Ham gives 2012 Africa Posture Statement
Just became aware of this and thought all would like to read it and comment. It will take me awhile to read and digest.
Here is the official document reprinted by allafrica.com
http://allafrica.com/stories/201203011203.html
Well and good, but AFRICOM isn't the right tool for the job
It is one thing to diagnose a problem, but another to devise an appropriate solution. The truth is that the US Military isn't really the right tool for the job, at least in Nigeria.
Nigeria needs a few things (a) Capacity building for the security services (primarily the police) (b) economic transformation (c) political settlement and (d) intelligence gathering to deal with the threats of insurgency.
Boko Haram is really a police problem, not a military problem. Nigeria has close to 400,000 police officers. So if our police were remotely competent, it would be quite easy to root out BH. The problem is that they are not.
The Nigerian police is managed centrally by the Federal Government and recruitment and training is carried out by the center. The result is that many policemen in say, Kano, don't speak the local language. This hampers the ability to gather intelligence and reduces effectiveness.
This has been pointed out severally - localise the police, replace central policing with community based policing, but evidently, the political will is lacking.
This is the first thing that needs to be done before we get to the issue to remuneration, conditions of service, training and equipment.
It's low hanging fruit but nobody wants to do it - BH may force the government's hand though.
This isn't really AFRICOM's gig.
Economic transformation isn't AFRICOM's thing either and the experience of the past fifty years shows that good intentions aren't a substitute for competence (USAID, DFID, World Bank please take note). The only thing that is going to make this happen is when the ruling class see it in their interest to build roads, improve access to education and water and not merely steal funds.
You couldn't get Mobutu to see need for this (even on the pain of death) and it is going to take a genuine religious conversion for Mugabe to see the logic, but for some reason Kibaki, Kagame, Zenawi and Museveni (albeit reluctantly) are doing something about this. Only God knows what will get the ruling class in Nigeria to see reason, but we are still hopeful.
Political settlement: there is a political component to the whole BH saga and it needs to be resolved. The North feels aggrieved, but it needs to be "settled" in a way that doesn't create a backlash in the South. Jonathan won by capturing four out of the six geo-political zones (Niger Delta, South-East, South-West and the Middle Belt). The North-East and North-West is pissed off with him.
Can Jonathan win the next round of elections without the support of the North-East and North-West? Yes, but he needs to do something to keep the peace in the North-East and North-West.
Finally this is what Tom Barnett said recently about AFRICOM:
Quote:
Africa may be booming right now, but to the extent that any of us recognize that, it just becomes the excuse to finally indulge our long-standing compassion fatigue regarding the seemingly nonstop series of internal wars, famines and epidemics that continue to plague the continent. That strategically shortsighted view is reflected in the U.S. military’s recently established Africa Command, whose marching orders might as well be to make sure what happens in Africa stays in Africa.
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/a...foreign-policy
All you wanted to know about Posture Statements
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chowing
Thanks for the link !
But, before we all get our panties in a knot, keep in mind that every spring, every major command is called to DC to report their "posture," to Congress. That said, if you as the Combatant Commander, don't sound like your command is the best thing since peanut butter on sliced bread (meaning your sierra doesn't stink), you can kiss your annual budget goodbye :D
You darn well better have noteworthy accomplishments (beyond all human feet) and horrific challenges (that require mucho cash) :eek:
Or, you can kiss your annual budget (and career as a General) goodbye :D
Postulating is like a military dude trying to play politician (without having had a frontal lobotomy).
P R O L O G U E:Nigeria, fighting the last battle?
Please read this (and read it with a pinch of salt, this is from a Southern paper). Sometimes it is helpful to view Nigeria as a collection of people who have nothing in common, whose only purpose for congregating is to share the proceeds from the sale of crude oil.
Quote:
Events appear to be moving too fast for Nigeria and they are frightening.With bombings and other first grade violence becoming very routine in the country, it would appear very instructive that leaders of ethnic nationalities and regions are digging in for an epic show of brain and brawn.
At one point or the other, key leaders of the Nigerian federation have had cause to regret the ethnic configuration of the nation and queried its existence ab initio. Chief Obafemi Awolowo described it as a “mere geographical expression” just as Sir Ahmadu Bello said Nigeria is “the mistake of 1914.” Even civil war hero, Brigadier General Benjamin Adekunle regretted fighting for one united Nigeria. In an article published in the 6 July,1996 edition of Weekend Concord, Adekunle declared that he regretted killing Ibos to keep Nigeria one. “Looking back at what has been happening in this country since the days of Babangida, one cannot but be sad. Personally now and for sometime, I feel so ashamed to have killed people to sustain the unity of Nigeria. I feel so sad to have shed blood for the unity of Nigeria.”
A combination of the Yoruba and Niger Delta leaders recently met in Ikenne, Ogun State under the leadership of Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo and asked for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to discuss the nation’s over-ripe problems. They followed it up a few weeks ago with a presentation of the demand to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.Very interestingly, Northern Nigeria, which had always opposed such calls, joined the fray last week with its leaders saying they were ready for the talks. What has informed this sudden confidence of the North in the SNC? If the talks hold as expressed, what are the questions it will answer? Is Nigeria inexorably going to pieces as predicted by certain western figures? Are the current security and political problems ravaging Nigeria a product of some off-shore conspiracy coordinated by powerful nations outside Africa?
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/comp...he-last-battle