Egypt in Transition, insights and options for U.S. policy

There was universal agreement that the United States could do far more harm than good in Egypt’s electoral season. The experts maintained that the most important elements of U.S. policy are to keep attention on the process rather than the outcomes, and to understand that the elections will be highly iterative, with true outcomes unknown for years. One suggested that, having bet on democratic development in Egypt, the United States has to engage in a multi-year, multilateral effort to make it come to fruition. Whatever the outcome, the group agreed that Egyptian politics are likely to be far more complicated in the future than they have been, and all argued that the U.S. embassy will need to reach out far more extensively and creatively to a range of political actors in Egypt than it has done in the past.

Jon B. Alterman, CSIS

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AFRICOM: Um olhar mais abrangente sobre África

Africom is the most recent U.S. combatant command that includes Africa in its area of responsability. This article, written in portuguese, summarizes the its mission and action, as well as the reactions to its criation.

Pedro Barge Cunha, Jornal Defesa e Relações Internacionais

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Somalia: Current Conditions and Prospects for a Lasting Peace

In October 2002, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) launched a peace process designed to end factional fighting in Somalia, led by the government of Kenya. In September 2003, the parties agreed on a Transitional National Charter (TNC). In August 2004, a 275-member Transitional Parliament was inaugurated in Kenya. In October 2004, parliament elected Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as the new president of Somalia. In June 2006, the forces of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took control of the capital, Mogadishu. During the six-month rule by the ICU, Mogadishu became relatively peaceful, but efforts to bring peace did not lead to a major breakthrough. On December 28, 2006, Ethiopian troops captured Mogadishu with little resistance from the ICU. The Ethiopian intervention led to more chaos and instability in Somalia. In January 2007, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) came to the capital, Mogadishu, from Baidoa after the ouster of the ICU.

Ted Dagne, Congressional Research Service

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Africa: US Foreign Assistance Issues

The United States provides assistance to 47 African countries, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has 23 missions in Africa. In recent years, U.S. assistance to Africa saw a major increase, especially in health-related programs. Aid to Africa quadrupled from $1.1 billion in FY2006 to nearly $8.2 billion in FY2009. In FY2010, Africa is expected to receive an estimated $7.05 billion. The Obama Administration has requested an estimated $7.6 billion for FY2011. In FY2009, the United States provided more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to Africa. Africa is also a major recipient of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) funding, with 15 African countries currently participating in the program.

Ted Dagne, Congressional Research Service

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Libya: Unrest and U.S. Policy

Over forty years ago, Muammar al Qadhafi led a revolt against the Libyan monarchy in the name of nationalism, self-determination, and popular sovereignty. Opposition groups citing the same principles are now revolting against Qadhafi to bring an end to the authoritarian political system he has controlled in Libya for the last four decades. The Libyan uprising is occurring in the context of popular protest movements and political change in other countries in North Africa and the Middle East. In mid-February 2011, confrontations between opposition activists and government security forces in the eastern cities of Benghazi and Bayda resulted in the death of some unarmed protestors. Security forces used military force in confrontations at subsequent funeral gatherings and protests in incidents that reportedly killed or wounded dozens, if not hundreds, of civilians. Opposition groups seized several police and military facilities and took control of some eastern and western cities. Qadhafi and his supporters have described the uprising as a foreign and Islamist conspiracy and are attempting to outlast their opponents.

Christopher M. Blanchard, Congressional Research Service

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The Green Book

Muammar Kadhafi is dead and we must reflect about his controversial political perspective. In The Green Book the ditactor wrote is model of state. As an example, he considered the nation as «the individual's national political "umbrella"; it is wider than the social "umbrella" provided by the tribe to its members. Tribalism damages nationalism because tribal allegiance weakens national loyalty and flourishes at its expense. In the same way, loyalty to the family flourishes at the expense of tribal loyalty and weakens it. National loyalty is essential to the nation but, at the same time, it is a threat to humanity.»

Muammar Kadhafi

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Refining American Strategy in Africa

This is an old study from 2000, but it is very useful if you want to compare the previous and after 9/11 era. In this study, Dr. Steven Metz provides a broad overview of the African security environment as a basis for recommendations on the refinement of American strategy in that region. He assesses both the opportunities for positive change which exist today, and the obstacles. While only Africans themselves can determine the future of their region, an American strategy which discourages proxy aggression, encourages private initiatives in the economic and political spheres, and uses the U.S. military, particularly the Army, to engage its African counterparts could pay great dividends.

Steven Metz, SSI

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Tunisia Leads the Way Again

The electoral process success of the moderate Islamic Ennahda will do no harm to the chances of successful democratisation in Tunisia. Quite the contrary in fact: the new situation is favourable, because Ennahda will take on the responsability of government without being able to rule alone.

    Isabelle Werenfels, SWP

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AFRICOM: Rationales, Roles and Progress on the Eve of Operations

J. Stephen Morrison's speech in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.

  J. Stephen Morrison, CSIS

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The Impact of the Chinese Presence in Africa

China’s recent push into Africa is driven by a desperate need to find oil and industrial raw materials to feed its resource-guzzling, and the world’s fastest growing, economy. China’s economy has grown by an average of 9 per cent per annum in the last 25 years and its energy consumption has doubled and outstripped domestic energy production. Within the decade from 1990 and 2000, China’s combined share of the world’s consumption of aluminium, copper, nickel and iron ore more than increased from 7 per cent to 15 per cent and has been rapidly growing. Rapid industrialisation has also led to industrial overproduction and Chinese firms are equally in need to cultivate new export markets for their manufactured goods.

Africa Practice

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The Pirates of Puntland: Practical, Legal and Policy Issues in the Fight Against Somali Piracy

Long the object of romanticized renderings in literature and popular imagination, piracy on the high seas seems like a barbaric chapter of history from another century that must surely have been overtaken by the modern age. While the existence of pirates in today’s world may come as a surprise to some, those familiar with the maritime industry know that piracy is alive and well in our time – in the Strait of Malacca in recent decades before Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden shot to first place in 2008. Readers of John McPhee will also remember his recounting of pirate stories by the crew of the Stella Lykes during a voyage along the west coast of South America in his 1990 book Looking for a Ship.

K&L|GATES

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AFRICOM: The Road Ahead for United States Africa Command

The formation of AFRICOM is linked to a number of new and evolving geostrategic and security considerations that the U.S. is facing in Africa, most notably humanitarian and development interests, energy security, terrorism, failed and failing states, and may be, if we’re allowed to say it, rising Chinese intentions and interests on that continent.

Robert Moeller, Brookings Institution

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Horn of Africa: Current Conditions and U.S. Policy

This document contains the speeches of the Hearing before the subcommittee on Africa and Global Health of the committee on Foreign Affairs in the House of Representatives.

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Should Zimbabwe Join the Southern African Customs Union?

This paper addresses an important issue that has the potential to impact significantly on the economic and political stability of Zimbabwe and southern Africa: should Zimbabwe join the Southern African Customs Union (SACU)? The Zimbabwe–SACU relationship is complex, dynamic and multi-layered, making a simple yes or no answer to this question inappropriate. However, aligning Zimbabwe with the most effectively functioning customs union in Africa offers great opportunities to promote cooperation, coordination and integration between South Africa, undoubtedly Africa’s most powerful economy, and Zimbabwe. This paper, after examining the SACU–Zimbabwe relationship in terms of good governance, revenue-sharing, trade and common policies, concludes that now is not the time for Zimbabwe to join SACU. However, in the longer-term, promoting Zimbabwe’s integration with SACU, its major trading partner, has the potential to increase trade, investment and development in Zimbabwe. It could also lock-in domestic policy reform and, if accepted into SACU, add considerable legitimacy to the Zimbabwe policy environment.

Richard Gibb, The Brenthurst Foundation

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2010 Posture Statement: United States Africa Command

Every year, the commanders of the US Africa Command publish their posture towards Africa. This book contains the William Ward's perspectives, related to AFRICOM's mission and action.

William Ward, AFRICOM

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