Military Review English Edition January-February 2014 | Page 54

that steals crude oil and kidnaps foreign oil workers for ransom in the Delta region, threaten U.S.
investments and oil supplies.13
In a realist world, countering the influence of its
strategic rivals, especially China, reminiscent of
the Cold War, has renewed U.S. interest in Africa.
The rapidly growing economies of countries such
as Malaysia and China strategically compete with
America for Africa’s energy and other natural
resources. China, in particular, poses a formidable
challenge to U.S. interests in Africa. African leaders seem to cater to China because its aid and

China…
poses a formidable
challenge to U.S. interests in
Africa.
investment in Africa exclude conditionality such
as good governance and human rights commonly
associated with U.S. investment programs, which
are viewed by African leaders as imperialistic and
neocolonialistic.14 China’s investment approach
offers Africa equal opportunity and stake in their
development in view of China’s subtle diplomacy
of noninterference in Africa’s domestic issues.
China’s investment and aid programs have been
well received because they include infrastructure
projects, long ignored by the United States and
other Western aid programs.15

U.S. Military Involvement in
Africa
U.S. aid to Africa has been observed to be
increasingly militarized.16 In fact, its military is
involved in a range of activities that were perceived to be the exclusive prerogative of civilian
agencies and organizations in the past.17 America’s
military involvement in Africa includes—
● Sales of arms.
● Military training and advice.
● Establishment of security commands and
intelligence.
52

● Joint overt and covert military operations with
selected security allies.
In 1996, the United States launched the African
Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) program to
address challenges of peacekeeping and conflict
management in Africa. Fears that the ethnic massacres occurring in Rwanda in 1994 might also occur
in neighboring Burundi prompted its formation. In
addition, America’s reluctance to get involved in
African local conflicts following the 1993 Somali
debacle where 18 U.S. Army rangers died in Somalia. The ACRI enabled selected African military
forces to respond to crises through peacekeeping
missions in Africa. The selection criteria of countries participating were democratic governance
and the preparedness of the military to submit to
civilian control. Benin, Ghana, Senegal, Malawi,
and Mali were the countries selected. Several countries initially considered for participation became
ineligible. However, because Uganda and Ethiopia
were U.S. military allies they were included in the
selection even though they did not pass the test.
Several antiterrorism programs were initiated,
including the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of
Africa, consisting of 1,200 to 1,800 U.S. and allied
troops in Djibouti to patrol, interdict, and strike at
threatening targets in the Horn of Africa.18 The task
force led the U.S. engagement with Somalia,, establishing three permanent contingency operating locations at Kenyan’s Manda Bay Naval Base and Hurso
and Bilate in Ethiopia. From these locations the task
force trained allied troops and initiated attacks on
Somalia.19 The Pan Sahel Initiative deployed U.S.
Special Army Forces with the Special Command
Europe to Mali and Mauritania, engaging in counterinsurgency wars in Mali and Niger against the
Tuareg rebels. The Trans Sahara Counter Terrorism
Initiative that replaced the Pan Sahel Initiative in
2004 has American military personnel assigned to
11 African nations—Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya,
Morocco, Tunisia, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger,
Nigeria, and Senegal—to counter the activities of
Islamist militants in the Sahel Sahara region in
Northwest Africa. For example, American forces,
in a joint operation with Chadian forces, killed 43
alleged militants in the Chad-Niger border.20 The
Joint Task Force Aztec Silence, created in December 2003, under the European Command, conducts
surveillance operations a nd, in coordination with
January-February 2014 MILITARY REVIEW