And he’s quite right. Since Africom’s inception in 2007, peppered around the African continent are scores of US bases – official and unofficial alike. Exactly how many bases there are is in dispute, as is exactly what they’re doing - although Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc, who heads up Special Operations Command Africa (SOAFRICA) has gone on record to rather ambiguously state that in this “wickedly complex environment” he and his troops “operate in the gray zone, between traditional war and peace”. What’s more, the government claims to be fighting against a staggering 50 terrorist organizations and “illicit groups” – although just seven names are public knowledge, leaving one guessing as to the identiy of the other 43.
Whether anything is really being achieved in this gray zone is equally opaque, with some critics arguing that by focusing on military interventions in response to threats such as terrorism, the US is simply stalling the institutional evolution of governments on the continent instead of doing the arguably more difficult work of exploring why citizens might become radicalized and what they should be doing to stop it. And on many occasions, the causes of terrorism are precisely the African leaders endorsed by the U.S.
Indeed, in carrying out its actions in the region, the US military has found itself teaming up with some very dubious characters indeed. Take, for example, Cameroon, which, in an attempt to wipe out Boko Haram, has hosted a US drone base since 2015 and is one of the key allies of the U.S. in Africa. President Paul Biya has been in power for some 33 years and his reign has manifested all the hallmarks of corrupt leadership on the continent. After coming to power, he amended the constitution to ensure that he stays quasi-president for life. He has a fortune of more than than $200 million — compared to the average Cameroonian income of $1,350 a year. In 2014, a report from the Human Rights Foundation stated that “Biya has built a system of corrupt an autocratic power, using the legal and justice system to imprison and bankrupt dissidents, opposition leaders, and journalists. … The secret police prowl university campuses, the army regularly patrols urban centers, and state permission is required for public assembly.” Indeed, even supposed “crackdowns on corruption” are widely interpreted as just a handy way for Biya to silence the dissidents in his midst.
The situation is no better in the Republic of Djibouti, a country on the Horn of Africa whose diminutive size belies its strategic importance – it is home to Camp Lemonnier, the biggest (official) military base Washington operates in Africa. The sprawling military campus has grown from 88 acres to 500 acres, after the Pentagon spent more than $500 million developing the base – as a point of reference, Djibouti’s GDP is $1.5 billion. And again in cosying up to the country, the US has found itself uncomfortably close to its leader President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who, like his peer in Cameroon, is happy to cling to power regardless of the desires of the electorate, and indeed, will even go as far as rigging elections in order to artificially inflate his popularity figures, in addition to torturing and imprisoning opposition members. Djibouti lost a recent court case against former ally Abourahman Boreh, accused of fraud and terrorism, after the London High Court found that the charges were trumped up and were based on falsified evidence. The country also has the usual human rights rap sheet including everything from the ‘abridgement of the right of citizens to choose or significantly influence their government’ to harsh prison sentences, interference with privacy rights, lack of protection for refugees, discrimination against persons with disabilities and female genital mutilation.
However, what is especially interesting about the situation in Djibouti is that Beijing is also muscling in on the region, after China began building a naval base in the country, two years after the two countries initially signed a Security and Defense Agreement in 2014. How the US and China will fare as uncomfortable bedfellows in the country the size of New Jersey remains to be seen, with US Ambassador to Djibouti Tom Kelly conceding that it “will be a challenge for all involved”.
As China and the US start to vie for space, all the problems associated with good governance are will probably increase. Local strongmen no longer have to endear themselves to one power, they can play one against the other.
The US getting involved to such a great extent is unlikely to have the desired outcomes anyway. A more sustainable solution would be to support, as the World Peace Foundation recently suggested, the African Union in increasing its power, clout and financing and allowing African states to police themselves. Rather than carrying on its “whack-a-mole” style operations against terrorism alongside crooked African partners, the US would be better off taking a step back.