Providence, 12.12.17
By Alan W. Dowd
Niger’s government just authorized the United States military to begin using its territory to launch armed
drones, expanding America’s reach against jihadist groups in
west-central Africa. The U.S. conducted six airstrikes in November—and
at least 30 this year—against jihadists in Somalia. Four U.S. Green
Berets were killed in an ambush in Niger in October. And U.S. Arica
Command (AFRICOM) confirmed in late September that U.S. warplanes
conducted half-a-dozen airstrikes against the Islamic State (ISIS) in
Libya on a single day—the first U.S. strikes in Libya since January. In
short, the U.S. military is actively engaged in Africa. But these
high-profile stories are just the tip of the iceberg as AFRICOM tries to
stabilize the most chronically unstable continent on earth.
That’s not hyperbole: According to the Fragile States Index,
Africa is home to 18 of the world’s 25 most fragile/failed states.
Failed and failing states open the door to a host of ills: food and
resource scarcity, mass-migration, piracy, and, of course, terrorism.
This is where Africa’s problems become America’s problem—and why America
is increasingly engaged in this no-longer-forgotten continent.
Counterterrorism
U.S. forces have been hard at work in Africa since late 2001,
striving to prevent an entire continent from going the way of Somalia or
Afghanistan.
In November 2002, the U.S. stood up Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA)
at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, a tiny country on Africa’s northeast
coast. By 2008, CJTF-HOA numbered 2,000 troops. (Today, some 4,700
American troops, Department of Defense personnel, and contractors are
based in Djibouti.) By 2005, the Pentagon had begun providing training, equipment, and intelligence to militaries
in Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria,
Morocco, and Tunisia—which serves as a stark reminder that this is in
every way a global war on terrorism. U.S. forces are fighting
jihadists not only in high-profile places like Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, but across Africa—in Tunisia, Mauritania, Somalia, Cameroon, Libya, Niger, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, and all the way to Timbuktu (literally).
- A U.S. airstrike in November targeting al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab killed more than 100 militants. There are some 500 DoD personnel in Somalia today.
- About 800 U.S. troops are deployed in Niger, 300 more in nearby Burkina Faso and Cameroon.
- Between August and December 2016, U.S. warplanes carried out 495 airstrikes to dislodge ISIS from Sirte, Libya.
- In 2014, President Barack Obama dispatched Special Operations units to Nigeria and surrounding countries to assist the Nigerian military in its bloody struggle against ISIS affiliate Boko Haram.
- Supporting French efforts to blunt the jihadist advance in
west-central Africa, S. planes have transported hundreds of French
troops and thousands of tons of equipment in and out of Mali.
As AFRICOM commander Gen. Thomas Waldhauser explains in his 2017 overview of operations, U.S. counterterrorism strategy in Africa includes
neutralizing al-Shabaab in Somalia, degrading “violent extremist
organizations in the Sahel Maghreb…contain[ing] instability in
Libya…contain[ing] and degrad[ing] Boko Haram,” and assisting partner
countries like Tunisia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad with
logistics, training, intelligence, and border security.
All told, the Pentagon has some 6,765 military personnel (including
shooters and civilians) spread across 42 African countries. That
official number is surely low given that the deployment of Special
Operations assets—which are very active in Africa—is often classified.
Humanitarian/Stability Ops
Nine of the UN’s current 16 peacekeeping operations are focused on Africa, which underscores how unstable Africa is.
To address this chronic problem of instability, another of AFRICOM’s
key lines of effort is building “peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance
and disaster-response capacity of African partners,” Waldhauser
observes. The U.S. poured $4 billion in military aid into Africa (not including Egypt) between 2008 and 2015, with Kenya,
Liberia, Nigeria, and South Sudan receiving the lion’s share.
CJTF-HOA elements have trained Somalia-bound Burundi troops; assisted
Ugandan and Rwandan troops ahead of peacekeeping deployments; and
helped create a peacekeeping-operations center to support African Union
stability missions. And the past several months have seen Special
Operations units train in Senegal and Mauritania; Army personnel deliver
armored personnel carriers to Nigeria; Army and Air Force assets
deliver 450,000 pounds of military gear to the Central African Republic
and Gabon; Coast Guard units at work in Senegal; and Marines conduct
intelligence training in Ghana and peacekeeping training in Senegal.
Some stability operations are more dangerous than others: U.S.
commando units have been waging a shadow war since 2011 against the
Lord’s Resistance Army—a notorious transnational terror group led by
warlord Joseph Kony, who is wanted for wreaking havoc across central
Africa. Likewise, the Navy has been waging its own behind-the-scenes war
against piracy on Africa’s western and eastern coasts for a decade. And
it pays to recall that America’s response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in
western Africa was a humanitarian mission that contributed to regional
stability. As the epidemic spread, AFRICOM stood up a command post in
Liberia to coordinate the efforts of various NGOs, government agencies
and military assets. Army units set up mobile labs and treatment
facilities. The Air Force transported 5,500 people and 8,700 tons of
cargo in a four-month-long continuous airlift. The Marines provided enabling assistance in Senegal. Upwards of 3,000 U.S. troops took part in the mission.
Again, it wasn’t the first time America answered when Africa called for help.
In 2003, only 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving
antiretroviral AIDS drugs. Recognizing the security risks posed by
desperation and disease—and answering the call of conscience—President
George W. Bush responded with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (PEPFAR). “PEPFAR prevented nearly 2 million babies from being
born with HIV,” a 2016 report concludes.
PEPFAR provides assistance to nearly 1.1 million children, critical
care for 6.2 million orphans and other at-risk children, and life-saving
treatment for 11.5 million people.
Bush launched a similar multifaceted effort to counter Africa’s
deadliest killer: mosquitoes. The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)
is credited with protecting 25 million people by distributing bed nets
and medicine. Thanks in large part to PMI, 6.2 million malaria deaths
have been averted.
This is the sort of work a great and good nation does for neighbors
in need. This is what we are called to do. As Jesus explained, “To whom
much is given, much is expected.” In light of how much we Americans have
been blessed with, why would heaven not expect us to answer when our
neighbors cry out for help?
Christ’s story of the Good Samaritan who helped the wounded traveler
reminds us that all people of goodwill are neighbors: “A man was going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.” He was
beaten and left for dead. A priest and a Levite saw the man, only to
cross the road to avoid him. But a Samaritan “took pity on him,”
“bandaged his wounds,” “brought him to an inn and took care of him.” He
then paid for the man’s care and recovery. In a sense, this is a
portrait of foreign aid in action. It pays to recall, as one commentary
explains, that the hero is “a hated foreigner…but Jesus asserted that
love knows no national boundaries.”
To be sure, governments are expected to do certain things individuals
aren’t expected to do—and shouldn’t do certain things individuals
should do: Bearing the sword to protect innocents, maintain order, and carry out justice is a
biblical expectation of governments, but for individuals such behavior
seems to ignore Christ’s admonishment to put away the sword. Contrariwise, turning the other cheek and dying
to self are next to godliness for individuals, but such behavior is next
to suicidal for nation-states. However, helping those in need and
sharing from our abundance are things God expects of individuals and
nation-states alike.
Trade and Development
Other U.S. efforts have targeted the root causes of Africa’s ills. For instance, Power Africa,
a program launched in 2013 with federal and private-sector resources,
aims to double access to electricity across sub-Saharan Africa.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which was launched by the
Bush administration in 2004, provides foreign-aid grants to countries
that fight corruption, respect the rule of law, embrace free markets,
and invest in health and education. As the Obama administration reported late last year, MCC grants for African countries represent 68 percent of the program’s entire portfolio.
The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (passed into law in 2000) paved the way for expanded trade. U.S.-Africa goods trade was $37 billion in 2000, jumped to $141.7 billion by the end of the
Bush administration and averaged $84 billion per year during the Obama
administration. In addition, from 2008 to 2015, U.S. direct investment
in Africa rose from $37 billion to $64 billion.
Yet China is Africa’s largest trading partner (it overtook the United States in 2009), and President Xi Jinping has
earmarked $60 billion for investment and development in Africa.
Chinese telecommunications firms are building digital infrastructure across Africa and delivering
Chinese programming (and propaganda) into millions of homes. One Chinese
telecom company has subsidiaries in 30 African countries. China is
investing billions in Africa’s oil-rich regions. China has provided
military equipment and/or training to Equatorial Guinea, Sudan,
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. And China recently
stood up its first overseas military base—in Djibouti, just four miles
from the American base.
Pointing to China, Waldhauser warns, “Whether with trade, natural
resource exploitation, or weapons sales, we continue to see
international competitors engage with African partners in a manner
contrary to the international norms of transparency and good governance.
These competitors weaken our African partners’ ability to govern and
will ultimately hinder Africa’s long-term stability and economic growth,
and they will also undermine and diminish U.S. influence.”
More
During a summit with leaders from Africa, President Donald Trump
sounded eager to continue efforts aimed at stabilizing and strengthening
Africa. “Our prosperity depends, above all, on peace,” Trump noted. “We believe that a free, independent and democratic nation, in
all cases, is the best vehicle for human happiness and success… The
United States will partner with the countries and organizations, like
the African Union, that lead successful efforts to end violence, to
prevent the spread of terrorism and to respond to humanitarian crises.”
Yet other signs are more worrisome: U.S. democracy assistance fell nearly 20 percent during Obama’s second term. U.S.-Africa goods
trade has fallen significantly in recent years. The Trump administration
has proposed a 17-percent cut in PEPFAR, a 13-percent cut in development assistance for Africa, and “dramatic reductions in
foreign aid.” Until recently, the U.S. contributed 28.57 percent of the
UN’s annual peacekeeping budget; the Trump administration plans to cap
that at no more than 25 percent.
AFRICOM is doing good and necessary work. However, one is left with a
sense that Trump is increasingly comfortable with addressing Africa’s
challenges through the military. To fight the twin plagues of
instability and terrorism, America needs Africa to be healthier, freer,
and more stable, and that means Africa needs more than just military
equipment and military training from America.