The United States AfricaCommand (AFRICOM), launched by President Bush in February 2007 becomes fullyoperational today (Wednesday) when it takes over all U.S military operations inAfrica. Supporters say AFRICOM is expected to focus primarily on war preventionrather than war fighting as well as working with African countries andorganizations to build regional security and crisis response capacity insupport of United States government efforts in Africa. But some skeptics arereportedly worried over a possible hidden agenda disguised as the war on terrorand a self-interested scramble for the continent's resources.
Mauro De-Lorenzois a resident fellow for foreign and defense policy at the American EnterpriseInstitute. He tells reporter Peter Clottey from Washington that AFRICOM wouldbolster Africa's security situation.
"I think it's apositive development, but one which almost no one will notice in Africa intheir daily lives. AFRICOM is simply going to take over the programs andobjectives that were previously carried out by three separate U.S militarycommands. And most governments won't notice much of a difference. The contentof what they are engaging in with the United States is not going to change verymuch right now. And certainly citizens will not see anything new or surprisingas a result of this," De-Lorenzo noted.
He concurredthat AFRICOM would bring a focused approach to the continent, which he said hadnever been a priority before.
"I agree andactually I think a lot of African governments agree, and that's why they'veafter a year or more than a year now of discussions with the U.S to understandbetter what this is about. They see the positive side. Remember that beforesecurity issues were divided just cut up arbitrarily in three places, andAfricans complained about this a lot in previous decade. They would say whatyou don't take us seriously enough for us to have our own command? Why do youput us with the Europeans or with the Middle East or even with the Pacific?Part of Africa was related to the Pacific command," he said.
De-Lorenzo saidAfrican Countries unanimously demanded AFRICOM to deal specifically withAfrican concerns.
"We (Africancountries) merit our own structure, we want to deal with you and talk aboutAfrican problems and not have to compete with Europe or the Middle East forattention because Europe and Middle East are probably almost always going to behigher priorities. It will make us learn when the administration goes toCongress to ask for funding for peacekeeping training, medical co-operationmission with African militaries. A whole range of functions that AFRICOM isgoing to take over, you would be able to make a case on African term with thefull attention committee that is there to listen with a four star general whois the commander making arguments African based on consultations with Africanleaders instead of having to integrate with the priorities of Europe and theMiddle East," De-Lorenzo pointed out.
He saidalthough the US has done a good job in explaining the rationale behind thecreation of AFRICOM, it could do better.
"I think theyhave done a very good job technically in terms of their bilateral relationswith other militaries and African defense departments. And the suspicion withthose partners I think has been later reduced, but they've done a poor job andthey were waiting to see the response in terms of political outreach. Outreachto African journalists student groups, civil society groups, the DefenseDepartment is not built to engage with those sorts of groups, and we need awhole of government effort on the side of the U.S not only to explain AFRICOMbecause ultimately AFRICOM is just a tool, it's a form of bureaucraticorganization. But we need whole government efforts, which explains U.S purposein Africa in general to include AFRICOM, to include other development agencyefforts and in our foreign policy objectives," he said.
BeforeAFRICOM was created more than a year ago, American military programs on thecontinent had reportedly been divided among three other commands concerned withNATO and the wars in Iraqand Afghanistan.
ButAFRICOM is also facing skeptical U.S. lawmakers who slashed its budget by athird last week and said the command's rollout over the last year had been"badly bungled.
The newcommand is inheriting responsibility for the United States Central Command-runbase in Djibouti, where 1,800 troops are deployed to keep Horn of Africa terror networks in check. It also takesover European Command's Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorismInitiative and dozens of other military and maritime training programs.