After long preparations, the new U.S. Africa Command that President Bush announced in February 2007 is scheduled to become fully operational October 1.

On the eve of its official launch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Theresa Whelan said the command--known as AFRICOM--will be the most visible element of the U.S. goal to strengthen ties with Africa through sustained engagement.
The purpose of the sixth U.S. geographic command is to promote military-to-military programs and other activities in concert with a variety of U.S. government agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, as well as with help from international partners.

In the past, responsibility for working with Africa was divided awkwardly across three U.S. military commands that were simultaneously focused on the Middle East, Europe and the Pacific. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld questioned the efficacy of a fractured U.S. focus on Africa when he joined the Bush administration in 2001. Repeated evacuations of international citizens in Liberia further led to the drive to pay singular attention to a continent of 53 nations with an estimated population of 690 million people speaking more than 1,000 languages.

In an interview with America.gov, Whelan said U.S. relationships with African nations will be easier as a result of AFRICOM's systematic focus on the entire continent (except Egypt) and its island nations. It is easier to develop and maintain good working relationships, she said, "if you see and work with people frequently."
She pointed to AFRICOM's ability to provide effective peacekeeping training and technical support for the Africa Union's African Standby Force, which is developing a peacekeeping brigade for each of five regions of the continent. Whelan said this effort dovetails well with the U.S. objective to help African nations provide their own security.

Whelan said AFRICOM will be "a more effective tool" to promote security and sustainability and to help Africa nations grapple with famine, disease, poverty, weapons proliferation, piracy and conflict. Restrictions on what the U.S. military can do in Africa have not changed with the creation of the new command. "So the fact that we created a new organizational structure to implement security strategy in Africa," she said, "hasn't changed any of the rules that governed the old organizational structures."

Whelan dismissed the idea that the command represents what some critics have called the "militarization" of U.S. foreign policy in Africa. She said "people will be surprised that AFRICOM's leadership [half military and half civilian] will be more cautious about looking for military solutions to problems in Africa."

AFRICOM's main focus will be to build up the capacity of partner nations' land and marine forces so they can cooperate to address emerging regional challenges ranging from disaster response to counterterrorism to conflict prevention. A stable, prosperous Africa is important to long-term U.S. interests, Whelan said, since a secure, healthy and more prosperous continent will contribute to worldwide security and a stronger world economy.

The United States also will be working with African partners "to further strengthen their democracies, institutionalize respect for human rights, pursue economic prosperity and build effective regional institutions," she said.

The command, currently headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, will adapt and evolve as it adds staff to grow to 1,300 people and develops a cadre of Africa specialists. Whelan emphasized that AFRICOM is a staff headquarters, not a troop headquarters.
Army General William "Kip" Ward is leading the command with the support of two co-deputies: a foreign service officer, Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, who has served in Burundi and Ghana and focuses on civil-military activities, and Navy Vice Admiral Robert Moeller, who coordinates operational activities.

U.S. PRESENCE WILL FLUCTUATE ACCORDING TO JOINT ACTIVITIES

Whelan said one country, Liberia, publicly has offered to host some element of the command. But in congressional testimony, she said there are no plans to establish large, permanent military bases in Africa.

The size of any future presence will fluctuate depending on the kind of engagement, according to Whelan. Some level of equilibrium "will be found," she said, suggesting it will be "fairly small in the scheme of things."

She pointed to the existing presence of 1,500 military and contractor personnel operating out of Djibouti. Their civil-military activities have been well received.
Whatever the future U.S. presence in Africa involves, Whelan predicted "it will end up being part of the landscape. It won't even be noticed."

Asked about daily command activities, she said the menu will include activities such as exchanges, conferences, officer visits and the implementation of State Department-led, but Defense Department-administered, security assistance programs.
Whelan knocked down the notion that AFRICOM came about in response to China's interest in the continent. Increased Chinese activities in Africa were not on the horizon when the concept for the command was growing in the early part of the decade, she said, nor was China part of "the strategic calculus."

What is on the horizon? Whelan said a medical training exercise is scheduled in Swaziland in 2009. She also indicated that more creative activities likely will be scheduled in 2010, after the command's "training wheels are off."