[News] U.S. Military Averaging More Than a Mission a Day in Africa

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*U.S. Military Averaging More Than a Mission a Day in Africa*
*Documents Reveal Blinding Pace of Ops in 2013, More of the Same for 2014*


*http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175823/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_america%27s_non-stop_ops_in_africa/#more*
By Nick Turse <http://www.tomdispatch.com/authors/nickturse>

The numbers tell the story: 10 exercises, 55 operations, 481 security 
cooperation activities.

For years, the U.S. military has publicly insisted that its efforts in 
Africa are small scale. Its public affairs personnel and commanders have 
repeatedly claimed 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_africom%27s_gigantic_%22small_footprint%22> no 
more than a "light footprint 
<http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=116696>" on that 
continent, including a remarkably modest presence when it comes to 
military personnel.  They have, however, balked at specifying just what 
that light footprint actually consists of.  During an interview, for 
instance, a U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) spokesman once expressed 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_africom%27s_gigantic_%22small_footprint%22> worry 
that tabulating the command's deployments would offer a "skewed image" 
of U.S. efforts there.

It turns out that the numbers do just the opposite.

Last year, according AFRICOM commander General David Rodriguez, the U.S. 
military carried out a total of 546 "activities" on the continent -- a 
catch-all term for everything the military does in Africa.  In other 
words, it averages about one and a half missions a day.  This represents 
a 217% increase in operations, programs, and exercises since the command 
was established 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Transcript/6544/written-testimony-in-annual-posture-statement-ward> 
in 2008.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this 
month, Rodriguez noted that the 10 exercises, 55 operations, and 481 
security cooperation activities made AFRICOM "an extremely active 
geographic command."  But exactly what the command is "active" in doing 
is often far from clear.

AFRICOM releases <http://www.africom.mil/what-we-do> information about 
only a fraction of its activities.  It offers no breakdown on the nature 
of its operations.  And it allows 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/05/world/africa/us-takes-training-role-in-africa-as-threats-grow-and-budgets-shrink.html?_r=0> 
only a handful 
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303824204579421063632222426> 
of cherry-picked reporters 
<http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-usmil-africa-20140308,0,4469091.story> 
the chance to observe a few select missions 
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/13/us-africa-usa-security-analysis-idUSBREA2C0DL20140313?utm_source=Africa+Center+for+Strategic+Studies+-+Media+Review+for+March+13+2014&utm_campaign=3%2F13%2F2014&utm_medium=email>.  
The command refuses even to offer a count 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175743> of the countries in which it is 
"active," preferring to keep most information about what it's doing -- 
and when and where -- secret.

While Rodriguez's testimony offers but a glimpse of the scale of 
AFRICOM's activities, a cache of previously undisclosed military 
briefing documents obtained by TomDispatch sheds additional light on the 
types of missions being carried out and their locations all across the 
continent.  These briefings prepared for top commanders and civilian 
officials in 2013 demonstrate a substantial increase in deployments in 
recent years and reveal U.S. military operations to be more extensive 
than previously reported.  They also indicate that the pace of 
operations in Africa will remain robust in 2014, with U.S. forces 
expected again to average far more than a mission each day on the continent.

*The Constant Gardener*

U.S. troops carry out a wide range of operations in Africa, including 
airstrikes 
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/26/world/africa/somalia-us-airstrike/> 
targeting suspected militants, night raids 
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/06/us-special-forces-libya-somalia> 
aimed at kidnapping terror suspects, airlifts of French and African 
troops onto the battlefields of proxy wars 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175818/>, and evacuation 
<http://www.navytimes.com/article/20131227/NEWS/312270010/3-SEALs-wounded-South-Sudan-back-U-S-> 
operations in destabilized countries.  Above all, however, the U.S. 
military conducts training missions, mentors allies, and funds, equips, 
and advises its local surrogates.

U.S. Africa Command describes its activities as advancing "U.S. national 
security interests through focused, sustained engagement with partners" 
and insists that its "operations 
<http://www.africom.mil/what-we-do/operations>, exercises 
<http://www.africom.mil/what-we-do/exercises>, and security cooperation 
assistance programs 
<http://www.africom.mil/what-we-do/security-cooperation-programs> 
support U.S. Government foreign policy and do so primarily through 
military-to-military activities and assistance programs."

Saharan Express 
<http://www.africom.mil/what-we-do/exercises/saharan-express> is a 
typical exercise that biennially pairs U.S. forces with members of the 
navies and coast guards of around a dozen mostly African countries. 
Operations include Juniper Micron and Echo Casemate, missions focused on 
aiding French and African interventions 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175818/> in Mali and the Central 
African Republic.  Other "security cooperation" activities include the 
State Partnership Program, which teams African military forces with U.S. 
National Guard units and the State Department-funded Africa Contingency 
Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program through which U.S. 
military mentors and advisors provide equipment and instruction to 
African units.

Many military-to-military activities and advisory missions are carried 
out 
<http://www.defensenews.com/article/20131020/SHOWSCOUT04/310200014/AFRICOM-Regionally-Aligned-Forces-Find-Their-Anti-terror-Mission> 
by soldiers from the Army's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry 
Division, as part of a "regionally aligned forces" effort that farms out 
specially trained U.S. troops to geographic combatant commands, like 
AFRICOM.  Other training engagements are carried out by units from 
across the service branches, including Africa Partnership Station 13 
whose U.S. naval personnel and Marines teach 
<http://www.marforaf.marines.mil/News/NewsArticleDisplay/tabid/5697/Article/153244/aps-marines-engage-with-beninese-soldiers.aspx> 
skills such as patrolling procedures and hand-to-hand combat 
techniques.  Meanwhile, members of the Air Force recently provided 
assistance 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Article/11721/nigerian-and-us-air-forces-partner-for-disaster-relief-seminar> 
to Nigerian troops in areas ranging from logistics to airlift support to 
public affairs.

*/Click here to see a larger version 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/images/managed/whatwearedoing_large.jpg>/*

Previously undisclosed U.S. Army Africa records reveal a 94% increase in 
all activities by Army personnel from 2011 to 2013, including a 174% 
surge in State Partnership missions (from 34 to 93) and a 436% jump in 
Advise-and-Assist activities including ACOTA missions (from 11 to 59).  
Last year, according to a December 2013 document/,/ these efforts 
involved everything from teaching 
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444097904577539362229840378> 
Kenyan troops how to use Raven surveillance drones and helping Algerian 
forces field new mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPS, to 
training Chadian and Guinean infantrymen and aiding France's ongoing 
interventions in West and Central Africa.

AFRICOM spokesman Benjamin Benson refused to offer further details about 
these activities. "We do training with a lot of different countries in 
Africa," he told me.  When I asked if he had a number on those 
"different countries," he replied, "No, I don't."  He ignored repeated 
written requests for further information.  But a cache of records 
detailing deployments by members of just the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 
1st Infantry Division, from June through December 2013, highlights the 
sheer size, scope, and sweep of U.S. training missions.

June saw members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team deployed to Niger, 
Uganda, Ghana, and on two separate missions to Malawi; in July, troops 
from the team traveled to Burundi, Mauritania, Niger, Uganda, and South 
Africa; August deployments included the Democratic Republic of Congo, 
Kenya, South Africa, Niger, two missions in Malawi, and three to Uganda; 
September saw activities in Chad, Togo, Cameroon, Ghana, São Tomé and 
Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Uganda, and Malawi; in October, members 
of the unit headed for Guinea and South Africa; November's deployments 
consisted of Lesotho, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Guinea; while 
December's schedule consisted of activities in South Sudan, Cameroon, 
and Uganda, according to the documents.  All told, the 2nd Brigade 
Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division carried out 128 separate "activities" 
in 28 African countries during all of 2013.

The records obtained by TomDispatch also indicate that U.S. Army Africa 
took part in almost 80% of all AFRICOM activities on the continent in 
2013, averaging more than one mission per day.  Preliminary projections 
for 2014 suggest a similar pace this year -- 418 activities were already 
planned out by mid-December 2013 -- including anticipated increases in 
the number of operations and train-and-equip missions.

Full-scale exercises, each involving U.S. Army troops and members of the 
militaries of multiple African countries, are also slated to rise from 
14 to 20 in 2014, according to the documents.  So far, AFRICOM has 
released information on 11 named exercises scheduled for this year.  
These include African Lion in Morocco, Eastern Accord in Uganda, Western 
Accord in Senegal, Central Accord in Cameroon, and Southern Accord in 
Malawi, all of which include a field training component and serve as a 
capstone event for the prior year's military-to-military programs.  
AFRICOM will also conduct at least three maritime security exercises, 
including Cutlass Express off the coast of East Africa, Obangame Express 
in the Gulf of Guinea, and Saharan Express 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Article/11857/exercise-saharan-express-2014-commences> 
in the waters off Senegal and the Cape Verde islands, as well as its 
annual Africa Endeavor exercise, which is designed to promote 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Article/11127/exercise-africa-endeavor-2013-kicks-off-in-zambia> 
"information sharing" and facilitate standardized communications 
procedures within African militaries.

Additionally, U.S. and African Special Operations forces will carry out 
an exercise codenamed Silent Warrior 2014 in Germany and have already 
completed Flintlock 2014 (since 2005, an annual event).  As part of 
Flintlock 2014, more than 1,000 troops from 18 nations 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Article/11773/african-led-exercise-flintlock-kicks-off-in-niger>, 
including Burkina Faso, Canada, Chad, Denmark 
<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303824204579421063632222426>, 
France, Germany, Italy, Mauritania, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, 
Senegal, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and the host nation of Niger, 
carried out counterterror training on the outskirts of Niamey, the 
capital, as well as at small bases in Tahoua, Agadez, and Diffa.  
"Although Flintlock is considered an exercise, it is really an extension 
of ongoing training, engagement, and operations that help prepare our 
close Africa partners in the fight against extremism and the enemies 
that threaten peace, stability, and regional security," said Colonel 
Kenneth Sipperly, the commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations 
Task Force-Trans Sahel, during the Flintlock opening ceremony.

*Locations, Locations, Locations*

A 2013 investigation <http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175743> by 
TomDispatch analyzing official documents and open source information 
revealed that the U.S. military was involved with at least 49 of the 54 
nations on the African continent during 2012 and 2013 in activities that 
ranged from special ops raids to the training of proxy forces.  A map 
produced late last year by U.S. Army Africa bolsters the findings, 
indicating its troops had conducted or planned to conduct "activities" 
in all African "countries" during the 2013 fiscal year except for 
Western Sahara (a disputed territory in the Maghreb region of North 
Africa), Guinea Bissau, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, São Tomé and Príncipe, 
Madagascar, and Zimbabwe.  Egypt is considered outside of AFRICOM's area 
of operations, but did see U.S. military activity in 2013, as did 
Somalia 
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/09/us-raid-al-shabaab-somalia-navy-seals>, 
which now also hosts a small team of U.S. advisors 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-has-deployed-military-advisers-to-somalia-officials-say/2014/01/10/b19429f2-7a20-11e3-af7f-13bf0e9965f6_story.html>.  
Other documents indicate Army troops actually deployed to São Tomé and 
Príncipe, a country 
<http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=54908> that regularly 
conducts <http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=72440> 
activities with the U.S. Navy.

AFRICOM is adamant that the U.S. military has only one base on the 
continent: Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.  Official documents examined by 
TomDispatch, however, make reference to bases by other names: forward 
operating sites, or FOSes (long-term locations); cooperative security 
locations, or CSLs (through which small numbers of U.S. troops 
periodically rotate); and contingency locations, or CLs (which are used 
only during ongoing missions).

AFRICOM has repeatedly denied requests by TomDispatch for further 
information on the numbers or locations of FOSes, CSLs, and CLs, but 
official documents produced in 2012 make reference to seven cooperative 
security locations, including one in Entebbe, Uganda, a location from 
which U.S. contractors have flown secret surveillance missions, 
according to an investigation by the /Washington Post/.  Information 
released earlier this year by the military also makes references to at 
least nine "forward operating locations," or FOLs in Africa.

*We Know Not What They Do*

"What We Are Doing," the title of a December 2013 military document 
obtained by TomDispatch, offers answers to questions that AFRICOM has 
long sought to avoid and provides information the command has worked to 
keep under wraps.  So much else, however, remains in the shadows.

 From 2008 to 2013, the number of missions, exercises, operations, and 
other activities under AFRICOM's purview has skyrocketed from 172 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Transcript/6544/written-testimony-in-annual-posture-statement-ward> 
to 546 
<http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/download/rodriguez_03-06-14>, but 
little substantive information has been made public about what exactly 
most of these missions involved and just who U.S. forces have trained.  
Since 2011, U.S. Army Africa alone has taken part in close to 1,000 
"activities" across the continent, but independent reporters have only 
been on hand for a tiny fraction of them, so there are limits to what we 
can know about them beyond military talking points and official news 
releases for a relative few of these missions.  Only later did it become 
clear that the United States extensively mentored 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/world/africa/in-mali-coup-leaders-seem-to-have-uncertain-grasp-on-power.html> 
the military officer who overthrew Mali's elected government in 2012, 
and that the U.S. trained 
<http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Article/7727/750-congolese-soldiers-graduate-from-us-led-milita> 
a Congolese commando battalion implicated 
<http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13308&LangID=E> 
by the United Nations in mass rapes and other atrocities 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-trained-congolese-troops-committed-rapes-and-other-atrocities-un-says/2013/05/13/9781dd88-bbfe-11e2-a31d-a41b2414d001_story.html> 
during that same year, to cite two examples.

Since its inception 
<http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2008Feb19/0,4675,USAfricaCommand,00.html>, 
U.S. Africa Command <http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175574/> has 
consistently downplayed 
<http://www.africom.mil/NEWSROOM/Article/10010/official-dod-seeks-small-footprint-in-africa> 
its role <http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=116696> on the 
continent 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_africom%27s_gigantic_%22small_footprint%22>.  
Meanwhile, far from the press or the public, the officers running its 
secret operations have privately been calling 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_africom%27s_gigantic_%22small_footprint%22> 
Africa "the battlefield of tomorrow, today."

After years in the dark, we now know just how "extremely active" -- to 
use General David Rodriguez's phrase -- AFRICOM has been and how rapidly 
the tempo of its missions has increased.  It remains to be seen just 
what else we don't know about U.S. Africa Command's exponentially 
expanding operations.

/Nick Turse is the managing editor of /TomDispatch.com 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/>/ and a fellow at the Nation Institute.  A 
2014 //Izzy Award/ 
<http://www.ithaca.edu/news/releases/journalists-glenn-greenwald-and-jeremy-scahill-named-to-i.f.-stone-hall-of-fame:-john-carlos-frey-and-nick-turse-share-annual-izzy-award-36968/#.UxyUHYVl7Kf>/ 
winner, his// pieces have appeared in the /New York Times 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/opinion/for-america-life-was-cheap-in-vietnam.html?_r=0>/, 
the /Los Angeles Times 
<http://articles.latimes.com/2012/apr/24/opinion/la-oe-turse-afghanistan-and-vietnam-20120424>, 
the Nation <http://www.thenation.com/afghanistan>, /at the/ BBC 
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23427726> /and //regularly/ 
<http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175818/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_american_proxy_wars_in_africa/>/ 
at //TomDispatch.// He is the author most recently of the //New York 
Times// bestseller /Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in 
Vietnam 
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250045061/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20>/ 
//(just out in paperback)./
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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