ESTABLISHING AFRICOM: PRESSING QUESTIONS, POLITICAL CONCERNS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Abstract

In the post-Cold War period, Africa did not constitute a top strategic priorityfor the U.S. A 1995 report by the Department of Defence (DoD) listed Africa at thebottom of the world’s regions in strategic terms. In 1998, the National SecurityStrategy of the U.S. confirmed that America’s security interests with regard toAfrica were limited. Hence the tendency in the past was to relegate Africa to theperiphery of American strategy.1However, as Metz rightly argued some years ago, such an approach would notbe wise: the U.S. does indeed have strategic interests in Africa. After all, from aU.S. point of view, serious transnational threats emanate from the region, including:state-sponsored terrorism, narcotics trafficking, weapons proliferation, internationalcrime, environmental damage, and pandemic disease. Furthermore, Africa has beenthe scene of recurrent humanitarian crises, often as a result of intra-state armedconflict.