Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Daily News
December 8, 2008
Pg. 27
By Laura Conley and Ethan Porter
Barack Obama’s immense popularity on the African continent is more than a feel good story— it’s of vital strategic utility to the United States. As an underdeveloped and unstable continent hangs in the balance, Obama has a unique ability to leverage his influence to root out terrorism and strengthen African states.
The open question is: Will he go about it the right way?
Africa is not usually considered a hot spot in the war on terrorism, but by all accounts it now is. Al Qaeda’s affiliate in northern Africa has carried out increasingly lethal suicide attacks this year, and CIA Director Michael Hayden recently noted Al Qaeda has strengthened in Somalia as well. Weak states dominate the African landscape and expedite the spread of disease, crime and extremism, due to their uncontrolled borders and limited governance.
Because of his ancestry and resultant popularity on the continent, Obama begins with a head start. He builds on this with the nomination of Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Clinton administration, as UN ambassador.
All this points to a newly collaborative, diplomacy-heavy approach to the continent.
But to truly tackle instability in Africa, Obama’s biggest asset will be an unlikely and underappreciated tool, created by the Bush administration: the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM for short. AFRICOM was launched in October by the U.S. military as the first American command focused solely on the continent. It brings together defense, development and diplomatic professionals under one roof — with the aim of preventing conflict as much as resolving it.
AFRICOM has been intensely criticized since its inception as too hawkish for America’s delicate challenges in Africa. Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, has said that the creation of the command is akin to “putting a velvet glove of humanitarian aid over the fist of the military.” Many Africans share her wariness.
This line of thinking misses the point. AFRICOM is not an attempt to disguise a militarization of U.S. foreign policy; it is a recognition of the military’s limits.
Obama should champion AFRICOM as a state-strengthening vehicle. He needs to explain clearly and repeatedly that the command is not an attempt to conquer Africa by stealth or lay claim to its resources. On the contrary, in Obama’s hands it can be a means by which America can help Africans help themselves.
If he takes this tack, there’s ample evidence that Africans will heed his words. Last spring, the Nigerian militant group Mend stunned observers by announcing it would abide by a ceasefire — if only Obama requested one. After Obama’s election, Tony Leon, a member of South Africa’s parliament, admitted that “Severed from Bush, AFRICOM presents a more positive picture. I think Obama is a page turner.”
If Obama breaks with the worst unilateralist tendencies of the Bush administration, which by all accounts he will, he can use the command to take Africa’s temperature, and help the U.S. government respond. For example, peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo are in need of reinforcements, as are their counterparts in Darfur. The utter collapse of Somalia, illustrated by the mushrooming pirate problem, also cries out for an influx of aid. AFRICOM, alongside the State Department, can train African peacekeepers in abundance.
The launch of AFRICOM and the election of the first President with personal ties to the continent bring the U.S-Africa relationship to a critical juncture. Obama won the presidency by running an improbable and innovative campaign. If he brings the same flexible yet strong leadership to AFRICOM and draws on this remarkable moment of goodwill, the intertwined fates of African states and American security interests may be considerably brightened.
Conley is a special assistant for national security at the Center for American Progress. Porter is the associate editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. The views presented are their own.
December 8, 2008
Pg. 27
By Laura Conley and Ethan Porter
Barack Obama’s immense popularity on the African continent is more than a feel good story— it’s of vital strategic utility to the United States. As an underdeveloped and unstable continent hangs in the balance, Obama has a unique ability to leverage his influence to root out terrorism and strengthen African states.
The open question is: Will he go about it the right way?
Africa is not usually considered a hot spot in the war on terrorism, but by all accounts it now is. Al Qaeda’s affiliate in northern Africa has carried out increasingly lethal suicide attacks this year, and CIA Director Michael Hayden recently noted Al Qaeda has strengthened in Somalia as well. Weak states dominate the African landscape and expedite the spread of disease, crime and extremism, due to their uncontrolled borders and limited governance.
Because of his ancestry and resultant popularity on the continent, Obama begins with a head start. He builds on this with the nomination of Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Clinton administration, as UN ambassador.
All this points to a newly collaborative, diplomacy-heavy approach to the continent.
But to truly tackle instability in Africa, Obama’s biggest asset will be an unlikely and underappreciated tool, created by the Bush administration: the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM for short. AFRICOM was launched in October by the U.S. military as the first American command focused solely on the continent. It brings together defense, development and diplomatic professionals under one roof — with the aim of preventing conflict as much as resolving it.
AFRICOM has been intensely criticized since its inception as too hawkish for America’s delicate challenges in Africa. Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus, has said that the creation of the command is akin to “putting a velvet glove of humanitarian aid over the fist of the military.” Many Africans share her wariness.
This line of thinking misses the point. AFRICOM is not an attempt to disguise a militarization of U.S. foreign policy; it is a recognition of the military’s limits.
Obama should champion AFRICOM as a state-strengthening vehicle. He needs to explain clearly and repeatedly that the command is not an attempt to conquer Africa by stealth or lay claim to its resources. On the contrary, in Obama’s hands it can be a means by which America can help Africans help themselves.
If he takes this tack, there’s ample evidence that Africans will heed his words. Last spring, the Nigerian militant group Mend stunned observers by announcing it would abide by a ceasefire — if only Obama requested one. After Obama’s election, Tony Leon, a member of South Africa’s parliament, admitted that “Severed from Bush, AFRICOM presents a more positive picture. I think Obama is a page turner.”
If Obama breaks with the worst unilateralist tendencies of the Bush administration, which by all accounts he will, he can use the command to take Africa’s temperature, and help the U.S. government respond. For example, peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo are in need of reinforcements, as are their counterparts in Darfur. The utter collapse of Somalia, illustrated by the mushrooming pirate problem, also cries out for an influx of aid. AFRICOM, alongside the State Department, can train African peacekeepers in abundance.
The launch of AFRICOM and the election of the first President with personal ties to the continent bring the U.S-Africa relationship to a critical juncture. Obama won the presidency by running an improbable and innovative campaign. If he brings the same flexible yet strong leadership to AFRICOM and draws on this remarkable moment of goodwill, the intertwined fates of African states and American security interests may be considerably brightened.
Conley is a special assistant for national security at the Center for American Progress. Porter is the associate editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. The views presented are their own.