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Nairobi, Kenya, February 4, 2004 (CNSNews.com) - U.S. scholars have called for the establishment of a U.S. military command responsible for Africa, although a regional security analyst here says that the existing, comprehensive intelligence and security network in Africa may be adequate.
Two fellows at the Heritage Foundation recently suggested that the U.S. set up a military command to direct counter terrorism operations in the continent.
James Jay Carafano, a senior research fellow for national security and homeland security, and Nile Gardiner, fellow in international regulatory affairs, wrote that, with the U.S. on the offensive in the Middle East and Asia, "Africa could be the next hotspot for al-Qaeda's mischief."
They said sub-Saharan Africa should fall under a sub-command of U.S. Central Command, whose responsibility covers the Middle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa.
Most of sub-Saharan Africa currently falls under U.S. European Command's area of responsibility, but the Heritage scholars said its engagement in Africa "has been spotty."
They said Africa was the only continent not covered by a U.S. network of global commands to direct counter terrorism operations."
The U.S. needs to be on the alert that African states that might foster terrorism could emerge.
"While poverty and instability alone do not breed terrorists, many African nations with weak civil societies and poor law enforcement and judicial systems are vulnerable to penetration and exploitation," they said.
"Such states offer terrorist groups an attractive opportunity to expand their resource base, making it possible to field an even more substantial threat to our security."
Responding to the report, Nairobi-based analyst Akasha Alsayeed Akasha said the U.S. already had an "overwhelming" military and intelligence network in Africa, having substantially increased since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S.
In East Africa, the U.S. has a two-decade old, strong military cooperation agreement with Kenya, and American troops are a regular feature in the coastal city of Mombassa.
Further north, the U.S. is coordinating the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), stationed in the tiny nation of Djibouti overlooking the Gulf of Aden.
The CJTF - which involves national forces from Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen - aims to detect, disrupt, and defeat transnational terrorism.
Akasha said the U.S. also held "very comprehensive" military and intelligence consultations with nations like the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and the larger Southern African community of states.
It enjoys strong military relations with Egypt, an intelligence presence in Mauritania and has opened up military-related consultation with other North African nations, including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and - most recently - Libya. The powerful West African nation of Nigeria is a key U.S. ally.
Akasha also noted that U.S. forces have held joint training exercises with specific African nations, aimed at improving local forces' ability in peacekeeping and counter terrorism intelligence gathering.
The U.S. last year collaborated with Africans to restore peace in civil war-torn Liberia.
In their article, Carafano and Gardiner said African countries falling under European Command was largely a vestige of the colonial past and the Cold War.
They suggested that "shifting the command for sub-Saharan Africa to U.S. Central Command, with sub-commands for the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa, might be the best answer."
"An Africa sub-command also could more efficiently oversee U.S. anti-terrorism efforts and provide American political leaders with more thoughtful, informed military advice, based on an in-depth knowledge of the region and continuous planning and intelligence assessments."
It would also have the advantage of preventing U.S. intervention in unsound or open-ended military operations, they argued.
During last year's Liberia crisis, the Bush administration came under pressure from domestic critics, the U.N. and African governments to intervene substantially in the conflict.
In the end, limited but highly-symbolic U.S. involvement was seen to have played a positive contribution towards the campaign by African forces to help to restore order there.
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