Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa

In recent years, analysts and U.S. policymakers have noted Africa’s growing strategic importance to U.S. interests. Among those interests are the increasing importance of Africa’s natural resources, particularly energy resources, and mounting concern over violent extremist activities and other potential threats posed by uncontrolled spaces, such as piracy and illicit trafficking. In addition, there is ongoing concern for Africa’s many humanitarian crises, armed conflicts, and
more general challenges, such as the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS. In 2006, Congress authorized a feasibility study on the creation of a new command for Africa to consolidate current operations and activities on the continent under one commander. Congress has closely monitored the command since its establishment.
On February 6, 2007, the Bush Administration announced the creation of a new unified
combatant command, U.S. Africa Command or AFRICOM, to promote U.S. national security
objectives in Africa and its surrounding waters. Prior to AFRICOM’s establishment, U.S. military involvement on the continent was divided among three commands: U.S. European Command (EUCOM), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), and U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM). The command’s area of responsibility (AOR) includes all African countries except Egypt. AFRICOM was officially launched as a sub-unified command under EUCOM on October 1, 2007, and became a stand-alone command on October 1, 2008.

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Security Sector Reform: Southern Sudan [April 2010]

Human security has remained under threat in many parts of Southern Sudan despite
the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9, 2005. The
militarization of civilians during the civil war, the emergence of resource conflicts, the spillover effects of regional conflicts and the wide circulation of small arms have contributed to insecurity in Southern Sudan. In 2009 alone, more than 2,500 people were killed and 350,000 displaced due to fighting, a toll higher than the much more publicized conflict in neighbouring Darfur (Joint NGO Briefing Paper, 2010: 2). Although there are functional governments (the central Government of Southern Sudan as well as state and county administration) in the territory, economic, political and social instability dominate.
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Gender and Transitional Justice in Africa: Progress and Prospects

Abstract

During the past few decades, different models of transitional justice (TJ) have
developed throughout Africa to try to address the mass human rights abuses
that have occurred during conflicts. These mechanisms, both judicial and nonjudicial,
have often failed to adequately tackle the extensive gender-based violence
that has been prevalent on the continent. This article examines the ways truth
commissions, legal mechanisms, reparations, security sector reform efforts,
and traditional mechanisms in Africa have dealt with gender-based human
rights violations. While recent African TJ mechanisms have been innovative in
developing means to address crimes against women, these mechanisms continue
to fail victims. This is in large part because the current discourse on gender and
transitional justice needs to be broadened to better address women’s experiences
of conflict. Future TJ initiatives need to re-examine the types of violations
prioritised, and recognise the continuum of violence that exists in pre-conflict
and post-conflict societies. It is also important to challenge the transitional justice field to stop reducing sexual-based violence to ‘women’s problems’, and explore how men are affected by the gendered dynamics of conflict.
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