Africa is the next stage of the war

By Olivier Guitta

I recently wrote a piece for The Examiner on that topic.
Here is an excerpt:

On September 12, a US plane flying food supplies to Malian troops was hit by gunfire coming from Tuareg rebels.
This is just one of the latest examples of how the situation in Africa is volatile and dangerous. Indeed, aside from the numerous endless conflicts that are tearing apart the black continent (according to a recent UN report, between 1990 and 2006, 5 million people have been killed in Africa as a result of internal conflicts), the increasing presence of Al Qaeda is making it all the more important for the US to be present, one way or another in the region.

The US is finally realizing how important the continent is, hence Africom, a new army command that will strictly deal with Africa. Deputy Assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, Teresa Whelan stated on September 20 that “we will have no bases…and we will not be deploying US forces on the African continent.”
This decision was likely made after months of vocal opposition from African countries to host a US military base. Among them none were more vocal than Algeria and Libya. In fact, on April 30 influential Libyan leader Abdessalam Triki said bluntly: “Tripoli and Algiers are categorically opposed to Washington’s will to establish a military command for Africa”. Also when Morocco was seen as being a potential candidate to host Africom, the uproar made Moroccan authorities quickly deny the rumor. This comes to show how almost no countries in Africa (in particular the Muslim ones) wants to be associated with the US for fear of being seen as a pawn of Washington.
But behind the scenes, some of these countries desperately need US help whether financial or military.

To read the rest, please click here.

The Croissant is extensively covering Africa and the war.
For a recent story on the Tuareg rebellion in the Sahel, please click here.

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