Nigeria: U.S. Forecloses Setting Up AFRICOM Headquarters in Africa
AllAfrica.com
By Senator Iroegbu
7 September 2012
The United States has stated that it will no longer establish the headquarters of African Command (AFRICOM) in any part of the African continent henceforth due to its heavy financial demand.
The Commander, USAFRICOM, Gen. Carter Ham, disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists at the just-concluded Military and Media Symposium organised by the Public Affairs Department of the USAFRICOM in Garmisch near Munich, Germany.
Ham explained that after due considerations, a decision was arrived at to situate AFRICOM Headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany where US already had established large military base.
He also explained that Germany was considered because it was the headquarters of European Command (EUROCOM), which in its old formation supervises US military activities in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The USAFRICOM commander added that several African countries secretly approached the US government to express their willingness to offer AFRICOM a base should they wish to establish their headquarters in the continent while there were other countries as well, which resisted any attempt to bring the US military base to Africa.
The AFRICOM Commander however noted that the decision not to base the headquarters in Africa was taken based more on financial and logistic considerations than inability to secure approval by African countries.
He said: “You guessed right to say that when African command was formed there was a lot of discussion on where the headquarters, and specifically whether it should be located in the African continent. …
