US suspends military base in Africa

30.01.2008

A year after President George W. Bush of the United States approved its creation, the new US military command for Africa is finding its feet but has quietly dropped talk of basing itself on the African continent.

There had been controversies over the planned siting of the military command in Nigeria in recent times.

Largely carved out of US European Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany, the new Africa Command (Africom) will stay there for now as its leaders try to switch the debate away from the controversial headquarters issue and on to the “added value” it aims to bring to Africa.

“In the near to mid-term, and for the foreseeable future, we’re going to be here and from here, we can do all the activities that we need to do with our African partners,” Africom’s deputy commander, Vice Admiral Robert Moeller, said in an interview on Monday in Stuttgart.

Where US officials once spoke confidently of plans to base the command in Africa, shared between several countries, they now stress the multiple conditions that would need to be fulfilled.

“If it’s in the desire and the interests of our African partners in that regard, then we’ll look for an opportunity to do that where it makes sense to do so, but only obviously where we’re invited,” Moeller said.

The caution stems from the unwelcoming reaction of several African nations, including regional powers such as South Africa and Nigeria, to the notion of Africom setting up on their patch.

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