US PRESENCE in WEST AFRICA

Thanks to Noah at AfricaPundit for pointing me to this story which reports that the US has entered into agreements with several West African nations to use their airfields. There are also plans to have some US Naval vessels patrol the West African coast.

General James Jones, Supreme Allied Commander of American Forces in Europe, stated that:

. . . there was a need to tackle what he called the large ungoverned areas of Africa.

He said they were providing "routes for narco-terrorist training and hotbeds of instability" and also posed a "potential threat for not only the alliance, but our interests as well."

"We might wish to have more presence in the southern rim of the Mediterranean, where there is a certain number of countries that could be destabilised in the near future," he said.

He went on to suggest that American warships, that currently patrol the Mediterranean might in future spend half their time off the coast of West Africa, with what he called "a fairly focused engagement in that part of the world."

These actions, along with President Bush's commitment to help with the African AIDS crisis, should be welcome news to African-Americans. Unfortunately, it probably won't make a difference at election time when African-Americans will vote overwhelmingly Democrat. They always have.