Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 54

in addition to the traditional security issues
on the continent—humanitarian crises,
ethnic conflict, and health epidemics—
have raised Africa’s geopolitical profile.”3
Weak African states with poor internal
cohesion have limited capacity to effectively resist foreign aggression, and they are
vulnerable to terrorist groups that further
destabilize the state, potentially creating
sanctuaries for planning terrorism abroad.4
Terrorism is just one aspect of the
African continent’s new importance to
security. According to Kofi Nsia-Pepra,
writing in a 2014 Military Review article,
“Contrary to Africa’s strategic insignific ance to the United States in the post-immediate Cold War era, [Africa] gained primacy in post-9/11 due to terrorism, energy
sources, and China’s creeping influence into
Africa.”5 We need to bolster the continent’s
governments and security forces so they
can resist violent extremist organizations
trying to establish themselves in sanctuaries. We need to reduce the conditions that
can make Africa more vulnerable to these
influences, and we need to use our resources to leverage individual government and
regional initiatives to defeat threats to
stability and progress.
Africa will, in the near term, be an economy-of-force effort, partly because the United States
is dedicating increased military resources to the
Asia-Pacific region. The rise of Chinese military and
economic power—coupled with uncertainties about
how China’s leaders will use that power—make
USPACOM a priority theater.
Worse, USCENTCOM, which U.S. policymakers
once believed had quieted down sufficiently to allow the
pivot to USPACOM, has many crises compelling our
attention at the expense of USAFRICOM. Numerous
challenges make USCENTCOM a continuing drain
on American military assets. These challenges include
instability in Egypt, the rise of the Islamic State, Iranian
efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, Iranian threats
to American allies in the Middle East, insecurity of
Arabian Gulf oil traffic, civil war in Yemen, and instability in Afghanistan.
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Finally, U.S. European Command (USEUCOM),
once a “peace dividend” command following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union, is fully
engaged in rebuilding military capabilities in NATO,
to refocus on a newly assertive Russia. Therefore, with
American defense spending restricted under the impact of sequestration despite increased instability and
uncertainty around the globe, these demands mean that
USAFRICOM will struggle for resources to cope with
its diverse challenges.
Complicating USAFRICOM’s missions, this command must project ground power into the continent.
Only in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa region, do
we have an enduring military presence focused on
counterterrorism operations.6 The lack of a major
U.S. presence on the ground in Africa is driven by
local aversion to a major “permanent” American
military presence on the continent.7 In time, that
sentiment may shift as the people and governments
see that our activities aid them without infringing
May-June 2016  MILITARY REVIEW