[dehai-news] (McCl NP) The Pentagon's new Africa command raises suspicions about U.S. motives


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From: emmanuel (emmanuel@bayou.com)
Date: Mon Sep 29 2008 - 18:32:29 EDT


*The Pentagon's new Africa command raises suspicions about U.S. motives*

By Shashank Bengali, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Sep 29, 1:53 PM ET

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 Africom will be
based in Stuttgart, Germany , for the foreseeable future.

U.S.-based aid groups and some in 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 .

U.S. covert operations in Somalia and elsewhere have fueled the
controversy. In late 2006, the U.S. military provided intelligence to
help Ethiopia topple a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Somalia , an
invasion that's fueled a violent Islamist insurgency.

U.S. forces have since launched several strikes on suspected terrorist
targets in Somalia . While one of the strikes killed a top militant
commander, Aden Hashi Ayro , in May, Somalis say the attacks also killed
and badly wounded civilians.

Underlining the skepticism in Washington , the House of Representatives
voted last week to provide $266 million to fund Africom's first year of
operations — $123 million less than President Bush had requested. The
House Appropriations Committee said the reduction was due partly to "the
failure to establish an Africom presence on the continent."

The fledgling command's image problem, at home and abroad, is 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
now come from Africa , more than the U.S. gets from Persian Gulf
countries. But rising powers such as China have strengthened their ties
with Africa and become a powerful counterweight to American influence.

Pentagon officials reject claims that Africom is about oil or China ,
but those perceptions remain strong in Africa .

"Obviously the U.S. is concerned about China's influence, security, oil,
counterterrorism, hunting down al Qaida suspects," said Erin Weir of
Refugees International , a Washington -based advocacy group that's
opposed Africom. "Africans read the newspaper just the same as we do,
and they know what drives U.S. interests now."

Witney Schneidman , who served as deputy assistant Secretary of State
for African Affairs in the Clinton administration, said: "In many parts
of Africa it is perceived as the U.S. bringing its war on terror to
Africa . That is not what Africom is about, but that is how it has been
seen."

While the public face of the U.S. military in Africa has been that of a
benign partner, human rights activists say that 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 independent 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."

After Bush announced the creation of Africom in February 2007 , the
Pentagon began issuing mixed messages about its mission, with some
officials suggesting that the new command would help "coordinate" U.S.
policy in the region. Experts immediately questioned whether U.S. troops
would participate in humanitarian programs and other non-combat
operations that have long been run by the State Department and U.S.
embassies.

Pentagon officials have acknowledged mistakes in marketing Africom, and
they no longer list humanitarian projects as part of its mission.
Instead, they say that Africom will support other U.S. government
agencies and focus on helping bolster African militaries.

"Africom will support, not shape, U.S. foreign policy on the continent,"
Teresa Whelan , Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African
Affairs, told a congressional hearing in July.

About 1,300 people, divided roughly evenly between civilian and military
positions, are expected to staff the Germany headquarters, but no
additional soldiers will be deployed in Africa yet. Instead, Africom
will take charge of small U.S. military teams that are already on the
continent training national militaries and maritime agencies, providing
immunizations, drilling wells, rebuilding schools and conducting other
projects.

Africom will assume control over the largest U.S. military base in the
region, the 1,500-strong Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa,
housed at a former French Foreign Legion facility in the tiny eastern
nation of Djibouti .

Despite the questions about its mission, experts say that Africom will
raise Africa's profile in the Pentagon . Currently, three separate
regional "combatant commands," which manage overseas U.S. military
operations, share responsibility for Africa . The U.S. Central Command
oversees seven countries in East Africa , Pacific Command has three
Indian Ocean island nations and European Command handles 42 other
African countries from Morocco to South Africa .

Now all the countries — except Egypt , which will continue to be grouped
with Middle Eastern nations under the Central Command — will fall under
Africom's jurisdiction. As with the other regional commands, Africom's
commander, four-star Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward , reports to
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates .

"One of the basic problems of U.S. engagement with Africa historically
is there's been a lack of a long-term, sustained and steady commitment,"
said Abiodun Williams , a Sierra Leonean who's vice president of the
Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the United States
Institute of Peace in Washington . "One of the positive things about
Africom is this might finally be changing."

More from McClatchy :

a
href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/shashank_bengali/story/13249.html">
Little-known dimension to war on terrorism plays out in East Africa /a>

a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/27727.html"> Bush's
Africa visit highlights bright side of his

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