U.S. Military Transforms Horn of Africa

The U.S. military is using what they are calling "diplomacy, development, and defense (with a small d)" to transform the Horn of Africa into a peaceful, stable environment free of extremism and terrorism. The Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJT-HOA) is the main command involved and is headquartered at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The commander of the base, U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Finn, spoke with myself and other online bloggers during a DOD bloggers roundtable session about the mission in the Horn of Africa.

The U.S. military operating area in the Horn of Africa consists of Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and Seychelles. Finn stated that the mission is to employ an "indirect approach" to counter violent extremism. He also mentioned that anti-piracy off the coast of Somalia is another major focus of the task force. "At my base are all members of the armed services and they work closely with the U.S. embassy in each Africa nation, the Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)," said Finn.

The military base camp is undergoing major construction as living facilities and other services are improved. "We don't think this mission or this headquarters is going away anytime soon," said Flinn. Flinn explained, "We want to improve the housing facilities as currently 99% of the buildings are temporary. We have moved from tents to containerized housing units and would like to move to permanent buildings."

Much of the mission seems to be focused on training, development, and construction. "Most of our work focuses on working with the U.S. embassies in each African nation," said Flinn. "If they think we can support something, we will do it. A great deal of work is focused on civil affairs, military to military training, and construction by Navy Seabees."

The base camp in Djibouti is a valuable strategic location with a nearby major airport and seaport. Djibouti's prime location, between northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, makes it a major logistics hub. "We provide harbor security for the seaport and use it for re-supply missions," said Finn. The base location allows for cargo to be trans-shipped from air to sea or vice versa through containerization or other methods. Finn said, "The Djibouti seaport is very important to land-locked nations such as Ethiopia."

The Horn of Africa task force (CJT-HOA) falls under the new military command called Africom, or United States Africa Command. The mission of Africom is "in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy."

Sources:

www.africom.mil