A New AmericanMilitary Headquarters

Since September 30th, Germany has become home to yet another war operations center. On Tuesday, the U.S. military’s newest theater command, Africa Command (AFRICOM) officially became an independent entity with headquarters at Kelly Barracks near Stuttgart. A year ago, AFRICOM was separated from European Command (EUCOM), also headquartered near Stuttgart, but temporarily remained a subordinate command of EUCOM. Presently, about 1300 people work at AFRICOM headquarters, split about evenly between soldiers and civilian employees.

Not a temporary arrangement

AFRICOM is the U.S. military’s sixth regional command. The others are NORTHCOM (North America), SOUTHCOM (Central and South America), EUCOM (Europe and Russia), CENTCOM (Near- and Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and post-Soviet Central Asia), as well as PACOM (The Pacific and Indian Ocean as well as China). The entire world is now completely divided into U.S. military commands as if we had found ourselves in a global war.

Until the creation of AFRICOM, three separate regional commands were responsible for Africa. The largest portion of the continent, 42 countries, had been the responsibility of EUCOM. Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya fell under CENTCOM with Madagascar and a few other small East-African islands the responsibility of PACOM. Now all military activities will be under the command of AFIRCOM with two exceptions: Egypt remains under CENTCOM, headquartered in Florida, because it is part of the Middle East, and the Djibouti-based Combined Joint Task Force of Africa with its 1800 marines and special operations troops stationed in the Horn of Africa also remains under CENTCOM for the same reason.

Despite earlier claims to the contrary, AFRICOM’s headquarters will not stay in Stuttgart temporarily, but for the foreseeable future. Planners wanted to move the new command’s headquarters onto the African continent as quickly as possible. Neo-conservatives, who had also played a major role in creating AFRICOM, suggested construction of a gigantic military stronghold on the West African islands of Sao Tome and Principe. It was also to be the homeport for an as-yet to be created naval fleet intended to control the Gulf of Guinea (the oil shipping route) and principally the oil-exporting nation of Nigeria. The area accounts for about 17 percent of oil imported into the United States, already more than the amount imported from the Arabian Peninsula.

Mistrust everywhere

Intensive pressure by the U.S. government, however, produced no success. AFRICOM is perceived widely on the African continent with a great deal of mistrust. America is seen as trying to draw Africa into its aggressive global strategy under the guise of the “war on terror” and thereby create a permanent military presence there. Above all, major regional powers like South Africa and Nigeria criticized the overall plan. In the end, it became apparent that no African nation other than Liberia was willing to host AFRICOM’s headquarters.

Meanwhile, the original hope that AFRICOM would enhance the American military’s image on the continent has been sharply curtailed. Planners had envisioned all manner of civilian assistance projects led by AFRICOM. Those hopes were dashed when the U.S. State Department objected that it was traditionally responsible for such activities. Besides that, numerous African countries expressed grave reservations about the militarization of such projects.