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World News See other World News Articles Title: Africa as Colonial as Ever: US “New Africa Strategy” Old Oil in New Bottles Months after U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton announced the “New Africa Strategy” at the Heritage Foundation, the US’ new policy has killed civilians, exploited Africa’s resources and used the continent as a battleground for provoking tensions with Russia and China. In February 2011, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated at West Point that “any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia, or into the Middle East or Africa, should have his head examined.” While blood was spilled in Libya by NATO coalition forces, killing hundreds from the sky and giving cover for religious extremists to kill thousands, Gates’ advice was arguably taken and military engagement has been stretched thin, quietly and discreetly, especially in Africa. One of the new War-on-Terror projects the Obama Administration inherited from the Bush Administration was the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM. By the time Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, AFRICOM had grown into a $250 million behemoth. Much of AFRICOM policy consists of training local forces with a focus on “counter-terrorism.” Jessica Piombo, editor of The US Military in Africa: Enhancing Security and Development? writes, “[T]he U.S. military has attempted to create new programs that involve a range of government and nongovernment actors in security programs that focus on more than training and equipping African militaries.” In 2018, the administration declared interest in downsizing U.S. military presence in Africa — officially at about 6,000 troops, including 300 who trained forces in Cameroon ahead of the 2018 re-election of France’s neoliberal favorite Paul Biya, greenlighting deepened conflict there. However, in 2018 Trump gave free rein to the CIA to expand drone warfare throughout Africa. There are at least 34 U.S. military sites in Africa now, including three in Libya, where tensions between rival militias have displaced 3,400 and may soon plunge Tripoli into chaos. The focus of AFRICOM’s presence is largely in oil-rich nations in West Africa and in the Horn of Africa, adjacent to the oil-rich Arab Peninsula. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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