickly and more surely than does anything else, and throughout Africa these bases are disappearing. Libya may be quoted as an example of how this policy has failed."