Africa: Opening the Third Front
With the establishment of the Africa Command (Africom) slated for 2008, the Pentagon is becoming as important a player as the State Department in as far as relations between the US and Africa. This latest move, the details of which are not yet clear, but could involve increased US troop deployments and bases, should be raising more eyebrows than it already has on the continent. This especially so since Africa was previously well covered between the European Command (EUCOM), Central Command (CENTCOM), and the Pacific Command (PACOM).
A worrying aspect to this latest development is that it has received bi-partisan support in Washington. – As Sen. Russ Feingold (D), chair of the Senate committee on Africa puts it, "An Africa Command would help the U.S. military focus on a continent that is essential to our national security…An Africa Command is vital to strengthening our relations with African nations and preventing them from becoming staging grounds for attacks against the U.S. or our allies." This would mark a shift towards increased militarization of the US approach to Africa.
Africom covers countries that have strategic interests for the US in Africa. Nigeria is an obvious choice to fall under the umbrella of Africom as a major supplier of oil to the US. The other countries covered by AFRICOM are Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Morocco. All these countries have indicated some links between internal dissent and Al-Qaeda activity.
The recent events in Somalia involving both the US and Ethiopia have raised interesting questions about the global war on terror, such as the origin of the intelligence reports citing presence of Al-Qaeda, which led to US intervention.
Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq provide valuable lessons about the lasting internal effects of ill-considered external intervention. The latest involvement in Somalia portends to a worrying trend of baiting US intervention by alluding to the presence of Al-Qaeda linked groups. Nigeria, Chad, Algeria and Mauritania are dealing with internal tensions that could be further worsened by US involvement. The potential impact of Africom on democracy in Africa is significant.
In a paper published by the Center or International Policy, Paul Lubeck et al point to the contradictory and flawed reasoning behind seeking to bolster security in Africa as an alternative source of petroleum to replace over-reliance on the Middle-East which is an increasingly unstable supply. The nature of US involvement through Africom could seed the very same tensions and instability that the US is eager to avoid in the Middle East.
The Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI) involves bolstering of continental militaries ostensibly to enable them better deal with “terrorist” activity in their territories. Given the continent’s bad history of militarism and the use of force against citizens, the implications for the future of democracy and civilian rule may be further jeopardized.
Further Reading:
Center for International Policy
The Guardian – US Moves in on Africa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2009098,00.html