With the recent turmoil in the once stable African country of Kenya the importance of AFRICOM in the future is becoming more and more apparent:
By the time it becomes fully operational on Oct. 1, the U.S. Africa Command will be home to about 1,300 Defense Department personnel: 500 more than originally estimated, a top command official said Monday.
The military’s newest headquarters command — made up largely of planners, logisticians and analysts — also will be staying in Stuttgart for the foreseeable future, said Vice Adm. Robert T. Moeller, deputy to the commander for military operations, in an interview Monday at AFRICOM headquarters.
“From here we can do all the activities we need to do with our African partners,” Moeller said.
The eventual staff of 1,300 does not include people coming from other agencies. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development will place staff at AFRICOM. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps also are forming small component commands to address needs in Africa that are specific to those service branches, he said.
Other U.S. agencies, such as the departments of Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Agriculture, are being examined for ways to contribute to the command. [Stars & Stripes]
I don’t think AFRICOM is ever going to reach it’s full potential if it remains based in Europe. For example how effective would United States Forces Korea (USFK) be if everyone was located in Hawaii? Physically moving to Africa also physically shows the commitment of the United States to the African continent and how important the America believes the continent is. AFRICOM is only now being established, but hopefully there is a long term plan to move the command to some place within Africa or I believe the creditability of the command itself could be in jeopardy in the long run.
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1:56 am on February 4th, 2008 1
I’ve never understood why they don’t just move to South Africa. Good infrastructure-good options for families and good air connections North to the the rest of Africa.
Stable government too.
9:49 pm on February 5th, 2008 2
I would think South Africa would be one of the top options but I think domestic politics in South Africa may not want a US troop presence in the country plus the nation is still very dangerous with a high murder and crime rate.
I was talking to some South Africans I was training not to long ago about this and they told me Botswana of all places was a safer place to base US troops than South Africa.
I think Senegal is a another option worth looking at. It is close to the northern desert countries where Al Qaeda is active, is a peaceful Democracy that has had multiple transfers of power without violence, a growing economy, and a lower crime rate than South Africa.
However, Senegal is still a third world nation and assignment to Senegal would have to be something like with Korea where soldiers do a one year unaccompanied tour until the country develops more to where families could stay there.
2:49 am on March 4th, 2008 3
[...] have been regularly providing updates on Forward Deployed about the development of the US military’s AFRICOM and now it appears the command may be needed more then [...]