Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Africom

Great Satan's 30 year in the future military expands her global reach and opens up shop in Africa with a new field command.

Africom.

Back in the day, any biz south of the Nile's Cataracts were unsweetly divided across 3 diff Commands - like Europa, ME and the Pacific. Original Vulcan and Regime Changer Ex Def Sec Rumsfeld often quized about the coolness of such discombobulated disarray.

After Liberia back in 2001 it became prett clear Great Satan needed a dedicated structure to hang near by and keep an eye open for events on a continent of a guesstimated 690 million souls speaking a thousand diff tongues among 53 diff nations.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Theresa Whelan points out that

"Africa, and the Horn of Africa in particular, is a region of great
strategic importance to the United States. At the crossroads of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Near East, the Horn presents a series of complex threats to U.S. national security, including weak governance, lawlessness, territorial disputes, and safe havens for terrorism."

"If ignored or unaddressed, all of these issues will have dire
consequences for the people of the Horn, for the broader region, for our
friends and Allies on the continent, and for the United States. We believe that a coordinated U.S. foreign and national security policy in the Horn of Africa, of which our defense relations are a component, is of critical importance to U.S. strategic and security interests."

Africom's Vision?

Develops and implements military programs that add value to the important endeavor of enhancing stability and security on the continent of Africa and its island nations;

Directs, integrates and employs credible and relevant military capability in peace and in response to crisis;

Is a trusted and reliable partner for the nations and security institutions in Africa, our U.S. government teammates, our allies, and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations working in Africa;

Africom will be essential in training free troops like 5 Brigades from South Africa who function as a first on the scene combat force to incarcerating and incinerating Al Qaedas in Africa, putting paid to the piracy trade as well as challenging and standing up against intolerant ideologies that tend to make up a concept called "The Protracted Peoples Wars"

Africom's 1st commander is 4 Star General William Ward and is responsible to the Secretary of Defense for U.S. military relations with 53 African countries, including the Islands of Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe, and the Indian Ocean islands of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

Central Command will still maintain its traditional relationship with Egypt, but AFRICOM will coordinate with Egypt on issues relating to Africa security.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Without wishing to join the America bashers - it is worth pointing out that not a single one of the 53 African countries want to host Africom.