On October 1 U.S. Africa Command was launched as (in Pentagon lingo) a temporary sub-unified command under U.S. European Command.
Voices of concern were raised throughout Africa, typified by these excerpts from commentaries in the Nigerian press:
"The issue of Africa Command is...because of the oil interest on the Gulf of Guinea, going out to the coast of Liberia and so on. Americans are
finding an easy place where they can extract oil, and you know is a much shorter route than going around from the Middle East." [23]
"From the current data on production capacities and proven oil reserves, only two regions appear to exist where, in addition to the Middle East, oil production will grow and where a strategy of diversification may easily work: The Caspian Sea and the Gulf of Guinea.
"Some of the problems linked to Caspian oil give the Gulf of Guinea a competitive edge. Much of its oil is conveniently located off shore.
"[T]he region enjoys several advantages, including its strategic location just opposite the refineries of the US East Coast. It is ahead of all other regions in proven deep water oil reserves, which will lead to significant savings in security provisions. And it requires a drilling technology easily available from the Gulf of Mexico.
"Curiously, the newly formed NRF [NATO Response Force] carried out its first exercise codenamed STEADFAST JAGUAR in Cape Verde, here in West Africa, from 14-28 June 2006." [24]
"I am normally a fan of the United States of America....But over this matter of plans by the United States to establish what it calls the Africa Command or Africom in the Gulf of Guinea, it is time to call for deep caution and to agree with Nigerian officials that we should take the American initiative with a pinch of salt.
"The Gulf of Guinea has emerged as the second largest pool of commercial petroleum resources in the world, next only to the Persian Gulf and its territorial environs.
"In fact, it has recently surpassed the Persian Gulf as America's highest supplier of crude oil.
"Not satisfied with only a small piece of the new oil destination of the world, America stepped up its formation of Africom, making open moves to extend the kind of cohabitation it enjoys with Sao Tome and Principe to Nigeria." [25]
"The whole thing about this Africa Command by the US is all borne out of their interests in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea, which they have...been angling to take over. The Nigerian government should not fold its arms to allow the US government re-colonise it.
"[T]he US had concluded plans to establish a military base in Africa with the intent of protecting the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea and also to forestall the economic incursion of China into Africa, especially Nigeria.
"The US has completed all the groundwork and has moved into the offshore of Sao Tome and Principe, Angola and Guinea to secure positions for their
submarines and other security facilities." [26]
"The gulf's oil and gas deposits are put in the region of 10 billion barrels. Statistics show that as of 2004 Africa as a whole produced nearly 9 million barrels of oil a day, with approximately 4.7 million barrels a day coming from West Africa.
"Also, African oil production accounted for approximately 11 percent of the world's oil supply, while the continent supplied approximately 18 percent of US net oil imports. Both Nigeria and Angola were among the top 10 suppliers of oil to the US." [27]
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
3
2
2
