Africa Command (AFRICOM)
On February 6, 2007, President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced the creation of U.S. Africa Command. The decision was the culmination of a 10-year thought process within the Department of Defense (DoD) acknowledging the emerging strategic importance of Africa, and recognizing that peace and stability on the continent impacts not only Africans, but the interests of the U.S. and international community as well. Yet, the department’s regional command structure did not account for Africa in a comprehensive way, with three different U.S. military headquarters maintaining relationships with African countries. The creation of U.S. Africa Command enables DoD to better focus its resources to support and enhance existing U.S. initiatives that help African nations, the African Union, and the regional economic communities succeed. It also provides African nations and regional organizations an integrated DoD coordination point to help address security and related needs.
AFRICOM has responsibility for the entire continent of Africa, except Egypt, and the surrounding islands. AFRICOM’s area of responsibility (AOR) will include an area that includes about 35 percent of the world’s land mass and 25 percent of its population. The African continent was divided among three combatant commands: U.S. European Command, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command. US Central Command had responsibility for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya. U.S. European Command had responsibility for the rest of the nations in the African mainland. US Pacific Command had responsibility for Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Indian Ocean area off the African coast. This division of Africa, within the UCP, led to the creation of "seams" between the current combatant command boundaries. EUCOM's focus is based on their expansion into the newest NATO countries on their Eastern border. CENTCOM's focus for the indefinite future is on OEF, OIF, and the future of U.S. presence in the Middle East. PACOM's focus has been and remains on the Asian continent.
Established as a sub-unified command in October 2007, U.S. Africa Command was subordinate to U.S. European Command during a year-long transition period. Upon becoming a unified regional command in October 2008, the commander of Africa Command reports to the Secretary of Defense, as do all the other unified commanders in the Department of Defense. The U.S. Department of State will continue to be the primary U.S. government agency responsible for U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy. Ambassadors at U.S. Embassies in Africa will continue to be the President's personal representatives to host-nation governments and international organizations. The U.S. Africa Command will work closely with, and in support of, U.S. Embassies and diplomatic missions. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will continue to be the lead U.S. agency for development and humanitarian activities.
The designers of U.S. Africa Command clearly understood the relationships between security, development, diplomacy and prosperity in Africa. As a result, U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, reflects a much more integrated staff structure, one that includes significant management and staff representation by the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other U.S. government agencies involved in Africa. The command also will seek to incorporate partner nations and humanitarian organizations, from Africa and elsewhere, to work alongside the U.S. staff on common approaches to shared interests.
United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.
The creation of U.S. Africa Command does not mean the U.S. military will take a leading role in African security matters, nor will it establish large U.S. troop bases. Rather, Africa Command is a headquarters staff whose mission entails coordinating the kind of support that will enable African governments and existing regional organizations, such as the African Standby Force, to have greater capacity to provide security and respond in times of need. Africa Command builds on the many African-U.S. security cooperation activities already underway, yet will be able to better coordinate DoD support with other U.S. government departments and agencies to make those activities even more effective.
Established in October 2007, the command’s focus during its first year was to build a unique organization dedicated to long-term partnerships. The transition team was based at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. DoD’s plan is eventually to place AFRICOM headquarters in Africa. U.S. Africa Command will be headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, for the foreseeable future. The command inherits a small but meaningful U.S. military presence already existing in numerous African nations, to include Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, as well as Defense Department personnel assigned to U.S. Embassies and diplomatic missions to coordinate Defense Department programs supporting U.S. diplomacy. Any additional presence on the continent will take place only in full diplomatic consultation and agreement with potential host nations.
U.S. Africa Command will focus on synchronizing hundreds of activities inherited from three regional commands that previously coordinated U.S. military relations in Africa. The goal is for AFRICOM not to be a US leadership role on the continent but rather to be supporting the indigenous leadership efforts that are currently going on. The US supports the leadership from different nations and that of the AU and the regional economic communities that are there and the security capabilities that they provide. The purpose of the command, which came out of the QDR, is what DOD refers to as anticipatory measures, those are taking actions that will prevent problems from becoming crises, and crises from becoming conflicts. So the mission of the command is to be able to prevent that.
Its principle mission will be in the area of security cooperation and building partnership capability. It will not be in warfighting. The nature of the security challenge in Africa is not one of states fighting states, but it is one of states coming to grips with their own internal defense, or trying to collectively work against transnational threats. And so to the degree which the US would be doing that, and the principal mission of AFRICOM, is to help the Africans to be able to meet those challenges themselves.
With the ACOTA program and a number of different programs, resources are going there now. AFRICOM would be the one that would take a lead from the Defense Department aspect of that. It will allow the DOD to do a job better. As the Africans see the stand-up of AFRICOM, they should not look at it as a here's another donor, here's another source of revenue; rather it is someone who's going to come and share their knowledge, know-how along a path that the Africans have chosen to help them to better be able to a job for themselves.
AFRICOM would be unique in that a deputy commander in AFRICOM will be a civilian. The first one will be a representative from the State Department. Many of the missions AFRICOM will perform will be non-kinetic, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. If there wbere kinetic operations going on, that would only be done through the military chain of command. The civilian deputy would not be in the chain of command for those. AFRICOM will be unique in the amount of interagency cooperation it will involve. The command’s headquarters will include representatives from the State Department and other government agencies, and DoD will work closely with the African nations in developing the structure of the command and possible missions.
AFRICOM was not being stood up in response to Chinese presence on the continent. It was not being stood up solely for the effort of enhanced counterterrorism, and it was not being stood up in order to secure resources, a particular sensitivity to the oil resources. While some of these may be part of the formula, the reason that AFRICOM is being stood up is, Afric is emerging on the world scene as a strategic player, and the US needed to deal with it as a continent.
AFRICOM does not mean that there would be additional U.S. forces put on the continent. It is an organizational and a staffing structure, it is not an operational entity. It will coordinate the efforts of operational forces, but those would principally be in the areas of joint exercises. AFRICOM does not mean the dramatic increase in resources to the African continent from the Department of Defense or from the US government. The Bush Administration has made significant investment in the improvement of the quality of life on the African continent, increasing it over threefold. And AFRICOM would be there to coordinate the department's efforts, with other elements of the US government, to make those investments successful. By early 2007 not all the decisions regarding AFRICOM and the details of the execution had been made. And that's why the US was consulting with African governments, to get their insights and perspectives so that when AFRICOM did stand up, that it could be as friendly to working with the host nation governments there as possible.
Currently, contractors do do a lot of work in Africa. In all probability there would be some presence of contractors, but the US government and government employees will clearly be the ones there making the decisions. They will be the ones that are out front. To the degree which they will be supported by contractors, the government will look at is who can do the job best and what's in the best interests of the US government and what's in the best interests of the African nations.
