At the time Admiral Henry Ulrich, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe, said, "The Global Fleet Station concept is 'closely aligned' with the task to be provided by the still-developing U.S. Africa Command," [24] and later announced the departure of the USS Fort McHenry and the High Speed Vessel Swift for a seven-month deployment to the Gulf of Guinea in November of 2007 as part of the Navy's Global Fleet Station program. The Africa Partnership Station is one of several Global Fleet Stations recently set up by the U.S., others being assigned to the Caribbean Sea and Oceania. "As a dock landing ship, the Fort McHenry is designed to help get U.S. personnel onto 'hostile shores,' according to the Navy." [25]
Phil Greene, director of Strategy and Policy, Resources and Transformation for U.S. Naval Forces Europe, added that the USS Fort McHenry would have a multinational staff, "partnering with nations such as France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and others who have an interest in developing maritime security in that region." [26]
In fact the USS Fort McHenry first arrived in Spain "to take on passengers from several European partners - Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Germany, among them - before heading to the Gulf of Guinea," where it was joined by the High Speed Vessel Swift to "transport students as well as trainers during visits to Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe." [27]
In 2007 U.S. warships visited Mozambique for the first time in 33 years and Tanzania for the first time in 40.
As part of Africa Partnership Station port visits last year, an Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer traveled to Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania and South Africa, in the last case holding a week of joint exercises with one of the nation's warships.
In February of 2009 "for the first time the U.S. Navy [had] warships on each side of the African continent as part of Africa Partnership Station's ongoing teaching mission with African nations." [28] To wit, a frigate in Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania and an amphibious transport dock in Senegal.
The month before a U.S. frigate became the first Navy warship to anchor off Equatorial Guinea's mainland city of Bata "as part of the Navy's Africa Partnership Station initiative," after visits to Cape Verde,
Senegal, Benin and Sierra Leone on its way to Tanzania and Kenya.
The U.S. charge d'affaires in Equatorial Guinea was quoted as offering one reason for the visit: "It's the third largest oil- and gas-producer in sub-Saharan Africa, with a significant foreign investment footprint...." [29]
"The October 2007 initial deployment of the Africa Partnership Station (APS) to the Gulf of Guinea and the coincident rollout of A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower signaled a strong American commitment to leveraging U.S. sea power....The APS is a Global Fleet Station (GFS) sea base designed to assist the Gulf of Guinea maritime community in developing better maritime governance....The Global Fleet Station, born out of a need for military shaping and stability operations...is a proven concept for this mission in such areas as the Gulf of Guinea and the Caribbean basin." [30]
Currently AFRICOM is leading the Phoenix Express 2010 maritime counter-insurgency exercise in the Mediterranean Sea with Morocco and Senegal among other African nations.
Paralleling NATO's almost nine-year Operation Active Endeavor in the Mediterranean which patrols the northern coast of Africa from the Suez Canal to the Strait of Gibraltar, the U.S. Navy now regularly roams the African coastline from where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean down to the strategic oil-rich Gulf of Guinea and all the way south to Cape Town, then north again along the entire Indian Ocean coast to the Red Sea. Africa is encircled by U.S. and NATO warships.
Pentagon Builds Surrogate Armies To Control Africa Region By Region
On the mainland, the Pentagon has transformed the armed forces of Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia into military surrogates on both ends of the continent. Since 2006 "a U.S. State Department-led initiative...has completely rebuilt the military in Liberia," according to AFRICOM. [31]
Last October the commander of U.S. Army Africa, Major General William B.
Garrett III, visited Rwanda (whose military is a U.S. and British proxy) and "stressed that the US army is interested in strengthening its
cooperation with the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF)." Garrett confirmed that the U.S. was ready to send more advisers and trainers for the Rwandan army and added, "Likewise, we hope that the Rwandan Defence Forces can also participate in our exercises. So we are hoping to increase the level of cooperation between the US and the Rwandan Defense forces." [32]
Earlier in the year AFRICOM's General Ward also visited Rwanda, where he "met with Rwandan defense leaders and watched displays of Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) capabilities during a two-day visit April 20-21, 2009." [33]
Late last year Ward visited Morocco, a U.S. military partner for several decades, where he had paid two visits the preceding year, and "discussed bilateral military cooperation and opportunities to strengthen
partnership between the Royal Armed Forces and the U.S. Army."
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