Making Peace or Fueling War in Africa
At the end of President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, civil rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery invoked the hope of a day “when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors.” No one expects such a utopian vision to materialize any time soon. But both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken eloquently of the need to emphasize diplomacy over a narrow military agenda. In her confirmation hearing, Clinton stressed the need for “smart power,” perhaps inadvertently echoing Obama’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq as a “dumb war.” Even top U.S. military officials, such as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, have warned against overly militarizing U.S. foreign policy.
Keywords: Africom | Algeria | Burkina Faso | Chad | Libya | Mali | Mauritania | Morocco | Niger | Nigeria | Obama administration | Senegal | Somalia | Tunisia
Bush administration Security Assistance Programs for Africa
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).
Keywords: Botswana | Burundi | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Ethiopia | Ghana | Guinea Bissau | Kenya | Liberia | Libya | Nigeria | Rwanda | Senegal | South Africa | Tanzania | Uganda
AFRICOM: The New U.S. Military Command for Africa
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.
Keywords: Algeria | Benin | Botswana | Burkina Faso | Chad | Djibouti | Egypt | Gabon | Ghana | Kenya | Liberia | Libya | Malawi | Mali | Mauritania | Morocco | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | Rwanda | Senegal | South Africa | Tanzania | Tunisia | Uganda | Zambia