AFRICOM Denies Cap Draa Base

Vince Crawley, a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command in a declaration to MoroccoBoard denied press reports on base location in Morocco. “Media reports indicating that United States Africa Command’s main base will be established in Morocco are incorrect. As of now, U.S. Africa Command has not asked any government other than the government of Germany to host its headquarters, nor do we have any current plans to base U.S. Africa Command on the African continent.  We are not constructing a military base in Morocco, nor have we discussed basing U.S. Africa Command in Morocco with the Moroccan Government,” he stated.

The rebuttal pertains to the establishment of a full-fledged AFRICOM headquarters. In my previous analysis, I clearly stated that AFRICOM headquarters will remain in Stuttgart, Germany. Opening numerous bases in African countries, to include Morocco, for AFRICOM is an operational necessity. Much like CENTCOM’s operational fluidity in Iraq and Afghanistan depends on its strategically located operational platforms (military bases) in its area of operation (AO), AFRICOM’s success depends on how rapid and sustained its access to Africa is. Understandably, AFRICOM’s denial stems from its concern that an open multi-level cooperation with some African countries might create regional friction.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2008

 

AFRICOM Base In Tan Tan Confirmed

 

(U.S. Marine Corps Photo by Sergeant Justin Park)

AFRICOM has officially assumed all the duties and responsibilities of a full-fledged geographic unified command by taking over from EUCOM and CENTCOM all DoD operations pertaining to 53 African nations except for Egypt which will remain a CENTCOM area of operation. Negotiations, which were kept secret to mitigate regional political sensitivities, namely of Algeria and Libya, between the Moroccan government and AFRICOM  Commanding General, General William E. Ward, to secure a location in Cap Draa in the Tan Tan region have been ongoing.  Cap Draa as a host to AFRICOM has finally been confirmed by reliable US sources. This confirmation was reported this week by a number of international and national media outlets. The base in Cap Draa will be operational in 2011. On 23 February 2008, I stated in one of my earliest articles on AFRICOM:  

The project to establish AFRICOM headquarters in Morocco, namely in the outskirts of Tan Tan, was not cancelled; it became surreptitious. Morocco is still willing to host AFRICOM and the U.S. is serious in its consideration of Morocco, if not as a full-fledged home to the African command, as a regional command to a portion of the African area of operation (AO).

Seabees and Red Horse squadron personnel, highly mobile civil engineering response forces supporting, respectively, the US Navy and Marine Corps and the US Air Force contingency and special operations worldwide, have been deploying to the Tan Tan area to build the infrastructure for the base AFRICOM will be using.

I remain skeptical that AFRICOM will use the base as a headquarters. AFRICOM headquarters will remain in Stuttgart, Germany as I’ve stated in a previous article. Cap Draa will most likely house a minimally manned forward Command and Control (C2) element as well as a logistical base for the pre-positioning of War Reserve Materiel (WRM), i.e. bare base systems, medical, munitions, fuels mobility support equipment, vehicles, rations, aerospace ground equipment, air base operability equipment and associated spares and other consumables. The base will coordinate with and provide support to Marine Air/Ground Task Force (MAGTF) elements, US Navy combat ships, US Army Special Operations units, US Air Force Logistical fleet, and National Guard forces. Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU), US Air Force fighter jets, and Army Operational Detachment Alphas will, thus, be able to use the Moroccan Sahara as year-round training grounds. Their programs will include a training package for the Moroccan military, one of which is the African Lion reiteration.

Morocco’s strategic decision to sponsor a US base in Tan Tan will move any future talks on the disputed Sahara into a more intensive and substantive phase. Algeria and its proxy army, polisario, have clearly lost the initiative. Morocco stands to benefit from the US presence on its territory in a number of other ways. In the article I mentioned earlier, I stated the following:  

The benefits to be accrued by the Moroccan government outweigh the risks. Militarily, Morocco will have added access to U.S. military provision programs allowing it to upgrade its military hardware. Under the auspices of the Foreign Military Training Programs, its military personnel will benefit from the advanced training courses U.S. military schools and academies offer; the U.S. DoD will also provide funding to refurbish Moroccan military bases, ports, and airfields. The Moroccan coast guard will gain the assistance of the U.S. navy in its interdiction operations in the Strait of Gibraltar and along its Atlantic shores. The government’s offensive against Islamic extremist cells will also stand to benefit from U.S. intelligence capabilities and U.S. funds set specifically for anti-terrorism operations in Africa. Other agencies, such as U.S.AID, governed by the U.S. Department of State will be involved, providing a much needed boost to social and economic reforms. Overall, the establishment of AFRICOM in Morocco will stabilize the region and foster an environment friendly to foreign investment and conducive to economic growth.

Other US bases are been established throughout the continent. The strategic intent of the Pentagon’s military planners is for AFRICOM to increase its footprint in the continent and to lay the ground for a rapid and long-term access to troubled areas and specifically oil producing regions.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2008

A Country Of Flies And Demigods

My nine years old niece, who is attending the CM2 (equivalent to 4th grade in the US), approached me and asked if I could help her understand a few concepts from her social studies book. She was eager to know what human/civil rights are, and as citizens, what our obligations are. I took her book and put it aside. I grabbed a magazine from the stack of publications I pile up by my desk once a week. The magazine was “nishan.” It had a picture of Yacoubi, moments after he shot and wounded Tariq Mouhib, sitting in the passenger side of his Infiniti SUV being driven to safety by a plain-clothed police officer. I showed her a picture of the victim and explained that all citizens have a right to respect. The right to respect is key in a democratic society; its absence would lead to chaos. If Hassan Yacoubi had respected Tariq Mouhib, he wouldn’t have insulted then shot and kicked him.

“So ”respect” is both a right and an obligation!” She commented to show me that she understood.

“Right! But there is more to it. Tariq Mouhib has a right to be protected and defended by the government which has an obligation to put his assailant behind bars. These are standard operating principles in any democratic country.”      

When Hassan Yacoubi, who happens to be the husband of Lalla Aicha, the aunt of king Mohammed VI, was whisked off from the public eye by the police on September 9, and sent later on to an undisclosed European country to unwind, the absence of  a strategic intent by the Moroccan government to democratize its institutions was confirmed. By its shameless reluctance to present Hassan Yacoubi to justice to answer for his unprovoked assault on Tariq Mouhib, the Moroccan government, a characteristically nepotist regime, espouses the belief that most Moroccans are subservient to an elite that is above the law. In the meanwhile, Tariq Mohib has been sequestered in a hospital in Casablanca. He has been subjected to tremendous pressure to relinquish his right to see Yacoubi indicted for his crime. To the exception of his mother, uniformed and plain-clothed police officers under orders from the highest levels of their chain of command barred him from having contacts with anyone else.

All the democratic indicators in Morocco, such as elections, political opposition groups, freedom of expression, serve to reinforce the illusion of government stability. When Khaled Naciri, the official spokesperson of the Moroccan government, was recently asked by a journalist for an update on the case, he stated, frustrated he was being queried, that judicial proceedings are being followed. How legal are proceedings that authorize the culprit to roam free under government protection and the victim be detained? Such is governed a country in which the democratic process has systematically failed in its infancy. The long-term prospect of a stable democracy requires strong cultural changes Morocco lacks at the moment. Indeed, democracy was introduced in Morocco not by popular pressure on the government, by rather thanks to a royal initiative. Such an initiative came at the behest of international organizations and European and US governments. It should come as no surprise then when the government and the Royal Cabinet is disinclined to enforce democratic principles that infringe with its absolute authority.

Hassan Yacoubi will never step into a court of law. Democracy will never flourish in a country where the government treats its citizens unequally.

“Is Mr. Mouhib going to die?” my niece asked me.

“Not unless he is swatted by an elite swat again. And you too should watch out for the big swat,” I warned.

“I’m not a fly.”

I thought: Yes, you are! The day you come face to face with one of our demigods of Yacoubi’s ilk, you will realize it.

“Of course not,” I said smiling.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2008