Pentagon plans new command to cover Africa

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to create a new military command for Africa, for the first time establishing an independent operations headquarters that will focus on anti terrorist operations and humanitarian aid, according to administration officials.

The US Africa Command, or AFRICOM, would oversee strategic developments and military operations across the entire continent, where a combination of problems -- natural disasters, civil wars, chronic disease, and the growing presence of Islamic radicals -- has destabilized some countries and created an increasing threat to global security, White House and Defense Department aides said.

The Pentagon proposal, which the White House is expected to approve in coming days, is overdue, according to Africa specialists. They cite two examples: the failed state of Somalia, which has become a haven for Islamic militants allied with Al Qaeda terrorists, and the crisis in Sudan, where United Nations figures estimate that more than 400,000 people have died from ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region.

Creating a distinct Africa command "increases the potential that greater attention will be given to issues like Darfur," said Susan Rice, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

"This is a timely move," added Representative Ed Royce, a California Republican and vice chairman of a House subcommittee that oversees Africa policy. "Africa's growing strategic importance is clear."

Currently, the Pentagon has five worldwide command posts; Africa has been the shared responsibility of the Europe, Middle East, and Asian commands, but only as a secondary task. Each post's primary mission is in another geographic area, and those responsibilities garner far more day-to-day attention and resources.

The Pentagon, which crafted the proposal with the aid of the State Department and other government agencies, envisions the new command to be unique among its global combat headquarters. Because African nations do not pose a direct military threat to the United States, Defense officials said, the AFRICOM operation would focus far less on preparing troops for major combat in the area.

Instead, it would stress military training programs to help local governments secure their borders and take steps to guard against crises such as Darfur as well as contain outbreaks of deadly diseases such as AIDS and malaria .

Unlike in other traditional command posts, the four-star general who would be in charge of AFRICOM would probably have a civilian counterpart from the State Department to coordinate nonmilitary functions of the US government. The expectation is that diplomacy and economic and political aid will often prove more critical to achieving US goals in Africa than relying on military solutions.

The idea for a separate Africa command grew out of a major Pentagon review completed earlier this year. The study concluded that the US military needed to stop domestic security threats before they start by keeping unstable countries around the world from toppling into anarchy.

"The goal is to prevent another Afghanistan," said Lieutenant Commander Joe Carpenter, a Pentagon spokesman who has been briefed on the proposal. With a dedicated headquarters for Africa, he added, the military would have "an organization that is in a better position to do prevention and better organized so other elements of the US government can interface."

Africa, Carpenter said, "is very different than what we see in other regions of the world. For many countries, it is simply having a functioning coast guard and police force" that would make the difference between stability or chaos.

Under the Pentagon's current structure, no one is in charge. The Pentagon's European headquarters is responsible for much of North, West, and Central Africa all the way to the tip of South Africa. Central Command oversees Egypt, Sudan, the Horn of Africa, and southward to Kenya. The US Pacific Command, meanwhile, has responsibility for Madagascar and other smaller islands off the east coast of Africa.

Their missions, however, often overlap. For example, the European Command is training local military forces in North Africa and the Sahel region -- including in Algeria, Mali, and Mauritania -- where Islamic militant groups have established new training bases.

Meanwhile, the Central Command, in addition to its duties in Iraq and Afghanistan and the wider Middle East, is also overseeing US military efforts in the Horn of Africa, where Somalia has been overrun by Islamic militants and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has encouraged followers to take up arms.

"The existing system of having Africa divided among three commands is dysfunctional and nonsensical," said Rice, who served as assistant secretary of defense for African affairs in the Clinton administration.

For decades, Africa had been considered a secondary region when it comes to US interests, but it is quickly growing in strategic importance. Foreign policy specialists cite Sudan, where a US humanitarian mission in the 1990s failed and the government collapsed; they also warn that ongoing civil strife in such nations as the Democratic Republic of Congo could spill over into neighboring countries and create another blood-drenched crisis such as the ongoing one in Darfur.

White House officials wouldn't say precisely when Bush will approve the proposal and said many details -- including the location of the command's headquarters and the timing for creating it -- still had to be worked out.

But Bush's thinking about how the significance of Africa has expanded was revealed last week at a global health summit sponsored by the White House on eradicating malaria. In working to stabilize Africa, the president said, "we help lift a burden of unnecessary suffering and we help reduce the appeal of radicalism, and we forge lasting friendships on a continent that is growing in strategic importance."

Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.