Vol. 72/No. 10      March 10, 2008

During the tour, Bush and leaders of African countries allied to Washington repeatedly denied that there are any plans to establish such a base in Africa for now. AFRICOM is currently headquartered in Germany.

“We do not contemplate adding new bases,” said Bush, speaking in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. But “that doesn’t mean we won’t develop some kind of office somewhere in Africa. We haven’t made our minds up.”

During the six-day visit to Benin, Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda, and Liberia, Bush promised billions of dollars to fight HIV/AIDS and various tropical diseases.

AFRICOM’s head, Gen. William Ward, said AFRICOM had modified the way it puts across its message, focusing on “added value” and security assistance. Ward said there is a perception that “the Americans are invading,” according to a Radio Netherlands report.

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia has been the only African head of state to offer to host a base for AFRICOM. During his tour stop in Liberia, Bush visited a camp partially funded by Washington where a new Liberian army is being trained. In 2003 Washington deployed 200 of some 2,000 marines positioned in ships off Liberia’s coast to aid 3,200 African troops in intervening in Liberia’s civil war and overthrowing the government of Charles Taylor.

Since 2003 the U.S. government has spent $750 million training the Liberian military. Bush pledged to continue to support the training as part of the “war on terror.”

Bush also pledged to work to lift Liberia’s debt burden and to provide one million text books and 10,000 desks for students by the start of the new school year.  
 
Stop in Ghana
Ghana is another country being considered as a location for AFRICOM. Gabby Otchere-Darko, an aide to the ruling party’s presidential candidate, said African leaders shouldn’t reject AFRICOM out of hand because it could bring benefits. But according to AP, Ghana’s president John Kufuor told Bush in private, “You’re not going to build any bases in Ghana.”

The West African nation was the first recipient of a Millennium Challenge grant, a Bush administration fund supposedly designed to fight poverty in Africa. Ghana received $547 million over five years to expand crop markets. Washington has built a brand new embassy—its largest in Africa—in Accra, Ghana’s capital.

New oil reserves were discovered off Ghana’s coast last year. The London-based Tullow Oil company estimates the reserves at between 170 million and 1.38 billon barrels. At the lower end, that would mean 45,000 barrels per day for 10 years. West Africa is expected to account for 25 percent of U.S. oil imports within the next decade.

In Tanzania, Bush signed a $698 million aid package. He also urged the U.S. Congress to double funds to fight AIDS and to support a new campaign against malaria.

The Nigerian and South African governments have led opposition to an AFRICOM base in Africa and were not on the tour schedule. However, the Nigerian military conducted joint air force and naval exercises with the U.S. military on February 23, according to the Lagos-based Nation newspaper.

Meanwhile, a U.S. military base in Djibouti currently run by the U.S. Central Command will be transferred to AFRICOM later this year. The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa base has 1,800 soldiers. Its area of responsibility includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Yemen. Comoros, Mauritius, and Madagascar are described as “areas of interest” on the task force’s web site.  
 
 
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