To understand the African military, you need to understand the "African state".

The "African state" is a little more than an ex-colonial administrative unit. It means very little to citizens outside of the prosperous coastal regions or former colonial (gosh, I hate to use that word) capitals.

An example, for people in Nigeria's Northeast, the state barely exists and the Nigerian Army is being used for the same purpose as it was under colonialism (sorry for using that word again) - to enforce sometimes unpopular rule.

Before you start talking about an army or military professionalism, you need to talk about a "national identity" and nation building. Many (if not most) African armies will continue to be ethnic militias (like Maliki's Iraq Army, the World's most expensive ethnic militia) - until real nation building takes place.

As we all are learning from Iraq, the US with 150,000 troops cannot impose a national consensus or form a national identity in a state riven with sectarian tensions. If that can't be accomplished in Iraq, any hope for something similar in Africa is a bit worse than wishful thinking.

Why do Africans keeping referring to "colonialism" even when it irritates all knowing Westerners? Because the slave trade and colonialism are the most important events that shaped the history of Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 1,000 years.

If you can think up another event equal in impact to these two, please provide details.

Asking Africans not to discuss colonialism is similar to telling Europeans not to discuss both World Wars - nobody does that because it would be considered deeply insulting.

Back to colonialism. Colonialism created the artificial states now known as "African nations" & until proper nations are formed (through a bloody process), African states & their institutions (including their armies) will be weak. Does not matter how many special operators the US sends yearly.

Africa is in its "Dark Ages" - a hastily cobbled together colonial empire suddenly collapsed & left artificial states in its wake. As in Europe, truly cohesive states will take time to form - hopefully not the 500 - 1000 years it took in Europe.

But my point is this - you can't build anything of value on the current post-colonial foundation in Africa - and the West is wasting its time trying to impose a post-colonial order. Africa's political map is not final & it might have to change first for there to be progress.

Finally, colonialism matters, not because we want to blame anyone, but because it shaped our institutions, institutions that are not fit for purpose.