Archive for July, 2008
After the Vetoes on Zimbabwe: What’s the Next Step?
By James H. Mittleman | 25 July 2008
Now that efforts to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and regional mediation have failed to topple the Mugabe regime, what are the alternatives?
U.S. to Create New Regional Military Command for Africa
By Daniel Volman | 8 July 2008
On 6 February 2007, President Bush announced that the United States would create a new military command for Africa, to be known as Africa Command or Africom. Throughout the Cold War and for more than a decade afterwards, the U.S. did not have a military command for Africa; instead, U.S. military activities on the African continent were conducted by three separate military commands: the European Command, which had responsibility for most of the continent; the Central Command, which oversaw Egypt and the Horn of Africa region along with the Middle East and Central Asia; and the Pacific Command, which administered military ties with Madagascar and other islands in the Indian Ocean.
Why Is America Marching Into Africa?
By Daniel Volman | 8 July 2008
Virtually unnoticed, American troops are marching into Africa. On 1 May 2008, U.S. naval forces launched the latest in a series of missile strikes on Somali insurgents and last September U.S. Air Force personnel came under fire while ferrying supplies to counter-insurgency forces in Mali. Now the Pentagon is hard at work creating [...]
Bush administration Security Assistance Programs for Africa
By Daniel Volman | 8 July 2008
For Fiscal Year 2009 (which begins on 1 October 2008), the Bush administration is asking Congress to approve the delivery of some $500 million worth of military equipment and training to Africa (including both sub-Saharan Africa and north Africa) in the budget request for the State Department for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009. The administration is also asking for up to $400 million for deliveries of equipment and training for Africa funded through the Defense Department budget and another $400 million to establish the headquarters for the Pentagon’s new Africa Command (Africom).
AFRICOM: The New U.S. Military Command for Africa
By Daniel Volman | 8 July 2008
On 6 February 2007, President Bush announced that the United States would create a new military command for Africa, to be known as Africa Command or Africom. Throughout the Cold War and for more than a decade afterwards, the U.S. did not have a military command for Africa; instead, U.S. military activities on the African continent were conducted by three separate military commands: the European Command, which had responsibility for most of the continent; the Central Command, which oversaw Egypt and the Horn of Africa region along with the Middle East and Central Asia; and the Pacific Command, which administered military ties with Madagascar and other islands in the Indian Ocean.
U.S. Military Programs in Africa, U.S. Policy toward Africa and AFRICOM
By Daniel Volman | 8 July 2008
Read the document here (pdf): http://concernedafricascholars.org/docs/asrp2008_us_mil_programs.pdf
John Pilger: The silent war on Africa
By ACAS | 7 July 2008
‘Zimbabwe shows Africa is still in the despots’ grip”, said the headline in the London Observer over an article by Keith Richburg. “Thank God that I am an American,” writes this former foreign editor of the Washington Post: An African-American, Richburg says he is very pleased he is not an African. He reminds me of middle-class black Americans I met when I first travelled in Africa. They were usually tourists looking for their roots and in their behaviour, reactions and ignorance, they demonstrated how quintessentially American they were. For them, Africa was another planet.