Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 14. Mars 2005 / Time Line March 14, 2005
Version 3.503/14/2005
100-året for offentliggørelsen af Albert Einsteins
relativitetsteori.
03/14/2005
Militarization
of U.S. Africa Policy: 2000 to 2005 : A Fact Sheet
Prepared by William D. Hartung and Frida
Berrigan.
Arms Trade Resource Center, World Policy Institute
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/AfricaMarch2005.html
INTRODUCTION: Guns, Oil and Terror
In the wake of September 11th, and in keeping with its interest in
securing access to oil and other key natural resources, the Bush
administration has been rapidly expanding U.S. military involvement
in Africa.
While most recent increases in U.S. arms sales, aid, and military
training in Africa have been justified as part of what the
administration refers to as the "Global War on Terrorism" (GWOT),
oil has been a major factor in the administration's strategic
calculations from the outset. In his first few months in office,
President Bush's first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, stressed
the need to improve relations with oil producing nations like
Nigeria and Angola.
Similarly, the report of Vice-President Cheney's Energy Task Force
stressed the importance of gaining and maintaining access to
African oil resources, which U.S. intelligence assessments expect
to increase to as much as 25% of U.S. oil imports by the year 2020
(see Salih Booker and Ann-Louise Cogan, "Africa Policy Outlook
2004," at
www.africaaction.org/resources/outlook/2004policyoutlook.php).
A look at last year's Congressional Budget Justification for FY05
Foreign Operations (State Department, Feb. 2004) underscores the
strong pull of oil interests in Bush administration decision
making. The entry on Equatorial Guinea notes that "Over the course
of the past five years, U.S. companies have invested approximately
$5 billion" in the country's oil sector. The entry for Sao Tome and
Principe is more forward-looking, noting that "In the coming
decade, U.S. companies are expected to participate in the
development of petroleum resources in Sao Tome's territorial
waters." Nigeria is cited for its "large oil and gas reserves,"
while the entry on Angola stresses the need to "help ensure U.S.
private-sector oil access to a source of seven percent of U.S.
petroleum imports, a figure likely to rise in the coming
years."
Beyond oil, U.S. military officials have cited "a growing terrorist
threat" in northern and sub-Saharan Africa to justify a program of
stepped up military engagement in the region. General James Jones,
head of the U.S. European command, has suggested the need to create
a "family of bases" across Africa that would range from forward
operating locations that would include an airfield and facilities
to house 3,000 to 5,000 U.S. military personnel to "bare-bones"
bases that U.S. Special Forces or Marines could "land at and build
up as the mission required." (See Eric Schmitt, "Threats and
Response; Expanding U.S. Presence: Pentagon Seeks New Access Pacts
for African Bases," New York Times, July 5, 2003).
These new facilities would not be considered "formal" bases like
the growing U.S. base in the Horn of Africa in Djibouti, which has
a regular deployment of 1,800 to 2,000 troops stationed there.
While new basing arrangements are being worked out, a major
increase in U.S. military exercises and training missions
throughout Africa will be used to sustain a regular U.S.
presence.
MILITARY AID, TRAINING, AND SALES ON THE RISE
While the millions of dollars being spent on U.S. military aid and
sales to Africa pale in comparison to the billions being expended
in the Middle East and South Asia, all of the major U.S. bilateral
aid and sales programs have increased sharply in recent years.
Funding to sub-Saharan Africa under the largest U.S. military aid
program, Foreign Military Financing, doubled from $12 million in
fiscal year 2000 to a proposed $24 million in the FY 2006 budget
proposal, and the number of recipient nations has grown from one to
nine. The Pentagon's International Military Education and Training
(IMET) program has increased by 35% from 2000 to the 2006 proposal,
from $8.1 million to $11 million, and from 36 participating nations
to 47. Foreign Military Sales, the largest U.S. arms transfer
program, more than quadrupled from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year
2003 (the most recent year for which full statistics are
available), from $9.8 million to $40.3 million. And Commercial
Sales (CS) of arms licensed by the State Department grew from .9
million to $3.8 million over the 2000 to 2003 period.
These bilateral programs are just the tip of the iceberg in terms
of overall U.S. military aid commitments going forward. The U.S.
European Command has requested $125 million over five years for the
Pan-Sahel Initiative, for training and exercises with Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger and other nations in the region. U.S. engagement
under the program has gone far beyond traditional training to
include involvement in combat operations ...
03/14/2005
UN questions Fiji over recruitment of security guards for
Iraq
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1322488.htm] The United
Nations special rapporteur on mercenaries has expressed alarm at
Fiji's failure to explain the status of Fiji nationals being
recruited for armed security jobs in Iraq.
Dr Shaista Shameem, who received the UN appointment last year, says
she has been facing difficulties getting answers from the Fiji
government.
Dr Shameem, who is also the director of the Fiji Human Rights
Commission, says there is great concern that Fijians may be used as
mercenaries in armed conflict which may violate international
law.
Three Fiji registered companies employ Fiji nationals as armed
security guards in Iraq.
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