Committee on Foreign Affairs

Subcommittee on Africa & Global Health

Chairman Donald M. Payne

“Africa Command: Opportunity for Engagement or the Militarization of the U.S. Africa Relationship?”

August 2, 2007

Opening Statement

Good afternoon and welcome. Today the subcommittee will explore the administration’s plans to establish a unified combatant command for the continent of Africa. At issue is how the administration plans to make sure that the new command enhances our relationship with African countries rather that becoming a source of tension and mistrust.

Up until now, three separate Department of Defense combatant commands have been responsible for covering Africa. Given the increasing strategic and diplomatic importance of Africa to the United States, setting up a new command makes sense. Africa should not be the neglected step child in organizations with other geographic priorities.

However, the establishment of this is more than a simple bureaucratic reorganization. What little the administration has clearly communicated about Africa command is that it will be different than other commands because of the development challenges within African countries. The State Department and the Agency for International Development are to be an integral part of the command, according to State and Defense Department officials.

I agree with the assessment that the administration has made in terms of the need to ensure that the new command is structured to address problems many Africans face. They are confronted with issues related not only to conflict, but to resource scarcity, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS and collapsed states.

I believe that we have a moral obligation to assist the regions efforts to overcome these challenges. To the extent that establishing a command where our relationship with Africa is the priority rather than an afterthought can help do so, I support it. However, I do have some very serious concerns. One is about the administration’s goals in setting up the command. On the one hand we have been told that the Department of Defense is not planning on taking on new tasks in Africa, that this is merely an organizational exercise.

On the other hand we are told that the State Department and the USAID are being brought into the command so that they can inform the Department of Defense as it structures its programs. This implies that the programs, and perhaps even the tasks that DOD carries out will be significantly different in some respects.

My second concern is the way in which the initiative was announced and developed. I read about the administration’s plans to establish a new command in the newspaper. I have had more calls from the press than I have had from the Department of Defense.

There has been no consultation with this committee about the establishment or structure of the command. The few briefings that we have had-- which by the way are not consultations— have not been particularly informative. All of which makes me wonder how our African partners and allies were informed about the initiative, and whether there has been genuine consultation with them.

Africans themselves seem somewhat skeptical, and perhaps downright cynical about the intentions of the United States. There are some who think this effort is a reaction to the presence of the Chinese. There are others who believe that we are trying to extend the global war on terror. Still others are convinced that the United States is intent on protecting oil resources on the continent. I suspect that there is an element of truth to each of those rumors.

Finally, I am concerned about DOD’s increasing involvement in foreign aid and foreign assistance. Congress has granted the Department of Defense new authorities to implement security assistance programs in coordination with the State Department. However, as a February GAO report indicates, the degree of coordination has not been good at all. I am concerned that this could be the case with AFRICOM as well.

During the course of this hearing, I hope that administration officials will address those three issues, as well as questions regarding the principle mission of the new command, the structure of the command, where it might be located, and the level of resources such a command might need. I appreciate your coming and look forward to your testimony. With that I turn to the Ranking Member, Mr. Smith.