Gen Carter F. Ham
Commander
United States Africa Command (AFRICOM)
Kinshasa, August 18, 2011
Photo: John Bompengo/Radio Okapi
It's been less than 5 full months since early March when Gen Carter F. Ham replaced Gen William "Kip" Ward at the helm of AFRICOM, after his confirmation by the Senate on November 18, 2010. But Gen Ham isn't a man to sit and fidget in his office at the Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany. He's already crisscrossing the African continent, arriving this time around in Kinshasa, and paying, between talks with government authorities and Congolese military top brass, a lightning visit at the FARDC academy, the Centre Supérieur Militaire (CSM) where he gave a talk to officers on August 19, before flying to Kisangani, then heading straight to the northeasterrnmost tip of Orientale Province, at Dungu, by the border with the Republic of South Sudan.
Gen Carter F. Ham
August 19
Kinshasa, Centre Supérieur Militaire (CSM)
Dungu and Faradje, buffer zones of the Garamba Park, a natural preserve that has turned into the feeding ground of the Ugandan armed millenarian sect Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), are particularly major security and humanitarian disasters that are often under the radar of the international media. According to a recent assessment by UNHCR, waves after waves of more than 48,000 IDPs have been streaming into Dungu alone to escape the murderous rampages of the LRA in their villages.
But the actual mission of Gen Ham at Dungu was much narrower and sharply focused. He wanted to get a first-hand feel of the FARDC 391st Commando battalion, a 750 strong force trained by AFRICOM in Kisangani, deployed in the area to combat the LRA. The general is about to make a very important decision that could kill or let thrive the U.S. military assistance in the country's reform of the security sector.
The way this battalion behaves on the ground will determine furthering or not the involvement of AFRICOM in training the Congolese military--especially in light of the proverbial lack of professionalism of the FARDC when dealing with civilians. This is what Gen Ham let his audience understand in Kisangani--something to the effect that quality control of the 391st battalion at Dungu would be critical in helping him make positive recommendations for the program continuance. With the exception of Radio Okapi, the Congolese media felt, however, that Gen Ham was set to authorize the training of another FARDC battalion at Camp Base, 10 km from the provincial capital.
The misunderstanding of the Congolese media is underlied by the national collective wishful thinking at seeing AFRICOM choose Congo as its headquarters in Africa.
Strangely, everyone now wants to see AFRICOM stay forever in Kisangani, including vociferous nationalists who, just months ago, were screaming "colonialism" when the US Special Operations Command Africa went to the provincial capital of Orientale to train the FARDC 391st commando battalion.
Well, the windfall of the presence of AFRICOM for the surrounding region is palpable, beyond the military training of the FARDC per se--though it is worth noting that the Americans trained not only fighting personnel but as well "supporting medical and engineering personnel and trainers who can bring similar training to other units within the Armed Forces of the DRC"!
The real immediate impact on the civilian population of Kisangani was the agriculture initiative set up near Camp Base by the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture with FARDC AgCo (Compagnie Agricole) for providing "sustainable methods of food production" ranging from "fish farming to the cultivation of cassava."
Besides, AFRICOM can deploy jaw-dropping PR operations. For example, a few months ago, when I was in Kinshasa, AFRICOM set up for a few weeks a free dental care in the neighborhood of Matonge where Kinois who'd never seen a dentist in their lives crowded the open air clinic tent from 8 AM to 5 PM. On seeing that, a politician went as far as to say on television that if AFRICOM still needed a permanent home in Africa, they'd certainly be welcome in Kinshasa. Kinshasa? No way! It should be in Kisangani...
Charlie company
AFRICOM-trained 391st Commando Battalion
Graduation Parade
Camp Base, Kisangani
September 15, 2010
U.S. Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Christine Clark
0 comments:
Post a Comment