US’s military Bases in Africa Sparks China Rivalry and Protests – OpEd

Africa (Commonwealth) _ Probably the only nation in the world, the US has more than 750 military installations spread throughout more than 80 countries, mostly in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, in addition to a few still-existing colonies and self-governing territories.

However, Camp Lemonnier, which has over 5,000 soldiers living there, is the only fully operational US military installation in Africa. It is situated in Djibouti, which is a part of the Horn of Africa, which is made up of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti (with a broader definition that includes parts, or all of, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda).

Wikipedia describes Camp Lemonnier as a US Naval Expeditionary Base that is home to the Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) of the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM). It is located in Djibouti City, near to the Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport. In Africa, it is the sole permanent US military installation.

According to a Wall Street Journal article from January 3, the United States is also in talks to allow its unarmed reconnaissance drones to operate off of airfields in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Benin.

The Journal stated that the three coastal states, along with Togo, are now under attack from Islamist terrorists traveling south from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—three troubled countries in the Sahel, the semidesert region south of the Sahara. These countries were formerly relatively peaceful and rich.

The US is also pushing authorities in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea to turn down Beijing’s advances for a military base on their Atlantic coasts as part of an intensifying new conflict with China.

In response to the latest events, the U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) and the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) have declared their opposition to the U.S. plans, acting in concert with the comprador class in West Africa, to “further violate Africa’s sovereignty and right to self-determination in the form of three new military drone bases in Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Benin.” They have put their opposition in strong words.

Moreover, we denounce the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for their failure to officially reject this idea in particular, as well as the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in general.
 
Their lack of comment on this event demonstrates their collaboration with and betrayal of Pan-Africanism and the interests of the masses of Africans battling neo-colonialism’s horrors. The two groups contend that an increase in American drone bases in Africa will inevitably lead to increased drone executions, brutal anonymity, and “collateral damage.”

It means that imperialism will have better monitoring tools at its disposal to combat any challenge to the neocolonial regime. The United States’ ongoing efforts to militarize the world and conduct war everywhere are congruent with its actions to increase the scope of its already vast military drone program.

Studies have shown that circumstances in Libya and Somalia, the two nations where U.S. drone and air attacks have occurred most frequently in Africa, “have inadvertently aided the growth of terrorist groups in the region.” There have been as many as 3,200 documented civilian drone killings in these two countries. The United States now suggests this for West Africa.

In addition to Aruba, Bahrain, Cuba, Estonia, Greece, Honduras, Ireland, Jordan, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Spain, Tunisia, UK, US Virgin Islands, and Wake Island, published reports state that the US has 119 base sites in Germany, 119 in Japan, 73 in South Korea, and 44 in Italy.

Over 87% of all US troops on active service abroad are stationed in ten nations: The following soldier counts are unclassified: Japan 53,246; Germany 35,188; South Korea 24,159; Italy 12,405; United Kingdom 9,949; Bahrain 3,474; Spain 3,212; Australia 2,243; Turkey 1,778; Belgium 1,105; All other 9,235.

The nations that the BAP and USOAN have selected for these American drone bases have obvious and unsettling geostrategic ramifications. The three nations that make up the Alliance of Sahel States—Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—have been embracing an anti-imperialist stance, and the proposed bases will run along their border.

In actuality, these American drone stations would encircle Burkina Faso’s whole southern flank.

In policy statements and legislation, members of the US Congress and the last two US administrations have made it abundantly evident that the US’s main goal in Africa is to counter China’s and Russia’s influence and presence in order to preserve its full spectrum dominance over all regions of the world.

This is also in line with the Global Fragility Act, which specifies that Haiti, Libya, and “West African coastal states,” where the United States wants to locate drone bases, will be the Biden administration’s primary areas of attention. The bases, according to the BAP and USOAN, are there to help the United States frighten the area rather than to put a stop to the so-called terrorism of extremists in Africa.

The U.S.-EU-NATO axis of domination would undoubtedly raise an eyebrow at Niger’s recent decision to temporarily halt the granting of new mining licenses and order an audit of the industry, as they are concerned about the future of exploitative access to the region’s mineral resources, including uranium. Resource sovereignty contradicts U.S. foreign policy’s actual imperialist goals.