The Defense Department, through U.S. Africa Command, has built close ties to the State Department’s African Affairs and supports its principles, a top official said.
AFRICOM helps the State Department advance security and peace in Africa working by “to prevent, mitigate and resolve conflict,” Johnnie Carson, assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs, told the Defense Writers Group Feb.22.
That effort is one of four principles the United States pursues on the continent: first, to strengthen democratic institutions and promote good government, second, to spur market-led economic growth, promoting security and peace, and finally, promoting opportunity.
“Advancing peace is absolutely critical to supporting our other priorities,” Carson said.
There has been progress in all areas over the past four years, he said. This comes even though security issues in Africa are widely in the news today. Even so, there has been a “noticeable reduction” in the number of African conflicts over the past decade.
Particularly, he pointed to Somalia, where the United States helped one of the longest running conflicts turn around and become a success story and potential model for resolving other conflicts. This past June, Carson said he and his AFRICOM counterpart visited Mogadishu–a first for top level U.S. government officials since 1993’s “Black Hawk down” incident.
Carson works closely with AFRICOM, which plays an “important and vital” role, particularly by pulling all security responsibilities under one combatant command rather than having it split up with overlapping areas between COCOMs as it was in the past. The command also brings focus and attention to African issues, he said.
There is a lot of work to do to help African militaries become more professional, Carson said. U.S. forces work with host militaries on training, improving capabilities to carry out military and peacekeeping operations, and inculcating the belief that the military is responsible to civil control and exists to protect human rights, not prey on the population. These efforts not only help African militaries to integrate more smoothly with others in coalition operations, but build national capacity and capability for regional strength and stability.
Carson said the idea of regionally-focused military forces, as the Army is doing, with the first unit focused on Africa, is helpful in support of AFRICOM and the country Ambassadors, who are the U.S. government lead within host nations.
There also is a good working relationship with special operations forces, who work “by, with and through” indigenous forces, he said.
The Department of State and DoD continue their strong working relationship, as some retired military move on to become civilian State employees and are scattered through the bureaus. Additionally, there are some serving officers assigned to various offices. Carson and his deputy maintain a close working relationship with counterparts in AFRICOM.
Democracy and good government must be realized as the basis of a stable state as military success will not hold up over the long term, Carson said.