US Military Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2001-2003

Most African countries fall within the area of responsibility of the U.S. European Command (which also covers Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union). However, a number of countries in northeast Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, and Kenya) and the Seychelles are within the area of responsibility of the U.S. Central Command; the U.S. Pacific Command covers the Comoros, Madagascar, and the Indian Ocean. These commands (along with the various branches of the armed forces, i.e. the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, and U.S. Special Forces Command) are responsible for conducting active military operations in Africa, including training exercises, humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, evacuating civilians from unstable countries, and other operations.

Most arms sales are conducted through the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which comes under the authority of the Office of African Affairs at the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Certain military hardware (including rifles, shotguns, electronics, police equipment and crowd control chemicals, and explosives) is sold under a licensing program administered by the Office of Defense Trade Controls at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.

Program for arms sales to foreign governments conducted by the U.S. government through the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (dollars in thousands).

	2001	2002	2003
Botswana	1,050	650	844
Ethiopia	0	0	750
Ghana	676	200	0
Guinea	512	3,000	0
Mali	2,900	50	0
Nigeria	6,953	3,000	4,500
Senegal	1,880	200	200
South Africa	136	350	500
Zimbabwe	858	0	0
Africa Total	21,151	8,650	7,744

Note: All figures in thousands of US dollars. Data for 2001 are actual figures; 2002 and 2003 are estimates.

Grants and low-interest loans provided to foreign governments through the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency to finance arms purchases from the United States (dollars in thousands).

	2001	2002	2003
Botswana	1,000	1,000	1,000
Eritrea	0	250	500
Ethiopia	0	250	500
Ghana	500	400	500
Guinea	3,000	0	0
Kenya	1,000	0	1,500
Nigeria	10,000	6,000	6,000
Senegal	800	400	500
South Africa	1,000	6,700	6,000
Africa Total	18,200	15,000	18,500

Note: All figures in thousands of US dollars. Data for 2001 are actual figures; 2002 and 2003 are estimates.

Value of sales by U.S. companies to foreign governments that have been licensed or approved by the State Department Office of Defense Trade Control (dollars in thousands).

	2001	2002	2003
Angola	0	399	911
Botswana	429	1,208	2,349
Cameroon	0	75	375
Djibouti	0	44	219
Ethiopia	0	57	285
Gabon	280	473	586
Kenya	20	473	586
Nigeria	58	5,812	12,595
South Africa	740	5,856	19,234
Zambia	696	193	356
Africa Total	2,223	14,393	30,004

Note: All figures in thousands of US dollars. Data for 2001 are actual figures; 2002 and 2003 are estimates.

Program to provide training to African military officers from forty-four countries at facilities in the U.S. In FY 2002, IMET expected to provide training to more than 1,600 African officers (dollars in thousands).

Note: Figuers in thousands of US dollars. Data for 2001 are actual figures; 2002 and 2003 are estimates.

This is the program created by the Bush Administration in the spring of 2002 to take the place of the African Crisis Response Initiative (ACRI) to provide training in peacekeeping operations and regular military tactics in Africa to military units from selected countries. Since 1996, over 8,600 African troops from Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali, Ghana, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, and Kenya have received training through the ACRI program; the training is conducted in the host country by 60-man units of U.S. Special Forces soldiers. In FY 2001, ACRI received $15.6 million in funding; during FY 2002, ACRI will receive an estimated $15 million; and for FY 2003, the Pentagon has requested $10 million to fund the new ACOTA program. The same countries that participated in ACRI will be the focus of the new program. The most significant difference between the two programs is that ACOTA will include training for offensive military operations, including light infantry tactics and small unit tactics, to enhance the ability of African troops to conduct peacekeeping operations in hostile environments; under ACOTA, African troops will also be provided with offensive military weaponry, including rifles, machine guns, and mortars.

This is the program to equip, train, and support troops from selected African countries that are involved in peacekeeping operations. The main recipients in recent years have been Nigerian, Senegalese, and Ghanaian units serving in Sierre Leon and units of the Guinean army along the border with Liberia; funding has also gone to support African peacekeeping efforts in the DR Congo, Burundi, Sudan, and on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border. The training includes offensive military tactics and the transfer of weaponry to the forces involved. In the future, money from the ARP program will be used to supplement Defense Department funding of an annual U.S. European Command regional military exercise, to be known as "Shared Accord," to enhance the joint operating capabilities of the forces from different African countries that might participate in peacekeeping or disaster response operations. In FY 2001, the ARP program received $30.9 million in funding; during FY 2002, the ARP program will receive an estimated $41 million; and for FY 2003, the Pentagon has requested $30 million in funding for the ARP program.

The United States does not possess its own bases in Africa, but relies on the agreement of African governments to use local bases and other military facilities in times of need. The only country that had concluded a formal agreement with Washington for the use of local military facilities is Kenya, which signed an agreement in February 1980. The Kenyan agreement allows U.S. troops to use the port of Mombasa, as well as airfields at Embakasi and Nanyuki. These facilities were used to support the American military intervention in Somalia in 1992-1994 and have been used in the past year to support forces from the United States and other coalition forces involved in counter-terrorism operations.

After 11 September 2001, the Pentagon received permission from Djibouti to establish the headquarters for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (its regional counter-terrorism command center) in that country. Along with the headquarters element, 800 U.S. Special Forces troops have set up base at Camp Lemonier outside of the city Djibouti and the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Mount Whitney, with 600 Marine on board, is stationed off shore. In December 2002, 2,400 Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based on ships off shore, conducted military exercises in Djibouti in preparation for the impending war with Iraq. In addition, the C.I.A. operatives are also working out of Djibouti, from where they directed the flight of the Predator drone aircraft that was used to fire the missiles that killed an alleged al-Qaeda leader and four others in Yemen in November 2001.

The United States has not yet asked other African countries to use their military facilities. It is likely that other facilities, such as the recently expanded air base in Botswana, would be available for the use of U.S. troops if the United States wanted to use them in the future. But this would be up to the host country on a case-by-case basis. The West African country of São Tomé e Príncipe has attracted attention recently by offering to host an American naval base, but the Pentagon is unlikely to take them up on their offer because the facilities are inadequate and are not needed by U.S. forces.

The United States provides training to African military forces through a variety of programs. Along with the training provided in Africa through the ACOTA and ARP programs, U.S. troops conduct joint training exercises in Africa and the Pentagon brings African military officers to the United States for training at U.S. military installations through the IMET program. In April and May 2002, for example, two U.S. Navy hospital ships, the U.S.S. Dallas and the U.S.S. Minneapolis, conducted the regular West African Training Cruise and Medical Outreach Program mission, spending two-weeks stationed off Togo and Ghana. In May 2002, 1,000 American troops participated in a month-long joint amphibious assault exercise on the Kenyan coast with Kenyan, Tanzanian, and Ugandan troops. In August 2002, U.S. military medical personnel and Special Forces troops held a two-week medical training exercise, known as MEDFLAG 02, in Entebbe and Sorotti, Uganda. And in September 2001, 200 U.S. U.S. Air Force personnel went to the Waterkloof Air Force Base in South Africa to participate in the first bilateral training exercise with South African forces.

Established in October 1999, the ACSS is a branch of the Pentagon's National Defense University. The ACSS is intended to be an academic-style institution to provide training in civil-military relations, national security strategy, defense economics and other topical security issues for high-level African military and civilian leaders. Seminars have been held in Washington, DC, and in a number of African countries on a variety of topics, including regional security cooperation, health problems in the military, and disaster response; in May 2003, ACSS will hold a seminar in Mali on sub-regional counter-terrorism.

Prepared by Daniel Volman, Director of the African Security Research Project in Washington, DC. Information from the U.S. State Department, Congressional Budget Justification for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2003, and from various U.S. Defense Department web sites and newspaper articles.

Association of Concerned Africa Scholars

U.S. Military Programs in sub-Saharan Africa, 2001-2003