Not welcome in Africa

The Horn of Africa and Sudan were formerly managed by the US-Central-Command, Madagascar and other islands by the Pacific-Command and all other African states by EUCOM. Momentarily AFRICOM employs 1,000 staff members, which by the end of 2009, should rise to 1,300.

Washington originally planned to setup headquarters in Africa and not in Germany. This idea was rejected by many African countries. According to Festus Aboagye, from the South African Institute for Security Studies, “Africa doesn’t need AFRICOM”. Especially South Africa, Libya and Nigeria disapprove of the project. At one point in time, Liberia offered the US its ground for headquarters. It is unclear why this did not occur. Ike Okonta from the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford claims that Liberia was trying to please Nigeria.

After all, Nigeria’s president Umaru Yar’Adua pleaded with his country’s national congress, to cancel $ 13 million of Liberia’s $ 43 million bilateral debt. Shortly prior to this, the Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf withdrew her offer to provide a location for the new AFRICOM military command.

According to Jean-Christophe Victor, the Director of the Laboratoire d’Etudes Politiques et Cartographique, the main motive of the US government is securing access to Africa’s oil wells. Large oil deposits can especially be found in the Gulf of Guinea along the Nigerian coast. In 2005 14 % of Americas oil came from Africa. By showing presence, the US also hopes to curb China’s growing influence. (cir)