allAfrica.com * Still On Africom Leadership (Abuja) COLUMN 19 June 2008 Posted to the web 19 June 2008 By Abba Mahmood Abuja Recently, the minister of foreign affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, briefed reporters on the latest position of Nigeria with regards to the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). Among others, Maduekwe said that Nigeria had examined the US proposals on AFRICOM and found them suitable for the survival of the nation, arguing further that Nigeria should not "maintain a cold war posture by exhibiting old communist anti-West stance". And the response of President Yar'Adua on AFRICOM during the media chat he had to mark his first anniversary in office was neither here nor there. Earlier, during a workshop organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, last month, the senior special assistant to the president on aoreign affairs, ambassador Daniel Hart, told the workshop that "many of the pundits who have been engaged in the strident debate on AFRICOM have failed somehow to come to terms with the fact that AFRICOM is no longer a matter of hypothetical conjecture, but a reality?.. In other words, AFRICOM is already a fait accompli and what ought to be Nigeria or Africa's major preoccupation at this point is how to parley and make the best of this new initiative?.." "In this regard", according to Ambassador Hart, "Nigeria ought to consider herself as a strong ally of the US and give AFRICOM the required cooperation....It is pertinent to mention that the chosen country (or countries if there will be mini-bases) will enjoy the lucrative economic benefits traditionally enjoyed by those countries that host American bases around the world?..It is believed that the African country that comes out to host AFRICOM will be better off in the end". If President Yar'Adua is surrounded by a foreign minister who sees the AFRICOM issue not from the point of view of sovereignty but from the narrow perspective of a moribund ideology and a foreign affairs adviser who looks at the issue purely from short term economic gains of a few (pockets) without taking into consideration the long term security implications of exposing the country to sure terrorist attacks, then one does not have to wonder why Yar'Adua's position keeps oscillating between hypocritical neutrality and outright blind support for this dangerous enterprise. The questions to be asked are: Will America contemplate establishing a military command in Africa to help the Africans? Secondly, what military lessons can the US teach Africans in general and the Nigerian Armed Forces in particular? Checkout the American military records: they were chased out of Somalia by a rag-tag militia under Clinton. They had to send UN troops, including Nigeria's, to that country to take charge in the early 1990s. The US invasion of Afghanistan is still inclusive as the president they imposed, Karzai, is in charge of only Kabul, the capital about six years after. In Iraq, American troops are still battling the insurgents with many US casualties and billions of dollars in a lost cause. So, what will American soldiers teach our soldiers in this "long existing?..military relationship" that Maduekwe was referring to? In comparison, the Nigerian Armed Forces have been excelling in all their international peacekeeping engagements around the world for almost five decades now. The Nigerian Armed Forces helped to stabilise our sister ECOWAS country of Liberia and even flushed out soldiers and reversed a coup in neighbouring Sierra Leone. In fact, the Gen. Malu- led ECOMOG in these two countries is still considered the finest peacekeeping model in the whole world! Another issue to consider is that George Bush is now a lame duck president whose tenure is ending in a few months time. He has so far brought untold hardship to his fellow citizens and made the whole world insecure by his military misadventures. In any case, if the Americans have the capacity to secure our continent, why don't they secure their country first? After all, the September 11, 2001 attacks, on US institutions have clearly shown that America is really vulnerable. And if Bush cannot stop the attacks on America right inside New York, how can he assure us that he can secure our continent that is thousands of kilometers away? It is a clear case of the Hausa proverb: If you want to give me a shirt, let me first see the one you are wearing. If they cannot secure themselves against terrorist attacks how can they secure us? In fact their presence will even attract and invite terrorist attacks on Africa. Another issue is that the US is in decline economically. It is right now the largest debtor nation on earth. Investing in the US is now risky. Even oil transactions that were being done in dollars are now being diversified with many countries advocating for a basket of currencies due to the decline of dollar power. Real wages for the majority in the US have largely stagnated or declined and are now close to the lowest level among industrial societies. The number of people who go hungry because they cannot afford to buy food rose to over 38 million in 2004 (12 percent of households) an increase of 7 million in the first five years of the Bush administration. How can we mortgage our interest to a power that is on terminal illness due to injustices perpetrated by their leaders across the world? Nigeria is the greatest black nation on earth. The prestige and honour of our armed forces and, indeed, the sovereignty of our nation is at stake. If a nation cannot feed its population, it is not independent. Similarly, if a nation (or continent) cannot guarantee the security and territorial integrity of its area, then it is not sovereign. It is okay to receive any logistics support or training in modern warfare for our armed forces but it is certainly bad to mortgage our country and, indeed, continent to foreign powers, which will open a new super power rivalry as other blocs will now want to set up their own bases to counter the Americans. Africa should be spared this terrible, avoidable trouble. Our internal challenges are already too much. This is not a simplistic issue of ideology. It is our very survival that is at stake. May God deliver us. Amin --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quantcast