Agence France-Presse,
CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates discussed the status of US military operations in Africa Monday in Djibouti and promoted the Pentagon's new command for the continent.
Speaking at a press conference following his brief visit, Gates advocated “soft power” and said that an enhanced military role for Washington in Africa should focus on development.
The Pentagon's new unified command for the continent — Africom — has been met with scepticism by some African countries that see more trouble than benefit in increased US military presence.
In an apparent bid to assuage such fears, Gates stressed how Africom — which has yet to relocate to Africa from its temporary headquarters in Germany — should be a factor of development.
Visiting troops at Camp Lemonier in the small Horn of Africa country, Gates praised the military's development activities, such as training, humanitarian assistance and school-building.
“I think it's a good model for Africom, and also a mix of activities that I think we should be doing more as a way of preventing problems from developing,” he told reporters.
Gates met with US military commanders from the Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa, which is currently the only US military base in Africa and comprises some 1,800 troops.
Africom was launched on October 1 with the stated aim of assisting African countries on security issues and enhancing development. It will only be fully operational in 2008.
Yet the project to move a US military command to the continent remains controversial and the only two countries to have declared their willingness to host the command are Liberia and Djibouti.
Some observers have argued that the US move to unite the continent under one command — it was previously managed by three — was an attempt to counter the rising influence of China in Africa.
But a US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity denied the claim, saying: “Africom is not driven by the desire to compete with China.”
The aim is to provide a “counterbalance to strategic threats in the region with an innovative approach,” he added.
Djibouti — where France also has its largest foreign military base — lies in a strategic location between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The Horn of Africa has been of concern to the US military for some time, with some countries considered breeding grounds for Islamist militants.
The Pentagon believes the Al-Qaeda network has some operatives hiding in Somalia, where US-backed Ethiopia muscled in last year to remove an Islamist group that briefly took power and imposed strict Islamic law.
Gates, who met Djiboutian President Ismael Omar Guelleh during his hours-long visit, is also expected in Bahrain this week for a security conference on the Middle East.
