August 2, 2002
A delegation of military officials from the United States, France and Britain met with representatives from the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during a two-day fact-finding mission to West Africa this week. The delegation follows a visit by the U.S. European Command's deputy commander, who traveled to centrally located Sao Tome to sound out the possibilities for the establishment of a naval base there.
The trips are part of a larger push by Washington -- in cooperation with London and Paris -- to expand military cooperation with West African states. The region is emerging as a world-class oil producer, and as such will become a strategic concern for the energy-hungry United States and Europe.
Though only in its initial stages, a strategic military relationship between West Africa and the United States could have a resounding impact on U.S. foreign policy for the sub-continent, West Africa's position in the region and security in the West African oil fields.
The discovery of deepwater oil reserves is driving a boom in exploration and production in West Africa. Estimates place potential reserves in the Gulf of Guinea at between 20 billion and 30 billion barrels. Although this pales in comparison to Saudi Arabia's proven oil reserves of 264.2 billion barrels, it still represents the largest single bloc of crude deposits in sub-Saharan Africa and is well situated in the South Atlantic to supply oil to the United States and Europe.
Plans are already underway for greater military assistance from the United States, Britain and France to strengthen the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) -- a regional peacekeeping force. The ECOMOG received a $5.3 million worth of satellite equipment from the United States and Europe to build a communications system, South African news agency News24 reported July 29.
European Command Deputy Commander Gen. Carlton Fulford pledged during a visit in late July to provide U.S. assistance for training the ECOMOG peacekeeping troops, Agence France-Presse reported. Perhaps the most telling indication of a growing interest in Washington for an expanding military presence in the region was Fulford's visit last week to the centrally located archipelago of Sao Tome-Principe.
Various groups -- including oil interests -- in Washington have lobbied for greater U.S. military involvement in West Africa. According to the London-based Financial Times, an Israeli lobby group, the Institute for Advance Strategic and Political Studies, has called for the creation of a U.S. Gulf of Guinea Command, with Sao Tome serving as the naval base.
Britain, France and the United States already are involved in the region militarily. France has military advisers in Cameroon preparing troops for deployment to the disputed Bakassi peninsula. The U.S.-based MPRI, a defense firm run primarily by former U.S. military officials, provides training to Nigerian forces and assistance in the development of a national defense action plan. Britain currently has troops deployed into war-torn Sierra Leone and is working closely with the U.S. European Command.
But the region's growing importance and the hints of closer military ties suggest that the degree of engagement will ratchet up tremendously over the next few years. For the short term this is likely to peak the interest only of potential investors, but it also could potentially put the region on the radar screen of would-be terrorists and other militants interested in striking at U.S. and European strategic economic interests.
In the mid- to long-term, however, a greater European and U.S. military presence would mean more security in the West African oil industry. For instance, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea would be reduced, as all boats and ships moving in and out of the area would be monitored by radar should a U.S. naval base be established on Sao Tome.
This, in turn, could fuel economic growth and development. Already there is a push by foreign investors to develop the region's infrastructure and transportation networks. A strengthened economy would bolster West Africa's economic and political clout in Africa as a whole, restructuring the continent's entire geopolitical landscape and raising West Africa as a continent-wide power broker.
What exactly will occur with the expansion of military relations between West Africa and Washington and Europe is still unclear. A number of regional political and security concerns --- like the dispute over the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula between Nigeria and Cameroon, and Nigeria's likely distrust of a U.S. naval base right off its coast -- will require time and effort to be worked out. Moreover, neither the U.S. military nor Washington seems convinced that a U.S. military base in the Gulf of Guinea is necessary or even desirable. They are, however, clearly considering it.
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