US spreads its bets to fight terror

The superpower may expand its bootprint across the continent but it was the Ebola outbreak that sparked this latest move in its ‘war on terror’

Washington has 50 diplomatic missions in Africa, more than any other country and one of the few with an ambassador in Lesotho and Swaziland. Although the diplomats may straddle the continent, the Pentagon has been much more focused.

This week Washington warned its citizens that Islamic State may target them at the posher malls and hotels in South Africa, but its growing military assets on the continent remain far to the north.

Since 1998, when al-Qaeda bombed the United States embassy i n Nairobi, military attention has been mainly on Kenya and Uganda, along with a troop base in Djibouti.

Then came Ebola and, in 2014, army and medical personnel found themselves in West Africa.

At the signing of a new defence deal with Senegal last month, the US ambassador to Dakar, Jim Zumwalt, explained how the epidemic led to bigger things. “During the Ebola crisis both governments recognised that our security relationship has grown, and we needed a stronger legal framework to work together in response to unexpected challenges.” This includes the terror threat. The US is established as a donor in cases of natural disaster and there is nothing to suggest its Ebola response had ulterior motives. But it may yet be seen as a cover for military intentions.

West Africa has long been seen as a problem, with corruption making it difficult to engage beyond oil and diplomacy. The US state department has voiced its concern over poor progress in defeating Boko Haram, which now operates across Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. Guinea Bissau is labelled a “narco state”, for allegedly warehousing drugs for transport to Europe and the US.

By contrast, Djibouti has been a blessing. President Ismaïl Guelleh runs his country as a dictatorship and has no time for radical Islam.

But there are signs the love affair with Washington may be in trouble. Last year Guelleh forced the US from a coastal bases and handed it to the Chinese navy. The president often visits to Paris for medical treatment, adding to worries.

In December Djibouti police fired on unarmed protesters and a US state department human rights report noted “harsh prison conditions, arbitrary arrest” and a “denial of fair public trial”.

In an example of how diplomats phrase things, the report says Guelleh and his government engage in “unlawful deprivation of life”.

But dependence on the goodwill of an increasingly erratic president can silence even a superpower.

Djibouti and Uganda are signatories to the International Criminal Court and must arrest Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir on sight. The ICC has issued a warrant for al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity. When he attended the inauguration of President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala last month the US ambassador walked out. Museveni described the ICC as a “bunch of useless people”.

Yet there was no such pique a few days earlier when al-Bashir sat in the same room as the US delegation attending a similar event for Guelleh.

Senegal saw its first democratic transfer of power in 1999 when Abdoulaye Wade defeated the sitting president. Wade, in turn, stepped down in 2012 when he lost to the current leader, Macky Sall. The country enjoys good marks on every human rights index whereas Djibouti ranks among the most oppressive.

The US Africa Command (Africom) maintains a low profile but is known to have “drone capacity” in several countries. US defence spending is now higher than during the Vietnam War. This holds true even when inflation is taken out.

In Kenya, concern has shifted from al-Qaeda to al-Shabab, the group that attacked Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre in 2013, leaving 67 people dead and more than 170 wounded. Last year they murdered 178 students and teachers at a university near the small town of Garissa.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from a school at Chibok and the army has been unable to find the majority of the girls, let alone deal with the militants.

Countries such as Senegal and Cameroon have their own problems with terror groups but nowhere near the same scale.

Unconfirmed reports from Africom suggest the US is looking at options in nine other countries across East, West and Central Africa.

In Dakar, ambassador Zumwalt says the new deal with Senegal “sets the stage for increased security co-operation”.

And on the Horn, US ambassador Tom Kelly has said there will be no change in the “commitment of the United States to remain Djibouti’s partner in our shared goal of ridding this region of the evils of terrorism”.

It seem clear that Washington is looking at its options in Africa.