Over decades, U.S promises of security ring hollow in African ears

Rarely does a sitting president of the United States set foot on African soil. But it seems too late for Joe Biden to define an "all in on Africa's future" legacy in his trip to Angola at the end of his presidency.

Despite the release of U.S Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa in August 2022, the continent of about 1.4 billion people has reaped few tangible "security dividends" as promised. Instead, it witnessed a shift of the "global terrorism epicentre" into the Sahel region.

The arid belt saw nearly 4,000 terrorism-related deaths in 2023, coinciding with an extensive wave of coups. What lies behind the spiral of terrorism as Washington's self-proclaimed security aid expands? The question cannot be attributed to the current government alone.  Since the Sept 11 attacks in 2001, successive U.S. administrations have prioritized short-term security measures, calculating the allocation of resources, and delivering them in their own interest. This approach has irritated Africans in their quest for long-awaited stability and prosperity.

"The most unfortunate development geopolitically is that the relationship between Africa and the United States or any other Western country has never changed over the past 20 years," said Gibson Nyikadzino, a Zimbabwean journalist and international relations analyst. "It is only based on exploitation, so there is a continuity of an unequal relationship," he added.

In name of peace, prosperity

The trauma of the Sept. 11 attacks alerted Washington to the potential for a porous Africa to turn into a new hotbed of terrorism. But betraying the promise to develop an African continent that "lives in liberty, peace, and growing prosperity," the United States opted for a military-first framework prioritizing short-term security over enduring stability.  Billions of U.S. dollars were poured into the transfer and sale of military equipment, the training of local forces, and the establishment of army bases, without addressing the underlying conditions that feed terrorism, such as Africa's development deficit. Former American University Professor David Vine estimated that the U.S. army had maintained a presence in at least 26 African countries by 2021, with Niger, Djibouti and Somalia serving as key hosts for large military facilities on the continent.

In Somalia alone, Oxford University Senior Research Fellow Eniola Anuoluwapo Soyemi calculated, more than 2.5 billion dollars were pumped into counterterrorism assistance between 2007 and 2020. But the 2020 U.S. Lead Inspector General's audit suggested that the United States failed to rein in the terrorist threat in Somalia, with al-Shabab remaining "adaptive, resilient and capable of attacking." In 2009, the Washington-initiated Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership pushed Burkina Faso -- a West African country previously void of notable terrorist threats -- into a toxic culture of military primacy. As the U.S. security assistance soaring from 200,000 dollars per year to 18 million dollars in 2018, a sudden influx of training, weapons, and intelligence, local powers "see military solutions to any problem," which resulted in Burkina Faso's fall into one of the world's worst-impacted regions by terrorism, former U.S. career diplomat Elizabeth Shackelford observed.

Washington's move, in some experts' eyes, resembles an act of adding more troops and armaments to the already escalating conflicts rather than seeking peaceful solutions. "The huge resources dedicated to counterterrorism have been taken away from the enterprise of economic development, leaving many countries where the United States operates in dire need of development," said Adhere Cavince, a Kenyan scholar on international relations. "Instead of focusing on investing in productive sectors that would get Africa's youth away from terrorism, the United States is inadvertently fueling the vice that it aims to eradicate." As Cavince pointed out, young people who lack access to jobs often fall prey to recruitment by terrorist groups. "Similarly, the U.S. penchant for propagating regime change in Africa has created volatility that has only fueled the emergence of militant groups. This has resulted in ungovernable spaces in countries like Libya and Somalia, giving room for extremists and terrorist outfits to thrive." "The U.S. approach to security is creating turmoil in Africa. It is cutting economic activity and driving governance by guns," Cavince said.

Military-first approach backfires

According to Cavince, there are not enough international terrorist groups in Africa to pose a direct security threat to Washington, which makes "the overwhelming U.S ground-based forces numbering over 6,500 and dozens of military bases therefore not warranted."  Years of aid proved to no avail in helping African countries fend off terrorism, only to see the United States stamp its military marks across the continent. The latest Global Terrorism Index report flagged a dramatic increase in terrorism-related deaths and a 1,266 per cent jump in incidents in the Sahel from 2007 to 2023.

Boko Haram, a Nigeria-based militant group and a target of the U.S.-backed Multinational Joint Task Force, continued to thrive after turning violent in 2009. Its insurgency not only resulted in tens of thousands of deaths but also displaced nearly 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad Basin region. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, some 12.5 million people remain in need of humanitarian assistance in the region, with 5.3 million people suffering food insecurity. U.S. forces' blemish on the human rights record has also come to light. For example, it launched about 300 drone strikes and commando raids in Somalia without apologizing to the families of the civilians killed, according to reports by U.S. news outlet The Intercept. The rise of the "Coup Belt" in West and Central Africa added another layer of uncertainty, shaking the confidence of U.S. assistance boosters.   Following the 2020 military takeover in Mali, at least 10 coup attempts have been recorded in the region, with several successful in seizing power. "Since 2020, Africa has seen more political unrest, violent extremism, and democratic reversals than any other region in the world," said Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo, a professor of sociology at Cameroon's University of Buea. "U.S engagement with Africa has long been de-prioritized, with successive administrations devoting negligible attention and resources to resolving conflicts and countering terrorism," he added.

Shut barn door after horse has bolted

Compared to Asia and the Middle East, Africa has long been treated as a "lower-priority" pawn or a buffer zone for national security on Washington's geopolitical chessboard. Frustrated by Washington's window-dressing assistance, several African countries, such as Niger and Chad, kicked U.S. forces out of the door. Protesters across the continent flooded the streets, chanting "U.S. Army: You leave, you move, you vanish."  "Behind increasing disaffection of African countries is the view that America is perpetuating hegemonic relations with Africa, the kind that reeks of neocolonial tendencies, where the United States is all-powerful with military bases all around yet cannot work jointly with hosting governments to deliver sustainable development and security to the local population," said Cavince. Africa is yearning for transformative initiatives to boost investment, trade, infrastructure and technology development, the scholar explained, noting that many countries regard their partnership with Washington as "lost decades in terms of development."As self-inflicted great power competition exacerbates its fear of losing influence, Washington appears eager to rebuild ties with its African partners.

Last year, the United States dispatched high-level officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee, to visit Africa in a bid to bridge the trust deficit. In June, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Quinton Brown Jr. visited Botswana for an annual conference featuring U.S. and African military commanders, which marked the first year of Washington co-hosting the conference with an African country. When Biden landed in the Angolan capital of Luanda on Monday, the 82-year-old became the first U.S. president to visit sub-Saharan Africa in nearly a decade. However, Cavince held a cautious view of Biden's "rushed attempt to fulfill a promise to visit Africa made over two years ago." "Angola is only a platform for him to project U.S. global economic visibility, rather than a desire to drive inclusive development in a manner that can safeguard the security and safety of ordinary people," he said. "Africa is the youngest continent by population and is home to huge deposits of natural resources. Any partner that ignores Africa risks its own future," the scholar warned, calling on Washington to ditch a zero-sum mindset and engage Africa constructively.