Pentagon to train a sharper eye on Africa

Strife, oil, and Al Qaeda are leading the US to create a new Africa Command.

Africa, long beset by war, famine, disease, and ethnic tensions, has generally taken a backseat in Pentagon planning – but US officials say that is about to change.

One of Donald Rumsfeld’s last acts before Robert Gates replaced him last month as Defense secretary was to urge President Bush to let the Pentagon create a new Africa Command to pay more attention to the troubled continent. Mr. Bush is said to have agreed to the idea and is expected announce it early this year.
The US gets about 10 percent of its oil from Africa, notes Melvin Foote, chief executive officer of Constituency for Africa, a nonprofit group devoted to strengthening US relations with African governments. Some experts say it may need to rely on the continent for as much as 25 percent by 2010. “With all the instability in the Middle East, there’s some thought that we had better build partnerships in Africa,” he says.

A senior Pentagon official, who requested anonymity because announcing the decision is the president’s prerogative, said current events have less to do with the move than does Africa’s instability. “Africa’s a place with a lot of crises,” this official says. Bush is “on record saying he doesn’t want another genocide on his watch. This is a way of ensuring that there’s a military command, a four-star, paying attention.”

Christian Science Monitor