Week in Review – Africa – February 7th, 2014 Share This /

The African Union held its annual summit, while U.S. AFRICOM conducted trainings and is considering expanding its troop presence in Africa. Below is a roundup of top articles and news highlights from around the region over the last week: 

• The United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) is weighing whether to base more crisis response troops in Africa. According to Lt. Gen. Steven Hummer, the goal would be to have forces similar to the Special-Purpose Marine-Air Ground Task Force Crisis Response (which is based in Spain and is designed to respond rapidly to any crisis that may endanger U.S. interests in Africa) throughout the African continent. However, to date, AFRICOM has not found a host country.
• The African Union (AU) held its 22^nd annual summit. The U.S. sent a delegation that included high-level officials from across the U.S. government. The summit covered a range of topics, with the crisis in South Sudan and the Central African Republic featuring high on the agenda. The African Union adopted the 2050 Integrated Maritime Strategy, outlining a shared strategy against piracy, armed robbery and illegal activities at sea. Furthermore, the AU continued debate on an African Standby Force, with at least nine countries offering volunteer troops for a pilot force. At the summit, Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns praised African Union peacekeeping and political mediation efforts in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Somalia.
• Djibouti hosted a Gulf of Aden Counterterrorism Forum, which brought together security leadership from the U.S., Djibouti, Somalia and Yemen. U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti, Geeta Pasi, praised Djibouti’s regional role on the continent in her opening remarks, saying the country “plays a critical security and counterterrorism role in the region and beyond.” Ambassador Pasi also clarified that the aim of U.S. security assistance to Somalia is two-fold:
  • First, to provide support for peacekeeping operations; and
  • Second, to support security sector reform activities (mentoring, training, equipment and logistical support) for the Somali National Forces as they combat threats posed by al-Shabaab.
• The crisis in the Central African Republic persists despite efforts by the transitional president Catherine Samba-Panza to unify the country; just moments after Samba-Panza addressed the national army to praise them as a professional force, soldiers brutally killed a suspected rebel member in the streets of Bangui. Sectarian violence in the rural areas also continues, with thousand of Muslims fleeing the capital. The U.S. Department of State released a statement condemning the violence and expressing its continued support for the transitional process. The United Nations will likely renew France’s mandate as a peacekeeping force in the country.

Quick hits across Africa:

• According to Liberian newspaper The New Dawn, the U.S. donated $2.2 million in equipment and facilities to the Liberian Coast Guard. Among the transferred articles were two pursuit boats.

• Benin hosted a three-day Trans-Atlantic Maritime Security Workshop, which brought together representatives from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The U.S. Mission in Benin, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL), U.S. AFRICOM, the U.S. Coast Guard all coordinated to carry out the workshop.

• The U.S. Army Africa announced it is partnering with France to train and equip Guinea’s forces, and with a private French security firm to train Chad's army.

• U.S. Africa Command met with Uganda and Kenya military officers, State Department officials and Defense Department representatives for consultation regarding the countries' security assistance needs.

• U.S. AFRICOM trained the Nigerian air force in disaster relief this week.

• Nigeria experienced a wave of violence in the North with local outlets reporting massacres killing over 200 civilians. Council for Foreign Relations expert John Campbell notes that the “carnage is not over, nor is it limited to Borno,” the Northern state. Human Rights Watch reports that an estimated 3,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Central Nigeria over the last few years, with a spike of religious and ethnic violence in the region this past week.

• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met with local and international partners on Monday to assess the progress of its peacekeeping mission in Mali. In addition to discussing lessons learned form the most recent intervention, regional leaders were due to consider how to raise funds for a more permanent regional standby force.

• Somalia-watchers expressed discomfort with the decision to include Ethiopian troops in the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), pointing to historic frictions between the two neighbors, and the fact that it may fuel al-Shabaab propaganda.

• The United Nations praised progress made in Cote d’Ivoire since the 2010 serious post-election violence, but called for urgent steps to implement security sector reform and instill a political “respect for human rights” to prevent a relapse into violence. The White House announced it will continue the national emergency and sanctions in place regarding Cote d’Ivoire.

• Uganda and South Sudan reached a formal Memorandum of Understanding regarding Ugandan troops in South Sudan, which requires a periodic review of progress being made and of the threat still present. 

• According to President Carter, Sudan’s Bashir refused to grant a visa to the U.S. special envoy to the region, Donald Booth.