Global flows: Terror, oil & strategic philanthropy

Abstract

US involvement in Africa is growing following threats of terrorism and interruptions in oil production and because of desires by foreign corporations to expand their activities on the continent. The response of American policymakers has been to establish a stronger military presence that will engage in counterterrorism initiatives and police oil installations. The goals and extent of this buildup, and the ideology legitimating it, are new. They are departures from Cold War policies. Similarly, the response of American business leaders to weaknesses in the infrastructure and political order of African states leads them to establish their own forms of community development, known as strategic philanthropy, in order to protect and expand local markets. Despite these major developments, the media are not informing the public. This article examines the implications of these military and business initiatives for African nations and the reasons for lack of information about them.

Editor's Note: This article was delivered as the presidential address to the African Studies Association, New Orleans, 12 November 2004. It first appeared in the African Studies Review, Vol. 47, No. 5, April 2005:1–22, the principal scholarly journal of that Association. On the role of the US in Africa, also see Daniel Volman, ‘US Military Involvement in Africa’ and Michel Chossudovsky, ‘New Undeclared Arms Race: America's Agenda for Global Military Domination’ in ROAPE 103, March 2005.

Acknowledgments

My thanks go to Cynthia Ntini and Noel B. Salazar for assisting with the research for this essay and to Daniel Volman for sharing with me some of his important data. Deirdre LaPin, John Riggan and Adell Patton generously shared their deep knowledge of and experience in Africa. Although they are not responsible for problems that remain, I am grateful to Thomas Callaghy, Allen Isaacman, Paul Kaiser, Stephen Morrison and Steven Feierman for their readings of earlier versions of this manuscript and for their insightful and excellent suggestions for improving it.

Notes

Editor's Note: This article was delivered as the presidential address to the African Studies Association, New Orleans, 12 November 2004. It first appeared in the African Studies Review, Vol. 47, No. 5, April 2005:1–22, the principal scholarly journal of that Association. On the role of the US in Africa, also see Daniel Volman, ‘US Military Involvement in Africa’ and Michel Chossudovsky, ‘New Undeclared Arms Race: America's Agenda for Global Military Domination’ in ROAPE 103, March 2005.

1. Africa's growing importance in US policymaking circles also is due to factors not considered in this essay, those being the HIV/AIDS health crisis and continuingly high levels of internal conflict.

2. Anger over revenue–sharing and lack of transparency in oil company payments to government have resulted in a separatist movement in the Cabinda region of Angola (Williams, 2002:31–33; Goldwyn & Morrison, 2004:2, 12).

3. See US Secretary of Defense (2004).

4. See Jane's Defence Weekly, 6 May 2004, 4 August 2004, 6 October 2004, and 4 January 2005; Los Angeles Times, 30 May 2003; See also Jaffe, 2003.

5. Lobe (2003) based his article on remarks made by General James Jones, Supreme Commander of NATO and Commander of EUCOM.

6. See Jane's Defence Weekly, 4 August 2004, 6 October 2004 and 4 January 2005; Goldwyn and Morrison (2004:15); Colombant (2004); National Public Radio (www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4079474).

7. A breakdown of amounts is given below.

8. The firm Pacific Architects and Engineers was hired by the US State Department for $10 million to assist in the Liberian operations of 2003. The same firm also has worked for the US in Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire (US Department of State 2003; Cilliers, 2003).

9. A US Navy P–3 aircraft and about one hundred US soldiers used Algeria as a base from which to assist Chad in March 2004 in a successful attempt to eliminate a guerilla group believed to be sympathetic to al Quaeda (Jane's Defence Weekly, 4 August 2004).

10. The US reportedly is using the Entebbe base to assist the Ugandan government with its counterinsurgency campaign in the northern part of the country (Plaut, 2004).

11. Goldwyn and Morrison (2004:15); Jaffe (2003); Jane's Defence Weekly, 2 August 2004 and 4 January 2005; Klare and Volman (2004:230–31); New York Times, 5 July 2003; Volman (2003).

12. Jane's Defence Weekly, 13 October 2004; Swigert (2004); USIP (2004).

13. The three programmes and amounts being spent are as follows: (1) The ACOTA programme (Africa Contingency Operations Training Assistance) is budgeted at $15 million for 2005 and from 2002 until the end of 2005 will have spent $53 million; (2) The ARP programme (Africa Regional Peacekeeping), which trains, equips, and assists African soldiers in local peacekeeping efforts, is budgeted at $45 million for 2005 and will have spent $154 million for the same four years; (3) The IMET programme (International Military Education and Training) in 2005 is budgeted at $10.8 million and will have spent $43.6 million from 2002 to the end of 2005. See US Department of State (2004); US Department of Defense (2004).

14. The most recent seminars were held in Uganda in October 2004 and in Washington, DC, in February 2004. See www.africacenter.org/Dev2Go.web?Anchor=acss_programs_sls04&rnd=32498.

15. Annual amounts spent by and authorised for weapons purchases through the Pentagon are: 2002 = $57.2 million; 2003 = $68.9 million; 2004 = $39.9 million; and 2005 = 44.9 million. See US Department of State (2005); US Department of Defense (2004).

16. The Trans–Sahara Counter–Terrorism Initiative was originally called the Pan–Sahel Initiative. See Ellis (2004:459–64); Christian Science Monitor, 17 September 2004; EUCOM 2004; Jane's Defence Weekly, 6 October 2004.

17. The company, MPRI, trains military personnel in Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and South Africa, and is helping to establish and operate the Africa Center for Strategic Studies as part of the Department of Defense. See www.mpri.com/subchannels/int_africa.html.

18. Larry Grace, personal communication, 22 December 2004.

19. Deirdre LaPin, personal communication, 18 March 2004; USAID (2003).

20. Some of the corporate performance standards are set by the International Standards Organization (Deirdre LaPin, personal communication, 18 March 2004).

21. I thank John Riggan for bringing this to my attention.

22. Business Partners for Development, located in London, was created by the World Bank, the British Department for International Development (DFID), CARE, and mining, oil, and gas companies. The organization's goal is to find ways for business, government and civil society to engage together in sustainable community development. See www.bpd–naturalresources.org/.

23. I thank Deirdre LaPin for bringing this to my attention.

24. Cynthia Ntini conducted the survey.

25. They include the Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Asia Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and San Francisco Chronicle.

26. The broadcasts can be heard at www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4079474.

27. They include Salih Booker, Caleb Bush, Imani Countess, Bill Minter, Michael West, and many others.

28. The journal was recently renamed African ISSUES.

29. See Zuckerman (2004). See also ‘Africa's Forgotten Wars: Coverage of Wars and Conflicts in Africa in International TV News programes [sic]’: www.agendasetting.com/agenda/sa/pdf.

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Sandra T. Barnes

For the 2004–5 academic year she is a fellow at the Stanford University Humanities Center. She is the author of numerous articles and recently has published an expanded second edition of Africa's Ogun: Old World and New (Indiana, 1997), an interdisciplinary collection focusing on West African religious culture and its continuing vitality in diaspora. Her book, Patrons and Power: Creating a Political Community in Metropolitan Lagos (Indiana, 1986), won the Amaury Talbot Prize. She sits on the boards of directors of the African Studies Association (as president in 2003–4), the American Council of Learned Societies and the Foundation for the Advancement of International Medical Education and Research, and she has served as a visiting faculty member at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Ibadan (Nigeria). Her current research focuses on West Africa: precolonial social and cultural life along the Guinea Coast and postcolonial popular culture.