admintheme of the Colloquium: Governance, Peace and Security in Africa.
From the content of his presentation, this writer discerned that his arguments could be a very good justification for the dismantling of Africom. In the past few weeks, General Carter Ham has been giving public lectures raising the alarm about the rise of the threats of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
This message was repeated at the Achebe Colloquium. These speeches came after President Obama designated a new commander for Africom on October 18, 2012 and formed part of an intense tussle within the administration over the future of the budget of the Department of Defense. On November 30, exactly one week earlier, Jeh C Johnson, the General Counsel for the Department of Defense of the United States gave a speech to the Oxford Union in the United Kingdom entitled, “The War on Al Queda and its affiliates: and how it will end?” In this speech, Jeh Johnson said, “The war on terror is not an endless conflict and the US is approaching a ‘tipping point’ after which the military fight against al-Qaeda will be replaced by a law enforcement operation.”
This speech formed part of the divide within the military establishment about the future of the war on terror.
On December 1, the Washington Post carried a lengthy report, “DIA sending hundreds more spies overseas.” The essence of the news report was that the growth of terrorism in the world required additional intelligence assets overseas, especially in Africa. To seal this line that Africa was a new hotbed of terrorism, the Wall Street Journal carried the front page headline on December 7, “Terror Fight shifts to Africa.” In this contribution by Julian E Barnes and Evan Perez, readers were warned of the dangers of Al Queda extremists in North Africa. This article continued the narrative of the sections of the Pentagon that warned associated Al Queda groups in Africa “present significant threats to the United States”.
From the Washington Post came another voice, that of Fareed Zakaria. “End the war on terror and save billions.” In his submission, Zakaria implored President Barack Obama to end the war on terror or more realistically, “to start planning and preparing to phase it out.” One major step towards this goal of ending the war will be to end the barrage of negative images and racist presentations that are disguised as “humanitarian partnerships’”
It will require popular mobilisation to reduce the big budget of the Pentagon and new engagement by the peace movement to fight against the austerity measures proposed in order to protect bankers. It will be the task of a literate peace and social justice movement to work for the dismantling of the US Africa Command and to pursue goals that support education, health, building the infrastructure and the cleaning up of the environment in Africa. It is in the context of these debates raging inside the United States where this writer wants to reflect on the strong reasons for ending the war on terror, especially in Africa.
From the point of view of this analysis, what was important about the speech of General Carter Ham at the Achebe colloquium was that the general entered the space of intellectuals from Africa. This is itself a shift in the balance of forces since November 6, 2012. His prepared text covered areas of “progress” with respect to the role of African peacekeepers, AMISON in Somalia and the success of the African Union Mission in Darfur. General Ham praised the patient and consultative mechanisms of the African Union and spoke of future ‘partnership’ with African states.
Ham repeated claims that have gained currency in the Western media that northern Mali had become a “terrorist” haven and that Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) posed such a danger that, “As each day goes by, Al Qaeda and other organisations are strengthening their hold in northern Mali. There is a compelling need for the international community, led by Africans, to address that.
Carter Ham stressed the work of Africom in maritime security in both the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea. His speech at the colloquium is a very good case for why the US Africa Command should be wound down and dismantled. The three outstanding events that were not mentioned were the on-going wars in the eastern Congo (especially the recent capture of Goma and other towns by rebels supported by Rwanda), the role of Africom in current instability and support for extremists in Benghazi, Libya, and the role of the US military in the training of Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo, the architect of the military coup that has destabilised Mali since March 2012.
The mission statement of the US Africa Command as stated on their web page is,“Africa Command protects and defends the national security interests of the United States by strengthening the defense capabilities of African states and regional organisations and, when directed, conducts military operations, in order to deter and defeat transnational threats and to provide a security environment conducive to good governance and development.”
The evidence is now clear that the existence of Africom has not provided “a security environment conducive to good governance and development.” More than four years ago, I had joined with the scholarly community of the Association of Concerned Africans (ACAS) in opposing the establishment of Africom and the militarising of the study of Africa in the United States. I have over the years written extensively on the evolution of Africom after writing the article, “Remilitarisation of African Societies: Analysis of the planning behind US Africa Command.”
ACAS members have contributed significantly to the body of scholarly literature with special meetings and bulletins. For a short while, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) hosted a group of activists who organised the ‘Resist Africom’ campaign. Staffers from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) wrote periodic updates on Africom but these writings never critically dealt with the opposition to Africom from Africa.
Other sections of the bureaucracy and the think-tanks wrote critiques about the need to strengthen Africom. The activists from Resist Africom differed significantly from the researchers at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) where the new resources for the study of Africa were being deployed. Both Abdi Samatar and Jeremy Keenan have written extensively on the militarization of the Horn of Africa and on the Maghreb.
Kennan’s work was most direct in stating that the Western forces and their allies were fabricating terrorism in North Africa in order to prop up repressive governments. Drawing from the short five years of the existence of this Africa Command, I agree with African policy makers who have argued that the US military is one of the principal obstacles to peace and stability in Africa.
Added to this destabilisation of Africa is the ways in which the militarising of the study of Africa has affected genuine academic research about Africa in US universities. There is a small group that in the past organised to resist Africom and the present peacemakers who call for an end to the militarisation of African politics. The current phase of the end of the war on terror provides the context for the dismantling of the US Africa Command. Carter Ham has argued that the largest disbursements to Africa are in the areas of health education and agriculture. The establishment of Africom has not served the best interest of the African peoples, and the argument that the deployment of this military command is fuelled principally by humanitarianism has proved to be faulty.
In the past five years there have been a number of false claims about the dangers of groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army with the hype about violence presented by an organisation called Invisible Children. Kony 2012 film exposed the need to educate the society about the realities of what is happening in Africa in order to rise above the “saviour syndrome.”
Professor Chinua Achebe is the internationally known writer and teacher who for the past four years hosted an annual colloquium on Africa. At the age of 82, Achebe was hosting this event for the fourth time under the title of “Governance, Security and Peace in Africa.” In their press release the organisers said of the meeting that it would “security issues that challenge the establishment of institutions and principles of good governance on the continent.”
Invited panelists were called on to discuss the complex security issues confronting nations on the continent; security challenges surrounding the proliferation of small arms and lights weapons; piracy and terrorism; and the continuance of ethnic and religious conflict.” This colloquium featured many key figures in African Affairs including Dr Mo Ibrahim of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Dr Mamphela Ramphele, former Managing Director of the World Bank; Babatunde Fashola, (SAN), the Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria; Emira Woods (IPS), Professor Abena Busia of Rutgers University, Professor V Y Mudimbe of Duke University; Ephraim Isaac, Director, Institute for Advanced Semitic Studies; Jendayi Frazier, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Bush administration, two former ambassadors to Nigeria, Walter Carrington and John Campbell; William Bellamy, retired US Ambassador, US Ambassador to the Republic of Niger, Bisa Williams, and thirty other distinguished scholars, ambassadors and dignitaries.
In addition, novelist, activist and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga from Zimbabwe spoke at this colloquium. There were also two performances by singer, poet and lyricist Nneka who also participated in the deliberations. It was only two days before the colloquium that the organizers sent out a press release to state that General Carter F Ham, Commander, United States Africa Command (Africom), would address a plenary session and participate on a panel with former ambassadors to Nigeria, Walter Carrington and John Campbell along with John Pelletier of the Department of State.
The first sessions on Friday afternoon were noteworthy in so far as Mo Ibrahim, the billionaire investor, and Babatunde Raji Fashola stressed the need for good governance and the demilitarisation of African politics. Mo Ibrahim was most explicit that Africa needed investments and new educational linkages and not more military investments. Babatunde Fashola linked the issue of governance to the struggles against organisations such as Boko Haram stressing the need for social programs to tackle impoverishment and poor services. Shehu Sani, the Nigerian activist and author, Chairperson of the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, also made the point of the social and economic context of dissatisfaction that fueled the recruitment of youths into Boko Haram. Uzodinma Nwala, Professor of Social and Political Philosophy in Nigeria, also gave a coherent account of the historical foundations of the militarised forms of opposition in Nigeria and warned against facile label of “Al Queda affiliate” to characterise what was going on in Nigeria.
These presentations helped to support the position of policy makers in the US who refuse to place Boko Haram on the list of international terrorists. It was at this meeting where General Carter Ham made his presentation. First, he acknowledged his lack of experience and knowledge on matters relating to Africa before he took up the position of Commander of the US Africa Command. Stating that the Command came into existence less five years ago and was the youngest of the six geographic commands, he told the audience that in the twenty months that he has served he had travelled to 42 different African countries. Of the other 13 states he said, “some don’t want me to come visit, and others my government doesn’t want me to go.” What was significant was that his mandate did not make the artificial division of the US State Department that divides sub-Saharan Africa from North Africa and the Middle East. General Carter Ham categorised key US security interests in the continent of Africa into four areas:
1. Addressing and countering a variety of violent extremist organisations that are in Africa. He accorded this the highest priority.
2. Maintaining global access, improving access for own economic growth and for the international community.
3. Preventing or deterring conflict. Keeping a clear understanding of the many non-state actors fomenting conflict.
4. Humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, mass atrocity and response options.
(To be continued) — Pambazuka News
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