Military Review English Edition January-February 2014 | Page 55

AFRICOM

U.S. intelligence agencies, shares intelligence
with local military forces.21 America has military
ties with Nigeria and other oil-producing west and
central African states that include bilateral military
assistance, naval operations of the Africa Partnership Station, and other initiatives to promote maritime safety and ensure uninterrupted oil supplies.
U.S. military involvement on the continent as
of 2006 was divided among three commands:
the European Command, Central Command, and
Pacific Command. On 6 February 2007, the Bush
administration created a new unified combatant
command—Africa Command (AFRICOM)—to
promote U.S. national security objectives in surrounding areas. AFRICOM’S foremost mission
helps Africans achieve their own security and support African leadership efforts.22 However, according to Maj. Gen. Mike Snodgrass, chief of staff
of Headquarters, U.S. AFRICOM, the command
conducts “sustained security engagement . . . to
promote a stable and secure African environment
in support of U.S. foreign policy.”23 Gen. Carter F.

Ham, former AFRICOM commander, stated that
the command’s immediate focus was on “the greatest threats to America, Americans, and American
interests. . . . Countering threats posed by al-Qaida
affiliates in east and northwest Africa remains my
No. 1 priority,” including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb, Somalia-based al-Shabaab, and Boko
Haram in Nigeria.24 AFRICOM, in coordination
with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, has
initiated numerous major projects and programs to
implement these policiy objectives. These include
establishing Camp Lemonier at Djibouti as the base
for AFRICOM and allied military units in Africa,
creating an AFRICOM liaison unit at the African
Union headquarters in Ethiopia, and establishing
bases in Seychelles, Djibouti, and Ethiopia for operating drones for surveillance and attack operations.25
The United States is also involved in both covert
and overt military operations with security allies.
Joint American-Kenyan military operations at the
Kenya-Somalia border were targeting militant
Islamists in Somalia.26 U.S. troops also pursued

Army Gen. William E. (Kip) Ward, former commander, U.S. Africa Command, talks with Ugandan People’s Defence Force Col. Sam Kavuma
as they tour the Gulu District, Uganda, 10 April 2013. (U.S. Army)
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January-February 2014

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