Headquartering AFRICOM In Africa Itself

I want to thank Steve at Pine River News for his comment on yesterday’s post on China, Africa and AFRICOM. For those who haven’t read it, Steve writes:

“There is another factor behind African countries rejecting a U.S. AFRICOM HQ - and it's a factor seldom addressed: the potential for terrorist actions aimed at AFRICOM itself and other U.S. or domestic interests/businesses in the country hosting AFRICOM. This terrorism can be either from foreign sources - or a home-grown variety by those opposed to their government inviting/welcoming a U.S. presence. Similar to U.S., U.N. and foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe or Sudan, for example, could there be potential negative consequences (trade tariffs, etc) by other African nations against the host country for accepting the AFRICOM HQ?”

This enables me to get at something that has been nagging me about some of the reporting on AFRICOM -- and that is this business about where it will find a home in Africa. There is an assumption in much of the reporting that because it is a military command dealing with Africa, it must be located on the continent.

But take a look at the geographical commands under the Pentagon. Only one is headquartered outside the US: the European Command, parent of AFRICOM. The commands for Latin America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region are all headquartered in the US itself.

AFRICOM representatives will no doubt find several homes in Africa; after all, there are already Defense Attaches in various US embassies.

But an HQ? Maybe it was desirable but certainly not necessary.

And another thing, back when there was no AFRICOM, the only African voices I ever heard were those who lamented the fact that for the Pentagon, Africa was not a priority and one piece of evidence was the lack of a dedicated Africa Command.

Where are those voices now, I wonder?

As for the potential for attracting terrorist attacks as a possible disincentive for hosting AFRICOM HQ, sure, that is always a concern.

But I am also reminded of the story posted here some time back about an alleged terrorist threat against the US embassy in Mali. My sources at the time concluded it was an invention of Malian authorities who wanted to push the US into action on a promised counter-terrorist training program.

Maybe one or more hard-pressed African countries will eventually come to think that despite the potential risks, it’s a far, far better deal to take in AFRICOM HQ, financially and in other ways, than to keep it out.