US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has recently wound up his
three-day North Africa tour, to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, with
anti-terrorism top on the agenda. The visit, the first by Rumsfeld
as Defense Secretary, aroused great attention from world media.
Rumsfeld and leaders of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria talked
about military and security cooperation under the banner of
anti-terrorism. After the 9/11 incident, fearing that terrorists
might use Africa to expand their networks and bases, the United
States has strengthened its anti-terrorism cooperation with
Africa.
In 2002, then US Secretary of State Collin Powell visited Gabon
and Angola. In 2003, US President George W. Bush visited five
African countries including Senegal, South Africa and Nigeria and
promised to spend US$100 million to help East Africa and the Horn
of African countries (including Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and
Uganda and Tanzania) to improve their anti-terrorism capacity.
In 2004, US European deputy commander General Charles F. Wald
visited 10 African countries and then the US side invited senior
African army officers to European command to discuss military
cooperation. In the same year, the United States also participated
in the anti-terrorism joint military maneuver with Algeria, Mali,
Chad and Niger. In July 2005, 300 US troops held a two-week major
joint military exercise with eight African countries including
Morocco, Mali and Tunisia.
Behind these anti-terrorism cooperation, the main purpose of
Rumsfeld's visit is to restructure US armies' global strategic
deployment and relocate military bases. In recent years, to adapt
the changing international strategic environment and effectively
deal with terrorist threat, the United States has begun to shift
its strategic emphasis to the so-called "arch of instability"
ranging from the coastal Caribbean, North Africa, Caucasia, Central
Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia and to the Korean Peninsula.
The three North African countries Rumsfeld visited are in the
western end of the arch. According to the Pentagon plan, the United
States will create 10 small frontier battle facilities with fast
reaction capability.
Oil security is another purpose of the US military expansion in
Africa.
Currently, oil supply from Africa accounts for 20 percent of US
total imports and the percentage is predicted to be 25 percent by
2015, exceeding that from the Persian Gulf region. Relevant
documents from the US government have treated oil supply from
Africa as important as concerning US national security.
To ensure the oil supply, the US government has taken many
measures of infiltration such as selling weapons to oil producing
countries including Nigeria, Angola and Algeria, conducting joint
military maneuvers, providing military training and establishing
military bases in Africa. In 2002, the US government reached an
agreement with Sao Tome and Principe on building a navy base.
US military presence in Africa has two obvious tendencies: one
is to deepen military cooperation in North Africa and the Horn of
Africa for anti-terrorism purpose; and the other is to cooperate
with West Africa for oil security. From strategic perspective,
Washington's Africa policy has combined anti-terrorism, oil and
garrisoning.
The article on the third page of People's Daily, Feb. 21, is
authored by He Wenping, director of Africa department of Institute
of West-Asian and African Studies of Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, and translated by People's Daily Online.
(People's Daily Online February 22, 2006)
