BRUSSELS, September 12, 2007 - The United States launches in Germany next month a new military command for Africa with small teams of key staff, but no troops, based on the continent, a senior US defence official said Wednesday.

The Africa Command (AFRICOM) will initially work from Stuttgart, and have a year to prepare six locations in, as yet, unidentified African countries, said US Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Ryan Henry.

"The command will stand up at the beginning of October," he told reporters in Brussels during a trip for talks with European Union and NATO officials.

"There will be no new bases and no new forces associated with this command," he underlined. "This represents no change in our policy towards Africa."

The move comes amid heightened US military activities in the region, much of it aimed at denying new havens for militant Islamic groups aligned with Al-Qaeda.

AFRICOM would have the primary tasks of providing security assistance to African countries, as well as helping them to build "military professionalism".

But it would also have the capacity to conduct "military operations to deter aggression and respond to crises", according to its mission statement, using US troops based elsewhere.

Henry said no formal talks had begun with any country on hosting US staff there, but US officials confirmed that Liberia had applied to do so, and that Botswana, Djibouti and Senegal were open to the idea.

Some 1,500 US troops are already in Djibouti, neighboring Ethiopia and Somalia, on "anti-terror" operations in the Horn of Africa.

Libya has already rejected the AFRICOM plan outright.

The Pentagon's coverage of Africa is shared among three regional commands.

Central Command (CENTCOM), based in Tampa, Florida, is in charge of US military operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as Egypt, Sudan and the Horn of Africa.

The European Command (EUCOM), based in Stuttgart, is responsible for the rest of Africa. Pacific Command (PACOM), based in Hawaii, covers the island of Madagascar.

"Rather than three different commanders who have Africa as a third or fourth priority, there will be one commander that has it as a top priority," Henry said.

Source: AFP