American Policy and Africa

On March 29th, IASPS Strategic Fellow Paul Michael Wihbey accompanied the Congressional Chairman of the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House International Relations Committee, Rep. Ed Royce of California as the invited guests of an Editorial Board Briefing by The Washington Times.  Attended by several Times' editors and reporters, Chairman Royce and Fellow Wihbey presented their views on U.S. security policy towards sub-Saharan African. The Times was particularly interested in  Wihbey's contention, first published in the June 28, 1998 edition of Oil & Gas Journal, that the South Atlantic oil-producing zones of West Africa and Latin America were rapidly being transformed into a new energy center of gravity for the United States.

In a March 31st Times follow-up piece, correspondent Gus Constantine wrote, "The Gulf of Guinea is of vital strategic importance to the United States, Mr. Wihbey said. He envisioned a central role for the United States in developing the region, going as far as proposing the creation of a new South Atlantic Command for the U.S. military. It could be similar to Southern Command, the U.S. Command responsible for   Latin America and the Caribbean, he said. Such an energy center in the South Atlantic could lessen American dependence on oil from the Persian Gulf."

Congressman Royce emphasized the need for the United States to steer a different course than the Clinton Administration and to confront radical regimes in Africa, such as Libya and Liberia, while working closely with those countries that seek to broaden democracy.  He went on to say that "the focus in Africa is changing from aid to trade."