Many US defence dollars would be better spent on food, health and other resources to develop continent, writes Michael Shank.
Africa is the new frontier for the US Defence Department. The Pentagon has applied counter-terrorism tactics throughout the Middle East and, to a lesser extent, Central and South Asia. Now it is monitoring the African continent for counter-terrorism initiatives.
It staged more than 546 military exercises on the continent last year, a 217 percent increase since 2008, and is now involved in nearly 50 African countries.
US military and police aid to all Africa this year totalled $1.8 billion (R19.4bn), with additional arms sales surpassing $800m.
In terms of ensuring Africa’s safety and security, however, the return on this investment is questionable.
What if, for example, that money was instead spent eradicating pervasive viruses that are undermining Africa’s future?
Yellow fever vaccination doses cost less than $1 and Hepatitis B vaccination doses cost 25c or less.
These viruses, and their deadly bedfellows like Ebola, are the real threats terrorising African communities – and more deserving of US defence dollars.
The Pentagon’s serious ramp-up in funds and focus is an apparent response to the rise of groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Shabaab in Somalia and the insurgencies throughout Mali, Libya and Uganda.
Yet the heavy US military footprint is doing little to address the pressing socio-economic needs of impoverished people in the Horn of Africa or politically and economically marginalised communities in West Africa.
The violence in these countries – from Nigeria in the west to Somalia in the east – is getting worse, despite increasing US drone strikes, air strikes, military advisers, joint special operations and other counter-terrorism tactics.
Relying on hard power in Africa does not address the root causes behind the many extremist groups.
Consider Somalia. US military and police aid to this war-torn country totals more than $72m this year, which includes weapons acquisitions, military training and tactical support on the ground.
Yet, in Mogadishu, where I visited last year, al-Shabaab reportedly recruits unemployed youth with little more than $20 and a cellphone.
In a country where one in five Somali children dies before the age of 5, we can and must do better – especially given the entirely preventable famine that killed 250 000 Somalis in 2010-2012.
If we care about curtailing recruitment by extremists in the Horn of Africa, we need to offer better alternatives with sustainable livelihoods.
Cameroon is another example.
When I was a US congressional staffer in 2011, we helped the Cameroon government launch an anti-malaria campaign.
We delivered insecticide-treated mosquito nets that cost roughly $10 a bed.
US military and police aid to Cameroon came to nearly $1.5m, along with at least $7m in arms sales. Combined, the total $8.5m could have bought 850 000 bed nets.
The African continent will need to work with the international community to counter security threats facing each country, whether related to food, water or resources, or problems with non-state actors.
The question is how.
More big-business engagement by multinationals like Coca-Cola (which pledged to invest $5bn in Africa over six years) and Marriott Hotels, as President Barack Obama promised on Tuesday in Washington at the US-Africa Leaders Summit, won’t directly or immediately help the impoverished and unemployed on the streets of Mogadishu or the marginalised in northern Nigeria.
Africa-centric agendas, however, require longer game plans, with development strategies that are locally owned, locally administered and sustainably funded.
The quick fix of a drone strike will likely only increase the continent’s instability.
The same applies to the quick fix of top-down corporate funding or aid relief.
The real terror on the continent remains the elusiveness of a sustainable, grassroots development agenda that is genuinely inclusive.
That should be Washington’s focus. It’s time to stop looking at Africa through the barrel of a gun.
* Michael Shank is associate director for legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington DC. He has served as an adviser on diplomatic, economic, energy and environmental security and policy initiatives in Africa, among other areas.
Reuters