General James Jones (national security advisor and founder of AFRICOM) with president Barack Obama.

The 2009 World Population Data Sheet published by the Washington,
DC-based Population Reference Bureau states that the population of the
African continent has surpassed one billion. Africans now account for
over a seventh of the human race.

Africa’s 53 nations are 28% of the 192 countries in the world.

The size and location of the continent along with its human and
natural resources – oil, natural gas, gold, diamonds, uranium, cobalt,
chromium, platinum, timber, cotton, food products – make it an
increasingly important part of a world that is daily becoming more
integrated and interdependent.

Africa is also the last continent to free itself from colonial
domination. South America broke free of Spanish and Portuguese control
in the beginning of the 1800s (leaving only the three Guianas –
British, Dutch and French – still colonized) and the post-World War II
decolonization of Asia that started with former British East India in
1947 was almost complete by the late 1950s.

Sub-Saharan Africa was not to liberate most of its territory from
Belgian, British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonial masters until
the 1960s and 1970s. And the former owners were reluctant to cede newly
created African nations any more than nominal independence and the
ability to choose their own internal socio-economic orientation and
foreign policy alignment.

In the two decades of the African independence struggle the
continent was marred by Western-backed coups d’etat and assassinations
of liberation leaders which included those against Patrice Lumumba in
the former Belgian Congo in 1961, Ben Barka in Morocco in 1965, Kwame
Nkrumah in Ghana in 1966, Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique in 1969,
Amilcar Cabral in Guinea-Bissau in 1973 and Marien Ngouabi in the
Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) in 1977.

In his latest Anti-Empire Report veteran political analyst
William Blum wrote, "the next time you hear that Africa can’t produce
good leaders, people who are committed to the welfare of the masses of
their people, think of Nkrumah and his fate. And think of Patrice
Lumumba, overthrown in the Congo 1960-61 with the help of the United
States; Agostinho Neto of Angola, against whom Washington waged war in
the 1970s, making it impossible for him to institute progressive
changes; Samora Machel of Mozambique against whom the CIA supported a
counter-revolution in the 1970s-80s period; and Nelson Mandela of South
Africa (now married to Machel’s widow), who spent 28 years in prison
thanks to the CIA." [1]

Some of Blum’s references are to a series of proxy wars supported by
the United States and its NATO allies and in some instances apartheid
South Africa and the Mobutu Sese Seko regime in Zaire in the mid-1970s
and the 1980s, such as arming and training the National Front for the
Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and the National Union for the Total
Independence of Angola (UNITA), the unspeakably brutal Mozambican
National Resistance (RENAMO), and Eritrean and Tigrayan armed
separatists in Ethiopia as well as backing the Somali invasion of the
Ogaden Desert in that country in 1977.

Over the past five years French troops and bombers have waged deadly
attacks inside Cote d’Ivoire, Chad and the Central African Republic
either in support of or against rebels, always in furtherance of
France’s own geopolitical objectives. In the second application of the
so-called Blair Doctrine, in 2000 Britain sent troops to its former
colony of Sierra Leone and has de facto recolonized the nation, taking
control of its military and internal security forces.

But in the post-World War II period there has only been one direct
American military action in Africa, the deadly 1986 air strikes against
Libya in April of 1986, Operation El Dorado Canyon.

While conducting wars, bombings, military interventions and
invasions in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East and
recently Southeastern Europe over the past half century, the Pentagon
has left the African continent comparatively unscathed. That is going
to change after the establishment of the United States Africa Command
on October 1 of 2007 and its activation a year later.

The U.S. has intensified military involvement in Africa over the
past seven years with such projects as the Pan Sahel Initiative (PSI),
launched by the State Department but which deployed US Army Special
Forces with the Special Operations Command Europe to Mali and
Mauritania among other locations. U.S. military personnel are still
engaged in the counterinsurgency wars in Mali and Niger against Tuareg
rebels.

The Pan Sahel Initiative was succeeded by the Trans-Saharan
Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI) in late 2004 which has American
military personnel assigned to eleven African nations: Algeria, Burkina
Faso, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria
and Senegal.

The Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative was formally launched
in June of 2005 with the deployment of 1,000 American troops, among
them Green Berets, in Operation Flintlock 05 in North and West Africa
to engage with counterparts from seven nations: Algeria, Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia.

Until their transfer to the Africa Command (AFRICOM) all 53 nations
on the continent except for those in the Horn of Africa (assigned to
Central Command) and the island nations of Madagascar and the
Seychelles in the Indian Ocean (handled by Pacific Command) were within
the area of responsibilty of the European Command (EUCOM), whose top
commander is simultaneously the Supreme Allied Commander of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

As such the past two EUCOM and NATO commanders, Marine General James
Jones (2003-2006) and Army General Bantz John Craddock (2006-June,
2009), were the most instrumental in setting up AFRICOM.

Jones is now U.S. National Security Adviser and at this February’s
Munich Security Conference opened his speech with "As the most recent
National Security Advisor of the United States, I take my daily orders
from Dr. [Henry]Kissinger." [2]

In 2008, while serving as State Department special envoy for Middle
East security and chairman of the Atlantic Council of the United
States, Jones said, "[A]s commander of NATO, I worried early in the
mornings about how to protect energy facilities and supply chain routes
as far away as Africa, the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea." [3]

Shortly before stepping down from his military posts with NATO and
the Pentagon "NATO’s top commander of operations, U.S. General James
Jones, has said he sees a potential role for the alliance in protecting
key shipping lanes such as those around the Black Sea and oil supply
routes from Africa to Europe." [4]

Three years ago a Pentagon web site documented that "Officials at
U.S. European Command spend between 65 to 70 percent of their time on
African issues, [James] Jones said….Establishing such a group
[military task force in West Africa] could also send a message to U.S.
companies ’that investing in many parts of Africa is a good idea,’ the
general said." [5]

During the final months of his dual tenure as NATO’s and EUCOM’s top
military commander, Jones transitioned Africa from EUCOM’s to AFRICOM’s
control while also expanding the role of NATO on the continent.

In June of 2006 the Alliance launched its global Rapid Response
Force with its first large-scale military exercises off the coast of
the former Portuguese possession of Cape Verde, in the Atlantic Ocean
west of Senegal.

U.S press reports of the time offered these details:

"Hundreds of elite North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) troops
backed by fighter planes and warships will storm a tiny volcanic island
off Africa’s Atlantic coast this week in what the Western alliance
hopes will prove a potent demonstration of its ability to project power
around the world." [6]

"Seven thousand NATO troops conducted war games on the Atlantic
Ocean island of Cape Verde on Thursday in the latest sign of the
alliance’s growing interest in playing a role in Africa.

"The land, air and sea exercises were NATO’s first major deployment
in Africa and designed to show the former Cold War giant can launch
far-flung military operations at short notice.

"’You are seeing the new NATO, the one that has the ability to
project stability,’ said NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
told a news conference after NATO troops stormed a beach on one of the
islands on the archipelago in a mock assault on a fictitious terrorist
camp.

"NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe James Jones, the alliance
soldier in charge of NATO operations, said he hoped the two-week Cape
Verde exercises would help break down negative images about NATO in
Africa and elsewhere." [7]

NATO’s first operation in Africa had occurred a year earlier in May
of 2005 when the bloc transported African Union troops to the Darfur
region of Sudan, at the crossroads of a war-riven region comprised of
the Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan.

The Alliance has since deployed warships to the Horn of Africa and
the Gulf of Aden, last year with Operation Allied Protector, and this
August 17 NATO announced that it was dispatching British, Greek,
Italian, Turkish and U.S. warships to the area for a new mission,
Operation Ocean Shield. These operations don’t consist of mere
surveillance and escort roles but include regular forced boardings,
sniper attacks and other uses of armed and often lethal force.

On August 22 a Netherlands contingent of the complementary European
Union naval force off Somalia used an attack helicopter against a
vessel in the area which subsequently was taken over by troops from a
Norwegian warship.

Over three years before, now U.S. National Security Adviser and then
NATO chief military commander James Jones addressing what was his major
"national security" concern at the time, "raised the prospect of NATO
taking a role to counter piracy off the coast of the Horn of Africa and
the Gulf of Guinea, especially when it threatens energy supply routes
to Western nations." [8]

A month later both he and NATO’s then top civilian leader, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, reiterated the above commitment.

"NATOs’ [commanders] are ready to use warships to ensure the
security of offshore oil and gas transportation routes from Western
Africa, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s Secretary General, reportedly
said speaking at a session of the foreign committee of PACE
[Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe].

"On April 30 General James Jones, commander-in-chief of NATO in
Europe, reportedly said NATO was going to draw up a plan for ensuring
the security of oil and gas industry facilities.

"In this respect the bloc is willing to ensure security in unstable regions where oil and gas are produced and transported." [9]

Two months earlier a U.S. Defense Department news source reported this from Jones:

"U.S. Naval Forces Europe, (the command’s) lead component in this
initiative, has developed a robust maritime security strategy and
regional 10-year campaign plan for the Gulf of Guinea region.

"Africa’s vast potential makes African stability a near-term global strategic imperative." [10]

Jones "raised the prospect of NATO taking a role to counter piracy
off the coast of the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, especially
when it threatens energy supply routes to Western nations" in April of
2006 and the Pentagon and NATO have followed through on his pledge and
exactly in those two opposite ends of Africa.

At article a few days ago by Daniel Volman, director of the African
Security Research Project in Washington, DC, called "Africa: U.S.
Military Holds War Games on Nigeria, Somalia" provided details on how
far plans by James Jones and the Pentagon have progressed over the past
three years.

Working with what sketchy information that had been made public
about Unified Quest 2008, last year’s rendition of what the U.S. Army
web site described in an article of this year under the title of and as
"Army war games for future conflicts" [11], conducted by the United States Army War College, Volman’s article included this information:

"In addition to U.S. military officers and intelligence officers,
Unified Quest 2008 brought together participants from the State
Department and other U.S. government agencies, academics, journalists,
and foreign military officers (including military representatives from
several NATO countries, Australia, and Israel), along with the private
military contractors who helped run the war games: the Rand Corporation
and Booz-Allen.

"The list of options for the Nigeria scenario ranged from diplomatic
pressure to military action, with or without the aid of European and
African nations. One participant, U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel
Mark Stanovich, drew up a plan that called for the deployment of
thousands of U.S. troops within 60 days….

"Among scenarios examined during the game were the possibility of
direct
American military intervention involving some 20,000 U.S. troops in
order to ’secure the oil,’ and the question of how to handle possible
splits between factions within the Nigerian government. The game ended
without military intervention because one of the rival factions
executed a successful coup and formed a new government that sought
stability.

"[W]hen General Ward [AFRICOM commander] appeared before the House
Armed Services Committee on March 13, 2008, he cited America’s growing
dependence on African oil as a priority issue for Africom and went on
to proclaim that combating terrorism would be ’Africom’s number one
theater-wide goal.’ He barely mentioned development, humanitarian aid,
peacekeeping or conflict resolution. [12]

In addition to nations already shelled, targeted and threatened like
Somalia, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Eritrea, even long-time and staunch U.S.
military allies like Nigeria are not beyond the reach of hostile
Pentagon action. Nigeria is the main power in the fifteen-nation
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which over the past
nine years has deployed troops to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote
d’Ivoire on the request of the West, but that loyalty will not protect
it when its own moment arrives.

The U.S. has employed other countries as regional military proxies –
Ethiopia and Djibouti in Northeast Africa, Rwanda in Central Africa,
Kenya in both – and has designs on South Africa, Senegal and Liberia
for similar purposes.

Since its establishment in October of 2007 AFRICOM has lost little time in marking out the Pentagon’s new continent.

Even prior to its formal activation the Pentagon conducted the
Africa Endeavor 2008 23-nation military exercise with forces from
Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad,
Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Namibia,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Uganda, the U.S. and
Zambia as well as representatives from ECOWAS and the African Union. [13]

The operation was held under the auspices of the U.S. European
Command at the time as AFRICOM wasn’t activated until October of that
year but it included the participation of the then fledgling AFRICOM
and U.S. Marine Forces Europe (MARFOREUR), U.S. Air Forces in Europe
and the Marine Headquarters, Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa [14], but "Next year’s exercise will be sponsored by U.S. Africa Command." [15]

This January the U.S. Department of Defense announced that "The U.S.
Army Southern European Task Force [SETAF] officially has assumed its
new role as the Army component for U.S. Africa Command."

The Pentagon web site from which the above quote is taken also provided this background information and portents of the future:

"Since the 1990s, SETAF has worked with African nations to conduct
military training and provide humanitarian relief in countries such as
Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo and the former Zaire. [Congo is the
former Zaire, as Zaire was the former Belgian Congo]

"In the coming years, SETAF, operating as U.S. Army Africa, will
continue to grow and build capacity to meet the requirements needed to
coordinate all U.S. Army activities in Africa.

“[U.S. Army Africa] is not an episodic, flash in the pan, noncombative evacuation operation.” [16]

In the same month, demonstrating another new AFRICOM component and
the continent-wide reach of the American military and its recently
acquired client states, it was reported that "Air Force C-17s will soon
begin airlifting special equipment for Rwandan Peacekeepers in the
Darfur region of Sudan, marking the kickoff of the first major
operation engineered by U.S. Africa Command’s air component,
Seventeenth Air Force, also known as U.S. Air Forces Africa." [17]

This May the newspaper of the American Armed Forces, Stars and Stripes,
carried a feature on joint U.S.-British training of the Rwandan army,
one which bears a large part of the blame for the deaths of over five
million Congolese since 1998: The biggest loss of life in a nation
related to armed conflict since tens of millions of Chinese and Soviets
were killed during World War II.

Rwandan and Ugandan troops invaded Congo in 1998 and triggered
ongoing cross-border fighting which persists to this day. Rwanda and
Uganda are both U.S. and British military client states.

The Stars and Stripes feature detailed that American
instructors "are currently working with a team from the British army to
train instructors with the Rwandan army. Those instructors will then
train their own troops — many of whom will serve as peacekeepers in
places such as Sudan." [18]

It quoted a British officer, Maj. Charles Malet, who "leads a
contingent of British forces based in Kenya," as saying "We’ve been
producing short-term training in this part of the world for a long,
long time. [U.S. Africa Command] has stood [up]. It’s great to link up
and provide a sort of introduction." [19]

The training of the Rwandan armed forces by the United States and
its NATO allies has less to do with Darfur than it does with devastated
Congo.

In November of 2008 the United Nations reported that "Rwandan forces
fired tank shells and other heavy artillery across the border at
Congolese troops during fighting" [20]
which began when former Congolese general Laurent Nkunda staged an
armed rebellion in the east of the country which led to the
displacement of 200,000 civilians.

The BBC revealed at the time that "journalists report that some of
Laurent Nkunda’s rebel fighters are in the pay of the Rwandan army.

"This has renewed fears that the fighting will see a re-run of the
five-year Congolese war, which involved nine nations, before it ended
in 2003." [21]

The British Financial Times conducted interviews with "former
rebels and observers on the ground" who said that "the uprising – led
by Laurent Nkunda, the renegade former Congolese general – relies
heavily on recruitment in Rwanda and former or even active Rwandan
soldiers."

Referring to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the report added, "Mr
Nkunda and Rwanda’s government, military and business elite share a
history….Mr Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi, was an intelligence officer in
the guerrilla army that Mr Kagame, a Rwandan Tutsi, used to…seize
power.

"Mr Kagame launched invasions of Congo in 1996 and 1998 and supported uprisings…." [22]

The following month a U.S. congressional delegation "traveled to
Rwanda and Ethiopia to meet with U.S. ambassadors, AFRICOM officials
and various ministers of each country, including Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi and Rwanda Foreign Minister Charles Murigande." [23]

Ethiopia invaded Somalia on America’s behest three years ago and
Rwanda’s repeated incursions into Congo could not have occurred without
a green light from Washington.

As an Ugandan commentary at the time of the latest attack on Congo
from Rwanda stated, "London, New York and Paris are among the top
consumers of minerals from Congo. They lecture humanity on the need to
uphold human rights and the sanctity of property rights whilst their
thirst for strategic minerals unleashes terror on innocent women and
children in Eastern Congo." [24]

Last week an AFRICOM spokesman announced that "The United States
military will be sending experts to the war-torn eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo this week." The initial deployment will be small,
he added, but "more may follow…." [25] AFRICOM would be better advised to monitor the activities of the Rwandan military it trains and arms.

Also last week the Pentagon stated it was deploying "unmanned
reconnaissance aircraft in the skies above the Seychelles archipelago"
in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar and AFRICOM commander General
William Ward said, "We have the recent arrival of our P-3 Orion
maritime patrol aircraft that will aid in conducting the surveillance
of Seychelles territorial waters and as we look into the future, (we
will) bring unmanned surveillance vehicles." [26]

Two days later Ward said "that the rise of radical Islamist militant
group al-Shabab in Somalia makes East Africa a central focus of the
U.S. military on the continent."

Voice of America added:

"General William Ward has pledged continued support to Somalia’s
transitional federal government….He made his remarks during a visit
to Nairobi, Kenya, which is a key U.S. ally in region." [27]

Until last October Africa was the only continent other than
Australia and Antarctica without a U.S. military command. The fact that
one has now been established indicates that Africa has achieved
heightened importance for the Pentagon and its Western military allies.

An analysis of why Africa is a major focus of attention and why now
rather than earlier was provided by U.S.-based writer Paul I. Adujie in
the New Liberian on August 21:

"America’s Africa Command, in conceptual terms and actual
implementation, is not intended to serve Africa’s best interests. It
just happens that Africa has grown in geopolitical and geo-economic
importance to America and her allies. Africa has been there all along.

"There were, for instance, reports of how the American military, acting
supposedly in partnership or cooperation with the Nigerian military, literally took over Nigerian Defense Headquarters….

"It is probably important to mention that the United States already
operates at least three other commands, namely, the European Command
(EUCOM), Central Command (CENTCOM) and Pacific Command (PACOM),
therefore the Africa Command or (AFRICOM) will be the fourth leg of US
military global spread.

"America’s Africa Command is…machinery for Western governments to
pursue their vaunted economic, political and hegemonic hemispheric
influence at the expense of Africans as well as a backdoor through
which Westerners can outmaneuver rivals such as China and perhaps
Russia in addition." [28]