With all the hype, surrounding the sky rocketing prices of crude from the Middle East it was surprising to this reviewer that the United States is already importing more oil from Africa than from Saudi Arabia. How is this possible? It appears that Africa has long been known for containing 10% of the world’s oil reserves but extracting it did not seem worth the effort or risk until advancing technology and the feeling of being held hostage by OPEC made it a viable option to the major big oil conglomerates. However, while Africa may relieve the strain of current markets and make the price more flexible their reserves are not large enough to replace the Middle East as the world’s major supplier of crude oil.

So, why is there concern about American involvement in Africa? It appears that in December Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. Special Forces, who played a key role in the planning and execution of the invasion of Somalia, toppled the Islamic Courts Union government leaving a trail of chaos and bitterness in a country that was on the verge of being at peace. The resulting uprisings, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, has resulted in the population of Mogadishu being caught up in the worst fighting in more than 15 years. It also appears that since 2002 there have been more than 1,500 American troops stationed in nearby Djibouti (the smallest country in the strategic Horn of Africa) and as of the end of 2006, the Bush administration was planning an expansion of its Camp Lemonier military base in Djibouti from its present 88 acres to more than 600 acres.

Another article, this time from the Indian magazine  “Frontline”, claims that the Bush administration’s military initiatives, such as a decision in February to create a United States military command for Africa, is widely seen by the world at large as being motivated primarily by the greed for oil. Of course as always “Africom”, as it is called, is being propagandized to the American people as a means to enhance efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and is targeted to be a functional unit by the end of 2008. To obtain this security there are credible reports that the United States participated in the bombing of parts of southern Somalia, and after more than a decade, are participating in special operations inside of Somalia going so far as to provide the Ethiopian army with satellite pictures of Somali militia positions.

It would seem to me that the Bush administration is causing terror to once again reign in the streets of Mogadishu, having incited the militant islamists in the region to action, rather than defending America against the threat of terror on our own soil.  Then again there are the countries of Sudan and
Zimbabwe that are high on Bush’s list of African countries needing regime change which he hopes to accomplish through a subterfuge of humanitarian intervention.  Given these facts, most observers of the African scene view the Bush administration’s new military initiative for the African continent as being motivated primarily by the greed for oil with four major U.S. oil companies standing to harvest the profits of this bonanza. Meanwhile, The Bush Administration continues to insist that the sole aim of Africom is to counter terrorism while U.S. critics, such as Nicol Lee of Trans-Africa, describes the American move as “nothing short of a sovereignty and resource grab”. Lee said that the new Bush plan “is an expansion of a policy that has brought destruction and terror to the peoples of the Middle East …

Yet another reason has surfaced for America’s interest in Somalia which is its strategic position that would make it ideal as a launch pad for invading Iran and Sudan. Additionally, a stable Somalia would make it possible for Africom to set up a regional base of operations with the potential to insure control over the Strait of Hormuz, the major gateway for Middle Eastern oil. The US establishing control of the Horn falls in line with its overall strategy of establishing a military presence in areas rich in natural resources and controlling access to them. So, if these facts are true it is easy to see how the current administration could create a situation that would result in an African oil war led by the United States in an attempt to control the flow of oil in and out of the region.

[tags]African oil, American bombing of Somalia, Natural resources, Big oil, African war, Regime change in Somalia, Straight of Hormuz, Africom, Controlling oil and natural resources[/tags]