A year ago, if you had typed AFRICOM in Google, chances are you would have first hit Nairobi's International Council of African Museums - AFRICOM. My guess is that the good museum people have gotten their fair share of mistaken hits since the advent of the other AFRICOM, which today officially "stood up," to use the proper DOD jargon. The photo at left (courtesy of my son's cell phone), by the way, belongs to neither Nairobi museum AFRICOM nor Stuttgart military AFRICOM, but is a Brussels mobile phone shop located, appropriately enough, in the very African Matonge neighborhood. AFRI"COM" as in communications.
Which, as it happens, has been military AFRICOM's biggest challenge since its creation was first bruited last year (check Matt Armstrong's excellent report on AFRICOM's public diplomacy conference early this year). If you buy General William Ward's and the US Government's explanation, AFRICOM sounds like it was created to be a sort of Peace Corps with sidearms. Its detractors say it is a thinly disguised military wedge, in a scramble to grab African resources, 21st century style.
I think the reality is much more prosaic, but that there are elements of truth in the above two extremes. The plain old bureaucratic fact is that AFRICOM makes sense from an organization chart, "combatant command" view of the world. The starting point of which is the US Defense Department's division of the world into "areas of responsibility," which probably is at least annoying, if not threatening, to those sovereign countries that fall under American generals' job descriptions. Until today, the AOR for the continent of Africa was split into spheres under the "responsibility" of three different four star American regional commanders: European Command (EUCOM), Central Command (CENTCOM), and Pacific Command (you guessed it: PACOM).
Now there's just General Ward, heading AFRICOM. Here's his nice new command crest.
But back to communication. Much of the past year has been spent trying to convince African leaders and civil society that AFRICOM is not about setting up bases throughout the continent. Algeria, which may never have even been under consideration for such a thing, vehemently rejected any US presence on the ground, though cooperation on counter-terrorism has flourished at a number of levels.
In Washington too, AFRICOM's path was strewn with doubt. Last month's "RIP, AFRICOM?" was probably prematurely downbeat, especially given today's official launch, but the Wired article by David Axe pointed out lingering Congressional doubts. Wrote the House Appropriations Committee:
Although the official position is supportive, some in the State Department - which "discovered" Africa in the early '60s, when President Kennedy decided on "universal representation" in the dozens of newly-independent countries - shared Congressional reticence about the new US military interest in Africa. Their concerns were echoed by Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that held July hearings on AFRICOM. According to Defense News, Tierney said "I'm just not comfortable that the military is the one leading all these civilian agencies."
I'm not sure how much "standing up" AFRICOM staff will be able to do today, given the US Government's "continuing resolution" (the very much business as usual annual budget stalemate at the start of the fiscal year, October 1). Add a "CR" to Congressional crisis deliberations over "TARP" and the Wall Street meltdown, and suddenly Africa's priorities recede into oblivion.
There will always be a need for the United States to engage militarily with the fifty three countries of Africa, which has been done very nicely through the network of defense attaches and military assistance liaison officers at American embassies. Whether it's Foreign Military Sales, or training of personnel (the alphabet soup of IMET, PME, ACOTA), there will always be such engagement. Prior to AFRICOM, the prime Defense Department entity that was known on the continent was my old employer, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS). A creation of the Clinton Administration, ACSS was continued by the Bush Administration, and its message of civilian control of the military - on a continent where coups still occur - is one that will continue to be relevant, AFRICOM notwithstanding.
AFRICOM, Day One, Year Zero. Let's see what the first year brings. In the meantime, General Ward will have to continue his public relations rounds and tailor AFRICOM's mission and structure accordingly. On the communication front, AFRICOM's website has initiated "AFRICOM DIALOGUE: A clearinghouse of the U.S. Africa Command's senior leader's updates on issues important at AFRICOM. We encourage your comments and feedback." Check it out. From some of the feedback on his blog, General Ward must know it will be an uphill battle.