WIIS / US Army War College Conference

Registration for the
Conference is Free

[REGISTER HERE]

[CONFERENCE AGENDA]

April 21, 2008

Doubletree Hotel Crystal City, Arlington, VA

WIIS and the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College will jointly sponsor a conference on

"AFRICOM and the US Strategy for Peace and Security in Africa."


Conference

The WIIS/USAWC Conference will bring together the varying perspectives among leading experts from academic, military, governmental and non-governmental organizations for a day-long conference in the DC area to discuss the current progress and future of AFRICOM.

Background Information on AFRICOM

On February 6, 2007, President Bush announced the creation of AFRICOM. AFRICOM officially stood up on October 1, 2007 and is expected to be at full operation by October 2008. The creation of AFRICOM marks the first U.S. military command in Africa. Previously, the U.S. military divided responsibility for Africa among the European Command (EUCOM), Central Command (CENTCOM), and Pacific Command (PACOM). 

The mission of AFRICOM is unique from the other commands. According to AFRICOM, “[u]nlike traditional Unified Commands, Africa Command will focus on war prevention rather than war-fighting. Africa Command intends to work with African nations and African organizations to build regional security and crisis-response capacity in support of U.S. government efforts in Africa.” See AFRICOM's website: http://africom.mil/index.asp

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has emphasized AFRICOM’s role in humanitarian assistance, security assistance, and crisis response, and the role of the command in supporting current security efforts on the continent. However, there has been some controversy around the formation of AFRICOM, especially among some African nations and advocacy groups that view AFRICOM with skepticism – seeing it as merely an effort to expand the US military into Africa, entirely driven by the War on Terrorism, or as a strategy to control Africa’s oil resources.



Below is a list of works focused on the AFRICOM debate, on and the issue of the Western presence in Africa. The following books, papers articles are organized chronologically.

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