Bush orders combat command for Africa
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism...6-043029-9323r
2/7/2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The United States is to establish a new, separate military combat command for Africa, President Bush announced Tuesday.
The Defense Unified Combat Command for Africa, he said, "will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa," he said in a written statement.
"Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy, and economic growth in Africa."
Bush said he had directed Defense Secretary Robert Gates to have the command up and running by the end of fiscal year 2008.
"We will be consulting with African leaders to seek their thoughts on how Africa Command can respond to security challenges and opportunities in Africa," he said. "We will also work closely with our African partners to determine an appropriate location for the new command in Africa."
U.S. military operations in Africa are currently the responsibility of three separate commands: Central Command, which is responsible for Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya; European Command, which is responsible for most of continental Africa except for the Horn; and Pacific Command, which is responsible for Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Indian Ocean area off the African coast.
Central Command is also responsible for military operations in the Gulf, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Creation of the new command with specific responsibility for Africa and based in the region underlines the new importance the United States places on the continent in the war on terror.
Unified combat commands were created by the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act that helped reform the U.S. military command structure.
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