From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Jun 29 2009 - 05:06:37 EDT
Africom to Continue Under Obama
by Daniel Volman
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June 29, 2009
With the Obama administration set to oversee significant increases in US
security assistance programmes for African countries, Daniel Volman examines
the US government's plans for its military operations on the African
continent over the coming financial year. Stressing that the US president is
essentially continuing the policies outlined under his predecessor George W.
Bush, the author considers the proposed funding increases for initiatives
like the Foreign Military Financing programme and the International Military
Education and Training (IMET) programme. Pointing out that the
administration is yet to offer any public explanation of its policy, Volman
concludes that it would be a mistake to assume that there will be no US
military action if the situation in Somalia deteriorates.
At the beginning of May 2009, President Obama submitted his first budget
request to Congress. The Obama administration's budget for the 2010
financial year proposes significant increases in US security assistance
programmes for African countries and for the operations of the new US Africa
Command (AFRICOM). This shows that - at least initially - the administration
is following the course laid down for AFRICOM by the Bush administration,
rather than putting these programmes on hold until it can conduct a serious
review of US security policy towards Africa. This article outlines the
administration's plans for Africa in the coming year and the money it
intends to spend on military operations on the continent.
FOREIGN MILITARY FINANCING
The Obama administration proposes maintaining or significantly increasing
funding for the Foreign Military Financing programme, which provides loans
for the sale of weaponry and other military equipment to a number of African
countries. The administration's request raises the total funding for arms
sales to Africa from $8.3 million in financial year (FY) 2009 to $25.6
million in FY 2010. The new funding includes funding for arms sales to Chad
($500,000), the Democratic Republic of Congo ($2.5 million), Djibouti ($2.5
million), Ethiopia ($3 million), Kenya ($1 million), Liberia ($9 million),
Nigeria ($1.4 million), South Africa ($800,000) and African regional
programmes ($2.8 million).
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The Obama administration proposes small increases in the International
Military Education and Training (IMET) programmes for African counties,
raising the total funding for this programme from $13.8 million in FY 2009
to $16 million in FY 2010. Significant increases in funding are requested
for Chad ($400,000), Djibouti ($350,000), Ethiopia ($775,000), Ghana
($850,000), Kenya ($1,050,000), Liberia ($525,000), Mali ($350,000), Niger
($250,000), Nigeria ($1,100,000), Rwanda ($500,000), Senegal ($1,100,000),
South Africa ($900,000) and Uganda ($550,000). The United States will
continue its major IMET programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo
($500,000), and the Obama administration is proposing to start new IMET
programmes in Equatorial Guinea ($40,000), Somalia ($40,000) and Zimbabwe
($40,000).
PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
The Obama administration proposes major new funding for security assistance
provided through the Peacekeeping Operations programme. The FY 2010 budget
proposal includes increasing funding for the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism
Partnership - from $15 million in FY 2009 to $20 million in FY 2010 - and
for the East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative - from $5 million in FY
2009 to $10 million in FY 2010. It also includes $42 million to continue
operations in support of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace
Accords in southern Sudan, $10 million to continue operations to create a
professional 2,000-member armed force in Liberia, $21 million to continue
operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo to reform the military
(including the creation of rapid reaction force for the eastern Congo), and
$3.6 million for the Africa Conflict Stabilization and Border Security
Program, which will be used to support monitoring teams, advisory
assistance, training, infrastructure enhancements, and equipment in the
Great Lakes region, the Mano River region, the Horn of Africa, Chad, and the
Central African Republic. The budget request also includes $67 million to
support the African Union Mission in Somalia. And it contains a request for
$96.8 million for the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). The request
for GPOI includes funding for the African Contingency Operations and
Training Assistance Program (ACOTA) - which provides training and equipment
to African military forces to enhance their peacekeeping capabilities -
although the specific amount requested for ACOTA is not provided in the
budget summary.
INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
The budget request for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement
(INCLE) programs contains $24 million for Sudan to support implementation of
the Comprehensive Peace Accords (CPA) in southern Sudan and to assist
programmes to stabilise Darfur by providing technical assistance and
training for southern Sudan's criminal justice sector and law enforcement
institutions as well as to contribute to UN civilian police and formed
police units in southern Sudan and Darfur. It also includes funds for police
reforms in the DRC; for training, infrastructure, and equipment for police
units in Liberia; to operate the American-run International Law Academy in
Gaborone, Botswana; and to create a Regional Security Training Center for
West, Central, and North Africa. The Obama administration is also asking for
funding to be provided through the INCLE programmes for the first time to
provide security assistance to countries participating in the Trans-Saharan
Counter-Terrorism Partnership: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania,
Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad and Nigeria.
NON-PROLIFERATION, ANTI-TERRORISM, DE-MINING AND RELATED PROGRAMMES
The Obama administration proposes to almost double funding for
counter-terrorism programmes. These include the Anti-Terrorism Assistance
Program, which provides training to countries throughout the world; the
Terrorist Interdiction Program/Personal Identification, Secure Comparison,
and Evaluation System Program, which supports identification and watch
listing systems to 18 countries (including Kenya); the Counterterrorism
Financing Program, which helps partner countries throughout the world stop
the flow of money to terrorists; and the Counterterrorism Engagement
Program, which is intended to strengthen ties with key political leaders
throughout the world and 'build political will at senior levels in partner
nations for shared counterterrorism challenges'.
AFRICOM
The Obama administration's proposed FY 2010 budget for the Department of
Defense requests some $300 million in operation and maintenance funds to
cover the cost of AFRICOM operations and Operation Enduring
Freedom-Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership operations at the AFRICOM
headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. The administration is also requesting
$263 million to provide additional personnel, airlift and communications
support to AFRICOM. And the budget includes a request for a total of $451
million to replace or upgrade facilities at enduring CENTCOM and AFRICOM
locations, but does not provide a separate figure for AFRICOM. According to
the budget, the administration intends to carry out significant investment
at Camp Lemonier in FY 2010. In addition, the administration is requesting
$30 million to pay the annual lease for the 500-acre base at Camp Lemonier
in Djibouti and $170 million to cover the annual operational budget of the
base.
The administration is requesting some $400 million for Global Train and
Equip (Section 1206) programmes, some $200 million for Security and
Stabilization Assistance (Section 1207) programmes, and some $1 million for
the Combatant Commander's Initiative Fund. This money will be used primarily
to pay for emergency training and equipment, the services of personnel from
the State Department, and humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi and Afghani
armed forces, but it will be available for the use of AFRICOM as well. The
administration's budget request also contains $1.9 billion to buy three
Littoral Combat Ships and another $373 million to buy two Joint High Speed
Vessels, ships that will play a crucial role in US Navy operations off the
coast of Africa. It also includes $44 billion to fund US Navy operations
throughout the world - of which a significant proportion will be needed to
cover the costs of US Navy operations in African waters - but the budget
does not provide enough information to estimate these costs.
SECURITY POLICY TOWARD THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND SOMALIA
Obama administration officials have not said anything in public to explain
why they are proceeding with the Bush administration's plan to increase US
security assistance to African countries and to expand US military
activities on the continent. General William Ward, commander of AFRICOM, at
a news conference that he held during his visit to Kinshasa in April 2009,
provided one of the few pieces of evidence we have about the
administration's thinking. The United States will continue working in
training and advising the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo
'to help the host nation build capacity to more effectively conduct its
military operations and provide for its own security.' The United States
currently has a seven-member mobile training team training Congolese
military officers. This training, Ward said at the news conference, is
intended 'to support the increased professionalization of the Congolese
armed forces as best we can as they work to bring security and stability
here in Congo.' This suggests that President Obama - despite his rhetorical
commitment to multilateralism and 'soft power' and the abysmal record of
military incompetence and human rights violations by the Congolese armed
forces - is convinced that unilateral US military involvement can still work
and that he can succeed where his predecessor failed.
The only other indication we have about the president's true intentions is
provided by his decision to authorise the use of force to rescue the
kidnapped captain of the Maersk Alabama in May 2009. When he was a
candidate, President Obama declared that he believed that 'there will be
situations that require the United States to work with its partners in
Africa to fight terrorism with lethal force.' But his action during the
kidnapping episode show that he is also willing to use military force in
situations that have nothing to do with terrorism. According to recent news
articles, a debate is currently underway within the administration about the
wisdom of direct US military intervention against Somali pirates or against
the al-Shabaab insurgents. Top administration officials and military
officers are convinced that, in the words of Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
'there is no purely military solution' to piracy and political conflict in
Somalia. And Johnnie Carson, the president's new assistant secretary of
state for Africa, told the BBC that 'there would be no case of the US
re-engaging on the ground with troops' in Somalia. But some in the military
and a number of prominent neo-conservative leaders contend that the United
States must strike back at the pirates and the insurgents to prevent future
acts of piracy and terrorism against Americans. It would be a mistake to
assume that Obama will not take further military action if the situation in
Somalia escalates.
Daniel Volman is the director of the African Security Research Project in
Washington, DC, and a member of the board of directors of the Association of
Concerned Africa Scholars.
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