By U.S. Army General William E. Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, and Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities, U.S. Africa Command
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WASHINGTON, D.C., 

Oct 1, 2008 — The below transcript is from a press conference in Washington, D.C. on October 1, 2008 with U.S. Army General William E. Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command and Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates, Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities, U.S. Africa Command.

During the press conference Ward and Yates answered questions relating to anti-piracy operations, protection of Africa's energy infrastructure, counter-terrorism efforts, the situation in Darfur and Sudan, and more.


COLONEL FRANKLIN CHILDRESS: This is Colonel Franklin Childress. I'm the public affairs officer for the United States Africa Command. And joining us today we have General Kip Ward, who is the commander of Africa Command, and Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates. So if you have questions, General Ward will make a short opening statement, and then we're going to open the floor for some question-and-answer. He's going to have to go because he's the guest of honor at a reception, but he has time for a few questions. So, without any further ado, General Ward.

GENERAL KIP WARD: How many of you guys do I know? One or two of you, right?

(CROSSTALK)

GEN. WARD: Yes, sir, I'll go wherever you want. (Repositions himself for cameras)

Well, it's good to see you here. Thanks a lot.

Obviously this is an important day and we're just happy to be able to stand up our nation's newest command, U.S. Africa Command. And our work is -- as I've indicated -- is to do as good a job as we can in helping Africans promote and provide for their own security and doing it in a collaborative way with other agencies of our government in support of their efforts and, obviously, our international friends as well.

This is a work that is not just beginning. We are continuing what has been going on, on the continent -- but hopefully through this construct, focusing it in a that was to bring a greater value to our collective efforts. With that, I will be happy to take a few questions.

COL. CHILDRESS: Let's go around the room. Sir, right here.

Q: General, as you know, piracy has been in the news a lot recently. What, if any new initiatives, does AFRICOM plan to launch to train local navies and coast guards, specifically in the Horn of Africa, to combat pirates?

GEN. WARD: What we do is work with our African partners and friends. We all know that the piracy that is going on is detrimental to stability, is detrimental to development and with the recent announcement by both the United Nations as well as what our government said about it, with our military activities associated with carrying out those policies, it is now this command that will be responsible for carrying those out.

We have been developing activities with coastal and littoral nations of the continent in the past and we continue to work with them with their equipping, with their training techniques, for instance, boarding techniques, techniques that they would use to help track what's going on within their territorial waters. We look to continue to work with them as they tell us what things they think are important as they continue to provide for their borders and territorial security.

Q: Has the transitional Somali government or the Ethiopians, have they requested more help along these lines?

GEN. WARD: Not to me, so, as we begin this effort and as we transfer those missions over from Central Command, we will certainly understand what has been going on and then look to enhance upon those things that are within our means to do.

COL. CHILDRESS: Any other ques Sir, right here.

Q: Yeah, I had a question about energy issues. As you know, one of the problems that you're burdened under was that the United States wants this command to protect oil, basically. That's one of the myths, the perceptions out there. But the reality is that more oil comes from the western part of Africa in the Persian Gulf these days. So I guess that construct -- I want to ask is, do you envision a time when AFRICOM might set up a system for protecting the infrastructure in West Africa, the energy infrastructure, comparable to our efforts in the Gulf to preserve the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz?

GEN. WARD: No.

Q: Why not?

GEN .WARD: African nations provide for their own security. We are not doing it. Those are sovereign nations. We work with them as they seek to do things to do what you just said. We, the United States of America, do not do that.

Q: Is there any kind of plan or potential to do that?

GEN. WARD: Not that I'm aware of.

Q: Okay. Thanks.

GEN. WARD: Thank you.

COL. CHILDRESS: Any other questions?

Q: General, when does AFRICOM take the Horn of Africa away from CENTCOM, and do you envision reaching out to Somalia at that point to --

GEN. WARD: As we stand up today as a unified command, those activities, the responsibility for that geographic space belongs to U.S. Africa Command. There are significant activities that don't just happen. We are all Americans. So we will work over the course of the coming weeks to continue to transition those activities so that, for our partners, things that have been done aren't seen as some step or stop in what has occurred so that we can provide, to the degree that our policy indicates, the level of military support that would be appropriate to doing so. And so, it's not a finite line. We are responsible. We will continue to work with our partners, both in Europe as well as in Central Command -- European Command and Central Command -- to ensure that the transition of those activities is as seamless as possible in what we are doing in so far as our military activities are concerned.

COL. CHILDRESS: Right here.

Q: General, this may seem an obvious question. But is your primary mission hard power or soft power?

GEN. WARD: Our primary mission is to work with the nations of Africa and their organizations to assist them in increasing their capacity to provide for their own security. In doing so, we complement the activities of others in our government. With respect to development, we are there to help increase the security capacity of our African partners to provide for their own security, recognizing that that is a combination of hard power and soft power.

COL. CHILDRESS: Right here, sir.

Q: General, I understand that CENTCOM is basically in charge of anti-piracy operations at sea off the coast of Africa. Are there any plans to transfer that responsibility over to AFRICOM?

GEN. WARD: Again, as we continue to evolve our relationships, our mission, there is an opportunity to continue to look at that as well. But for the time being, things that are in place remain in place; transitioning those activities over time will likely occur. But I don't have a timetable for when any of those things are scheduled to occur just yet.

COL. CHILDRESS: Yes, right here.

Q: General, HOA, CJTF-HOA (Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa) has a counter-terror mission as well. How do you incorporate that into what seems to be more of an interagency effort inside Africa Command.

GEN. WARD: Well, the military-to-military activities of the command are designed to address security issues on the continent, as are determined by African partners, African nations. They include terrorist threats. It includes smuggling threats, human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal fishing in territorial waters. So as we work across those range of activities with, for example, we work with partner nations to address those range of activities, we will do those things that we have traditionally been doing, not just in the Horn of Africa but also in our OEF-TS (Operation Enduring Freedom-Trans-Sahara) mission set in the north of Africa, as well as working with other nations where they want to do a more effective job in addressing the threats that they perceive to their governments and to their peoples.

COL. CHILDRESS: Question right here.

Q: General, how do you see the relationship with AFRICOM evolving in the situation in Darfur in Sudan? Secretary Gates even said that this was experimental at this point but will continue to evolve. Where do you see that relationship going?

GEN. WARD: First thing that I'm sure you understand -- Kip Ward nor the United States Africa Command, we do not make our policy. Where our foreign policy determines that there is some role that has a military application, then we will be the command to carry out those military applications, as we have done in the past, as we have assisted peacekeepers who have gone to Darfur and their training support as well as providing logistics support where possible as they have moved forward to address some of those issues.

Q: But as a commander, you do have the ability to recommend action in something like Darfur. So now that you've taken it over, now that you've stood up, what is your -- what do you think the U.S. Africa Command should do?

GEN. WARD: I think before I say anything like that I should talk to my policy makers, because that's something that would begin as a recommendation to them.

Q: Sir, a lot of the things that you've talked about, military-to-military, security assistance is stuff you're already doing. So what's going to change? How is this going to change that?

GEN. WARD: I think that's a great question because it's not a matter of what's going to change, It's going to be an effort design to do what we already do but do it better. The myth of great changes and all sorts of different things is, that quite frankly, frighten some people, is not what it's about. It's about doing what we do, and doing it as effectively as we can do it, because there is now a command that's focused on Africa, unlike in the past, that's focused on the continent, working with the nations of the continent and their organizations, working with others who have similar interests but in a dedicated, day-to-day focused way hopefully being able to bring about other goals that, over time, will provide for a more secure situation, a more stable environment to allow that stability to flourish.

Q: And sustained

GEN. WARD: Sustained security engagement, being there, going back, so that things can be built upon. That's what's different.

Q: General Ward, there's been a lot of resistance to the concept on the continent. Do you feel enough has been done to explain or win over the folks who are now receiving AFRICOM?

GEN. WARD: We are always working to explain as best we can what we're doing. More significantly, our programs demonstrate what we're doing, and as that becomes more and more apparent and goes back to, well, we don't see things different, don't see invading members, bases, garrisons being stood up because it's not about that. And so, as that occurs, we do see a change and a greater receptivity.

When I ask the question, those things that we have been doing, do you want those things to stop, the answer is no. When I ask the question, those things that we have we been doing, would you like to see those being done more effectively, the answer is yes. That's what this command is about, making those programs more effective.

COL. CHILDRESS: Sir, right here.

Q: General, I believe the House (of Representatives) approved funding for AFRICOM for FY '09 that lacks about $123 million that was requested for the command. If that money does not materialize, what effect will it have on operations going forward? Will there be things that you won't be able to do, for example, or will there be things that you won't be able to continue to do?

GEN. WARD: Well, I certainly recognize the nature of our economic environment. And so, the things that we ask for are things that we saw as, again, when we submitted our president's budget several months ago, that we saw as important for us to be able to do. Clearly, if that amount in its totality is not provided, then we will adjust; we will prioritize, and we will do those things that we need to do to continue to bring value added to our programs.

And I think that's -- will we be able to do everything that we would have liked to have done? Maybe not. But we will do those things that are important and essential, and we'll reprioritize as required so that those activities that we do engage in make a difference in support of our foreign policy and our national security objectives.

Q: Can you quantify in some form what you might not be able to do or how the operation might have to change if that money is not forthcoming?

GEN. WARD: I can't because that's a -- it's a program. It's not a series of discrete events. So how we put the program together we will adjust and we will redefine. I'm not sure just yet what those final numbers are. You've indicated them and I'm not quite sure what that is -- the final piece that would be signed out by the president. But, whatever it is, we will look at it and then adjust our program accordingly.

COL. CHILDRESS: Is there somebody who had a question for Ambassador Yates? I think you had a question.

Q: Yeah, I did. There's going to be a lot of expectation. Ambassador, well you represent the diplomacy part of it. There's going to be a lot expectation that an AFRICOM could prevent a tragedy, a Darfur tragedy going forward. Looking back, how would you address the question, if AFRICOM was in place five years ago, what impact might it have had on the Sudan situation and the Darfur situation?

AMB. YATES: I don't know that my answer will address the Darfur situation or any specific tragedy that's occurred on the continent. But what I can say from being there this year with General Ward and the team that we have built at AFRICOM is, already the integration of the interagency into the command is value-added on a daily basis because, before we reach back to Washington, you know, to our interagencies, we're already educating each other, informing each other so we're having a better discussion about what should be our priorities, what should be our programs, what is our lane in the military, what we should ask Washington to rethink on the NSC (National Security Council) level et cetera.

So I think, you know, we are building a team and something very unique. We're not there yet, but every day, every month when we had our exercise to qualify to become a unified command, it was the interagency team that added a lot to that dialogue and that discussion.

Q: Okay. Is it fair to say that as part of a sustained engagement, you might have seen a Darfur situation bubbling before it actually exploded into a horrendous situation?

AMB. YATES: I've spent almost two decades on the continent, and you do see crises coming, but you never exactly understand how they're going to unfold. We have, you know -- I never know whether I'm DOD or State, but -- I mean, the State Department has outstanding representation on the continent watching, monitoring, even with our allies, you know. Can we forget everything? No. But, I mean, as things -- I mean, I was in the Congo when Rwanda started to unroll and you listened to the journalists who came back. But it doesn't mean that that makes it easy to come up with the answers or understand how it's really going to unfold.

Q: Thank you.

COL. CHILDRESS: Did you have a question for Ambassador Yates?

Q: I do. Ambassador, first, congratulations on the symbolism of (inaudible).

AMB. YATES: My heart is there.

Q: Second, I'm wondering if your colleagues in State are watching this relationship with an eye to perhaps changing how they work with the other commands?

ADM. YATES: I think probably you have to ask that to the State Department. But certainly some of the other commands have turned to General Ward and asked how we're doing it and what we're doing in the integration of the interagency. So I think that's something that will happen over time.

COL. CHILDRESS We have time for one more question.

Q: (Cross talk, inaudible.) from your colleagues?

AMB. YATES: There are colleagues who are interested in this pilot project or whatever we're doing.

COL. CHILDRESS: Is there anybody who has one last question? Okay, I think we're done. Thank you very much.

GEN. WARD: Thank you, all.