U.S. Africa Command goes operational

U.S. Africa Command goes operational
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 30, 2008 20:36:50 EDT

After spending the past year under the wing of European Command, the fledgling U.S. Africa Command became fully operational Wednesday — even as it remains headquartered in the middle of Europe.

Stuttgart, Germany, is not the likeliest location for this hybrid military-civilian command that hopes to promote security ties between the U.S. and African nations, help build Africa’s ability to fight terrorism and piracy and focus on “war prevention rather than war fighting,” as AfriCom’s Web site proclaims.

But concerns among both U.S. and African officials about establishing a permanent American presence on the continent combined to block an effort to place even part of its headquarters in Africa.

So AfriCom remains based in Stuttgart, vowing that it has no plans to establish permanent U.S. bases on the continent, and becomes the U.S. headquarters with primary responsibility for U.S. interests in all of Africa save for Egypt, which will remain under the purview of Central Command.

AfriCom will do so while continuing to try to convince the doubters that it is not being formed strictly to fight terrorism, secure oil resources, ward off growing Chinese influence on the continent or militarize U.S. policy in Africa, as noted during congressional testimony by Theresa Whelan, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary for African affairs.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/military_africacommand_100108w/%2e