U.S. Africa base could cause stigma for host state
By Nick Tattersall.

DAKAR (Reuters) - U.S. plans to locate a military command centre in Africa could take years to realise because potential host nations may be worried about the stigma of working with the global superpower, analysts said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday President George W. Bush approved proposals to create a new command unit to oversee U.S. military activity in Africa, and asked U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates to get it up and running by the end of September 2008.

While there might be some kudos to hosting the command centre and a hope dollars will flow into the local economy, there are downsides. Any U.S. establishment could become a terrorist target or the host government itself could attract unwanted political attention.

The unit, dubbed "Africom", will initially be based in Stuttgart, Germany -- home to U.S. European Command (EUCOM), which has had responsibility for much of the continent since the Cold War -- but will eventually move to an African location.

No indications as to the size of the centre are being made at this stage.

"The next phase is consultations with our African partners about what is feasible both from their perspective and from ours," said a U.S. defence official familiar with the plans.

"There will be a major political component to it, as well as the obvious question of geography. Infrastructure will also be a criteria," the official said, asking not to be named.

He said the transition period alone could take 18-24 months.

Washington sees three regions of Africa as having strategic importance:

-- The Horn, where al Qaeda car-bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and where U.S. forces last month carried out air strikes in Somalia against al Qaeda militants.

-- The Sahel region around the Sahara where U.S. Special Forces have been conducting counterterrorism training, fearing lax policing could make it a haven for Islamic militants.

-- The hydrocarbons-rich Gulf of Guinea, comprising West and Central Africa's coastal countries, which the United States hopes will provide up to a quarter of its oil imports within a decade and where it has already conducted off-shore patrols.

U.S. officials recognise there could be an image problem attached to working with a super power whose motives often remain a source of suspicion.

PROS AND CONS

"There's pros and cons no matter what we do, because we're the 500 lb. gorilla, so no matter where we sit, somebody's not going to be happy we're sitting in their seat," said one senior U.S. official at EUCOM, speaking before Bush's announcement.

Some critics accuse the U.S. military of deliberately hyping the threat of terrorism in parts of Africa so as to win funds for security initiatives and guarantee access to oil supplies.

With rival powers like China also working to win hearts and minds on the continent, the stakes are as high as ever for African governments looking to win international friends.

"The question is how a host government can be found and how that host government's relationships with other African countries (will be affected)," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at London-based think-tank Chatham House.

"There will clearly be some suspicion about what it actually represents," he told Reuters.

This could delay setting up the new base, which will assume the role currently shared by EUCOM and U.S. Central Command, which handles the Horn of Africa.

(Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London)