Africa Week in Review, April 18, 2014 Share This /

The United States is expanding its presence on the African continent rapidly. While U.S. training off the coast of Ghana is ending, the multinational U.S. exercise Obangame is set to start off the coast of Nigeria. Read about these and other news below:

U.S. security policy in the region

• As fighting continues to rage in South Sudan, Secretary of State John Kerry met with South Sudanese Minister Awan Riak to discuss a cessation of violence. Kerry emphasized the need for negotiations as well as accountability for committed atrocities.  
• After the Pentagon’s press briefing on Africa last week, multiple articles focused on the United States’ increasing military presence in Africa.
  • Military Times described how Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti transformed “from a ramshackle outpost of a few hundred troops a decade ago into a hub of operations for AFRICOM,” and how the military built multiple other bases across the continent.
  • National Defense examined how the U.S. military expansion in Africa comes with logistical challenges, such as a “limited access to sources of supplies and a distribution network that is not reliable.” The considered solutions, the article concludes, are U.S. and local contractors, investment in a safer communications network, and a more permanent presence in West Africa (foreshadowed by U.S. Africa Command Commander Rodriguez last week)
  • The U.S. Marine Corps announced that a move to relocate its Africa-focused crisis response team from Moron, Spain to West Africa could be completed in the next two years.
  • Nick Turse, a journalist tracking U.S. military activity on the continent, published an in-depth piece on the increase of U.S. military bases “on the sly.” Tracking contracts and contract negotiations, Turse shows the disconnect between the small footprint the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) espouses publicly, and the expansion of bases and troops that is occurring under the radar:

[To contractors, DOD] foretold a future marked by expansion, including the building up of a “permanent footprint” in Djibouti for the next decade or more, a possible new compound in Niger, and a string of bases devoted to surveillance activities spreading across the northern tier of Africa. They even let slip mention of a small, previously unacknowledged US compound in Mali.

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[The U.S. military] now averages far more than a mission a day on the continent, conducting operations with almost every African military force, in almost every African country, while building or building up camps, compounds, and “contingency security locations.”

• U.S. President Barack Obama announced he would host the president of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Ghuelleh, at the White House May 5, 2014. The two leaders will discuss mutual interests, “including security and counterterrorism.”
• The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard trained their Ghanaian counterparts in maritime law enforcement.
•  As the U.S. sponsored international maritime security exercise Obangame is about to start, navies from across Africa, Europe and even from Brazil are arriving in Nigeria.

News from across the region:

• The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its yearly data on military spending across the globe. In Africa, military spending increased by 8.3 percent to an estimated $44.9 billion.
• The East African published an opinion piece arguing that security sector reform will be key in the struggle against terrorism in Africa’s horn: counterterrorism will require rooting out corruption and investing in police and intelligence capacities, the piece argues. 
• Agence France Press (AFP) published an article on the rampant corruption that plagues Kenya’s police, and the public distrust that ensues. AFP writes that reform efforts have been slow. Meanwhile the Kenyan government announced the recruitment of 10,000 more police officers this week.
• Chad finished withdrawing all of its troops from the Central African Republic, as sectarian attacks continue. The peacekeeping troops received public backlash over the use of force in urban settings. The withdrawal leaves an important gap of troops, just as United Nations forces are working to take over for the African Union peacekeeping mission.
• The European Union is sending a new peacekeeping mission to Mali, this time with a focus on police and National Guard forces. The shift from military units to police forces is important, and potentially signifies recognition that public security remains a challenge for military peacekeeping troops.
• Kenya continues rounding up Somali refugees indiscriminately in what is described as a counterterrorism operation. Kenya then detains them for several days in “squalid conditions,” deporting some. Human Rights Watch called for an end to these arbitrary arrests and deportations, describing the arrests as “scapegoating” the Somali refugee population for the actions of al-Shabab. The International Crisis Group warned that the indiscriminate sweep is counterproductive, and does not address the terrorist threat.
• Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that in the shadow of the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria, communal violence is increasing in the country’s five northern states. HRW estimates that to date, a thousand people died in violence between nomadic populations and settled farmers.
• Nigeria experienced four attacks this week linked to its struggle with Boko Haram: an attack on a village in Borno state; a successful abduction of 100 schoolgirls; an assassination of village leaders in the northeast; and perhaps most worrisome for the Nigerian elite, a bomb attack in the central bus station of the capital Abuja. The abduction of the students led to criticism of the Nigerian military, which first claimed the girls were released and safe, but retracted its statement on Thursday after school officials and parents disputed these claims. The kidnappers disguised themselves as Nigerian soldiers.
• Nigerian soldiers spoke with reporters about corruption, specifically stating that generals are siphoning off counter-insurgency funds at the expense of the military’s effectiveness and troop morale.