U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates verified on February 6 that President Bush has given green light to the plan of establishing an African Command which will be responsible for coordinating all military operations of the U.S. forces in Africa. What exactly is the strategic motive lying behind the U.S. military's move to set up an independent African Command? Thirsting for an answer, the reporter interviewed several military experts from the National Defense University recently.

　　The mounting importance of Africa as a strategic continent has invited the American attention

　　Hua Liuhu (Professor of the Strategy Teaching and Research Department of the National Defense University): The driving reason spurring Pentagon to declare to put in place the U.S. African Command lies in that the steps taken by the African states in recent years to take joint efforts to make themselves strong by virtue of self-support and development have incrementally projected Africa, which used to be neglected by the U.S., into a strategic continent with gathering importance and values.

　　Africa boasts numerous countries, and for that matter, carries much weight in the United Nations. Without the support of Africa-a new emerging political force, the U.S. will be denied from time to time the chance of playing a leading role on the stage of international politics.

　　Africa is rich in petroleum, natural gas and other reserves. The proved petroleum reserve verified in recent years is as huge as about 80-100 billion barrels, hence a "world mammoth oil reservoir" second only to the Middle East and the South America.

　　The abovementioned facts are reasons enough to explain the inevitable move made by the U.S. to step up its military control over Africa for the sake of protecting its own rights and interests. Apart from anti-terrorism, a prominent reason for the U.S. to establish the African Command resides in the captivating rich reserves of petroleum and other mineral resources in Africa that the U.S. can't resist.

　　Seeking a supportive point for its new strategy

　　Wang Wen (Professor of the Campaign Teaching and Research Department of the National Defense University): In a sense, the U.S. decision to establish the African Command is to fill in a gap in its global strategy of counter-terrorism and to secure for itself a strong point to tighten its control of the whole world.

　　The recent years have heard the clamors of some U.S think tankers and public figures of the military circle urging the U.S. to pay more heed to Africa. They believe that the anti-terrorism situation in Africa is becoming increasingly grave. The American military community is of the view that the activities of raising fund and recruiting personnel in the regions along the Red Sea in the East Africa by Al Qaeda group are extremely worrisome and the U.S. military must take all-round and proactive actions to intervene.

　　And yet, the current setup of the theatre commands of the U.S. forces is not conducive to the control of the East Africa. The entire African continent is under the partitioned jurisdiction of the U.S. European Command, Central Command and Pacific Command. According to the U.S. military, the military operations in Africa now is wanting in unified command and coordination, which has hurt badly the efforts of cracking down on terrorism and other military operations. In the eyes of Pentagon, the establishment of the U.S. African Command is imperative under such circumstances.

　　Improving its realignment of global military deployment

　　Lu Yousheng (Professor of the Strategy Teaching and Research Department of the National Defense University): The establishment of the U.S. African Command mirrors the realignment of the U.S. global military deployment.

　　For a long period of time, the U.S. has anchored its global strategy priorities in Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, leaving Africa the weakest link of its military presence. Presently, as the global war on terror deepens, the U.S. is seeking after clamping down on the source of terrorism by way of maintaining its forward presence. For that reason, the U.S. wants to gradually make good the defect of its insufficient military presence in Africa, reduce the possibility of some countries' possible support to terrorists by means of providing military assistance to these countries, and then integrate these countries into the anti-terrorism military operations launched by the U.S. On the other hand, by maintaining forward presence in Africa, the U.S. can not only respond rapidly to any possible crisis in Africa, but also render effective backup to the U.S. military operations in the Middle East, thus rounding out the American global military realignment.

　　By Zhang Shun

　　(Feb 13, PLA Daily)