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AfriCom goes operational

After spending the past year under the wing of European Command, the fledgling U.S. Africa Command became fully operational Wednesday — even as it remains headquartered in the middle of Europe.

Stuttgart, Germany, is not the likeliest location for this hybrid military-civilian command that hopes to promote security ties between the U.S. and African nations, help build Africa’s ability to fight terrorism and piracy and focus on “war prevention rather than war fighting,” as AfriCom’s Web site proclaims.

But concerns among both U.S. and African officials about establishing a permanent American presence on the continent combined to block an effort to place even part of its headquarters in Africa.

So AfriCom remains based in Stuttgart, vowing that it has no plans to establish permanent U.S. bases on the continent, and becomes the U.S. headquarters with primary responsibility for U.S. interests in all of Africa save for Egypt, which will remain under the purview of Central Command.

AfriCom will do so while continuing to try to convince the doubters that it is not being formed strictly to fight terrorism, secure oil resources, ward off growing Chinese influence on the continent or militarize U.S. policy in Africa, as noted during congressional testimony by Theresa Whelan, the Pentagon’s deputy assistant secretary for African affairs.

AfriCom’s primary job, says Gen. William “Kip” Ward, AfriCom commander, will be building “partner security capacity” through a combination of operations, military-to-military events and exercises, and humanitarian assistance missions.

“We will be a reliable partner, building trust and confidence with all those we work with on the continent — whether they are African partners, fellow U.S. government agencies, or international partners,” Ward said Sept. 22 during remarks honoring the Oct. 1 activation of the 17th Air Force, AfriCom’s air component.

While AfriCom becomes a full combatant command, one of six in the Pentagon’s portfolio — and, like those, exists mostly as a headquarters that gains forces on a rotating basis — its structure will be unique. Serving under Ward are two deputies, one of whom is a State Department ambassador, Mary Carlin Yates. Half of the more than 900 personnel assigned to the command — a number that will grow to 1,300 — are civilians.

Responsibility for U.S. military oversight of Africa was previously divided between the Central, European and Pacific commands. AfriCom, Whelan says, will be a “more effective tool” for promoting security and stability in Africa and helping African nations deal with a wide variety of ills ranging from poverty to weapons proliferation.

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