SENEGAL: US naval ship docks in Senegal for a 6-month training operation in maritime security with African military forces

As it steams down the West African coast, the U.S. warship USS Fort McHenry faces one of its toughest battles: to convince Africans their continent can benefit from growing U.S. military involvement. With a complement of more than 400 U.S. military personnel, the 600-foot (185-metre) vessel is embarking on a six-month mission to train West African navies to combat drug smuggling, people trafficking and maritime security threats in a region supplying nearly a fifth of U.S. oil imports. "The aim of the effort is to help our African partners to (get out of) the common threat to the maritime security such as illegal drug trafficking, illegal and illicit fishing, illegal immigration. Those threats to maritime security which are destabilising. We believe that if we could build up maritime safety and security, it is good for stability and economic prosperity which is good for our development offshore," said Commodore John Nowell, head of U.S. navy operations in Africa, aboard the Fort McHenry's towering bridge. Once a rarity, U.S. warships will become a familiar sight in the Gulf of Guinea as Washington under the new African Partnership Station scheme as they shuttle between ports in the region, providing military training and humanitarian aid. The initiative comes as the United States launches its first unified military command dedicated entirely to Africa, Africom, amid vocal opposition from the continent's diplomatic heavyweights, South Africa, Libya and Nigeria who fear an attempt to enforce Washington's policies. Since 2002, the United States has garrisoned 1,800 troops in Djibouti to counter a terrorist threat in the volatile Horn of Africa. But the African military command had until now remained a division of the U.S. operations in Europe. Many wary Africans see the launch of Africom last month as attempt to seal control over valuable oil and mineral resources, as China and India strengthen their presence on the continent. "If (the price of) crude oil in the world it doesn't affect only a Ghanaian, it affects the average American and British as well. So it's good that Americans they have come onboard they have identified the problems of Africa in terms of safety and security and as such they have initiated this APS," said Ghana Navy Officer, Samuel Walker. Others fear it will worsen Islamic terrorism in any country which hosts a U.S. military presence. Nowell said, however, the U.S. navy wanted African countries to take control of their own maritime resources, ensuring that fisheries and offshore oil installations were not targeted by criminal gangs. "The US like much of international community has really become aware that threats here in Africa as well as elsewhere in the world, in the global maritime environment, are a threat to the international community and to the US. So prosperity and stability here is good for the international community and therefore is good for the US," said Nowell. The United States is already active in military assistance and training programmes across Africa, spending an estimated 250 million US dollars a year, analysts say. The USS Fort McHenry will visit six West African countries -- Senegal, Ghana, Liberia, Gabon, Cameroon and Sao Tome -- providing technical training onshore and taking on up to 100 students onboard ship during its voyage. It carries landing craft and small vessels in its docking bay for practices and its shallow draft allows it to call in smaller West African ports. It has been specially fitted with seven classrooms to hold up to 200 students. Nowell, who describes the ship as a "floating classroom", points out it will also bring educational donations from U.S. charities to West African schools and drop 90 hospital beds in the impoverished archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe. The ship's construction battalion will also build a medical clinic during its stay in Ghana, in collaboration with U.S. charity Project Hope. The initiative is already winning plaudits from some Africans. "It was a really wonderful experience for different African countries and their officers to come on board. It's a synergy and what we hope to learn is how we can improve maritime security along the African coastal area," said Aminu Mai, a lieutenant in the Nigerian navy, in an onboard classroom with some 30 students from Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

ITN Source | November 14, 2007

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