STUTTGART, Germany — After more than a year of speculation, curiosity and doubts about what it all means, U.S. Africa Command stands up Wednesday as the military’s newest unified command, taking charge of all things in Africa.
Since its formation was announced more than a year ago, onlookers from around the world have cast a wary eye on AFRICOM. In Africa, leaders have been leery of the military’s strategic interest in the continent, which some suggest is solely about getting at Africa’s oil resources or countering growing Chinese influence there.
In the U.S., some political leaders also have questioned what its overall purpose is and whether AFRICOM is properly structured to meet the all of Africa’s challenges.
On the eve of its debut, AFRICOM officials on Tuesday said the military’s strategic interests are more basic.
Still, Navy Vice Adm. Robert Moeller, AFRICOM’s deputy to the commander for military operations, acknowledged one task to be carried out in the year ahead is making clear to the public the limits of AFRICOM’s mission.
"There’s a fair amount of misapprehension and misunderstanding about it," he said. "We probably need to engage many, many more audiences. And we will continue to do that, including both our African partners and U.S. audiences quite frankly."
Though standing up bases across the continent and deploying thousands of forces to Africa was never part of the plan, Moeller said that perception persists about AFRICOM.
"What this is is a more effective continuation of what was previously spread out among other military commands," Moeller said in an interview in his Stuttgart office. "At the end of the day, what this is about is a change in ballcaps. If yesterday people saw U.S. forces wearing EUCOM, PACOM and CENTCOM ballcaps, now they’re going to see AFRICOM ballcaps."
Officials also emphasize that unlike certain commands, AFRICOM does not have troops permanently assigned to it.
On Tuesday, AFRICOM inherited 134 missions that were previously divided among three other command groups — U.S. European Command, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Pacific Command.
"All the things we’ve been monitoring have turned into execution," Moeller said. "That oversight and execution authority is (now) ours."
AFRICOM’S missions are varied. There’s the ongoing effort in Djibouti, where there’s a partnership with the State Department and Northern Africa nations focused on targeting regional terrorism. About 1,500 U.S. personnel are involved in the effort.
Other missions involve much smaller numbers of Americans. Efforts include training peacekeepers, training militaries, establishing military partnerships and strengthening security around the coast lines.
Indeed, helping countries form more effective coast guards to fight piracy, trafficking and illegal fishing is a primary mission in the year ahead, Moeller said.
"One of the areas we’re looking to continue and expand upon is the Africa Partnership Station," he said.
The program is currently focused around the Gulf of Guinea, an oil rich region on Africa’s west coast that is routinely patrolled by Navy vessels.
"The leadership of those countries recognized that to set the conditions for economic development, they need a secure maritime environment. They approached the U.S. in this regard," Moeller said.
"The idea is to have them develop Coast Guard-like capabilities. "That effort is ongoing. What we’re also looking to do is having it not just in that region, but expand it elsewhere around the continent. That will be a work in progress over time." What will not be happening in the near future is the establishment of a headquarters in Africa, which was part of the initial AFRICOM plan. When no nation stepped forward to play host, the military in May was forced to backtrack.
"There was a desire for that to be the case, but we can be quite effective from right here (in Stuttgart)," Moeller said.
As for AFRICOM’s budget situation, which has been scrutinized by lawmakers in recent weeks and been subjected to significant cuts by the House of Representatives, Moeller said it shouldn’t impact AFRICOM’s ability to fully staff itself. Currently there are about 1,100 personnel assigned to the command’s headquarters with some 200 more to be added in the months ahead.
If implemented, the $266 million budget approved by the House last week — $123 million less than what President Bush requested to fund AFRICOM in its first year of operation — may need to be re-examined later in the year.
"I think we’re going to be fine up to the midyear review process and then we’ll work out the additional details when we get to that point. Which quite frankly is what often happens," Moeller said. "I think we’re going to be fine."
