The AFRICOM Question.

The following is an official document from the United States Defense Department.It details the United States involvement in the military and political crisis on the continent of Africa:
On February 6, 2007, President Bush directed the creation of U.S. Africa Command. The decision was the culmination of a 10-year thought process within the Department of Defense (DOD) acknowledging the emerging strategic importance of Africa, and recognizing that peace and stability on the continent impacts not only Africans, but the interests of the U.S. and international community as well. Yet, the department’s regional command structure did not account for Africa in a comprehensive way, with three different U.S. military headquarters maintaining relationships with African countries. The creation of U.S. Africa Command will enable DOD to better focus its resources to support and enhance existing U.S. initiatives that help African nations, the African Union, and the regional economic communities succeed. It also provides African nations and regional organizations an integrated DOD coordination point to help address security and related needs.


AFRICOM reflects a more integrated staff structure.A Different Kind of Command
Designers of U.S. Africa Command clearly understand the relationships between security, development, diplomacy and prosperity in Africa. As a result, U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, reflects a much more integrated staff structure, one that includes significant management and staff representation by Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other U.S. government agencies involved in Africa. The command will also seek to incorporate partner nations and humanitarian organizations, from Africa and elsewhere, to work alongside the U.S. staff on common approaches to shared interests.


Building Partner Capacity AFRICOM is a headquarters staff whose mission entails coordinating the kind of support that will enable African governments and existing regional organizations, such as the African Standby Force, to have greater capacity to provide security and respond in times of need.
The creation of AFRICOM does not mean the U.S. military will take a leading role in African security matters, nor will it establish large U.S. troop bases. Rather, AFRICOM is a headquarters staff whose mission entails coordinating the kind of support that will enable African governments and existing regional organizations, such as the African Standby Force, to have greater capacity to provide security and respond in times of need. AFRICOM will build on the many African-U.S. security cooperation activities already underway, yet be able to better coordinate DOD support with other U.S. government departments and agencies to make those activities even more effective.

U.S. officials are currently in consultation with African leaders on where and what kind of presence AFRICOM should have. AFRICOM Presence
AFRICOM will be headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, for the foreseeable future. The staff is examining opportunities to have a presence on the continent, in the form of administrative offices, but only if it adds value to the security assistance that the United States provides, and only in full diplomatic consultation and agreement with potential host nations.


The Way Ahead
AFRICOM is still in its early planning stages. The command began initial operations in October 2007 and is still formulating mission, staffing and location options.
Kalagenesis Responds
If you are any student of history and African history in particular then you would know that the American government cannot be trusted to bring any good to this region of the world.Just look at Iraq.No that was a little to easy.Lets look at Central America,and compared that to Japan in the 80's with South east Asia.We the United States meddled in Latin America in a communist witch hunt for decades spending billions in an endless game of gotcha and cat and mouse games with so called rebels.The result is a weak underdeveloped region with strife,poverty and narco drug trafficking.Is it no wonder why men like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro rise to power?Japan in the 80's transfered billions of yen in capital to its former wartime colonies during the era of endaga or "powerful yen".Now Japan has regional trading partners for its products,both consumer and industrial.All the while the U.S. was pursuing endless militarist mischief in Latin America.
Now the same incompetent forces want to bring their failures to the African continent.Same thing a place where never ending wars will ensue as surely as I am sitting here.The problem with AFRICOM is first we have a racist White power structure who only wants the same thing from Africa.Cheap raw materials,open markets and a weak decentralized continent.China is growing in influence on the continent in every country China is building infastructure,roads,hospitals,mines,factories,ect.While America still wants the same outdated relationship with the same corupt lackys on the continent.What Bush wants is to bring the command now stationed in Germany under the orders of a European command to Africa.Now there will be no guarantee that the African command will be independent of the European command just play by ear.
If this was truly about America helping Africa then why do they virtually no African American representation in AFRICOM?A nearly lily White advisory board.It seems Bush isn't trying to build brides with Africa and African people with all the recent hoopla can see through this.The African-American and continent Africans want to be free from this yoke of white supremecy,and no matter how they try to dress it up we see it for what it is.The man who is chosen to"lead"AFRICOM is General William 'kip' Ward an African American general,so far the only Black man in AFRICOM.Only one African country said it would host it the was Liberia the long step child of America.Funny how the only female head of state on the great continent was the one that agreed to this.
Where are the African-American leaders,business people statesmen ect?They should be the ones driving AFRICOM,not the same racist imperialist who've ruined Latin America.Pan Africanist this is our time to shine and get involved,because if we build Africa the we are setting ourselves free.