Rethinking Africa's Military

Abstract

Abstract The United States and many of its allies pour significant resources into funds for military cooperation and training efforts in Africa. But might that assistance need to be reconfigured both to benefit Africans and to achieve America's long-term objectives? The article first examines Africa's desire for traditional military forces against its actual, questionable need for such. It then looks at two central challenges of African militaries: their tendency to project power and the predatory nature of many of them. To counter those tendencies, incentives must be developed for a “developmental military”—to which end the formation of the new U.S. Africa Command is an opportunity to take a fresh look at the continent based on reality and partnering with African states to build the security forces that they truly need.