A clearinghouse of the U.S. Africa Command's senior leader's updates on issues important at AFRICOM.
We encourage your comments and feedback.
Click here to see our public feedback
On 9/23/2009 3:03:30 PM Vince Crawley, U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs wrote
We often claim we're a listening and learning organization, so here are a few things we learned while recently hosting six people from Cameroon for a U.S. Embassy-funded visit.
Meeting with German officials in Stuttgart, they explained that Cameroon was a former German colony, up until World War I. They respect the quality of the infrastructure left behind by the Germans almost a century ago -- bridges, buildings, roads, entire towns. To this day in Cameroon the word "German" is used to describe anything that is strong and long-lasting.
In common with Canada, the two official languages of Cameroon are French and English
Cameroon has 250 languages and ethnic groups and was created from former colonies of Great Britain and France. This diverse group of people is united by its football (soccer) team, and I was particularly impressed when a senior staff officer from 17th Air Force at Ramstein Air Base was able to spend ten minutes discussing Cameroonian football past, present and future (the next World Cup takes place in South Africa in 2010).
Cameroonians think of themselves as being at home in many regions and cultures. They are both West African and Central African.
Cameroon is relatively well-to-do by African standards . There is no USAID mission in the country, where the average per capita GDP is $2,300 (for comparison, that's twice the per capital GDP of neighboring Nigeria, according to U.S. Department of State statistics).
About 20,000 non-Africans, including more than 6,000 French and 2,400 U. S. citizens, reside in Cameroon.
If you give a book to a Cameroonian, we were told, you're really sharing a book with ten people. They value books and education, and any books given as gifts will be widely shared. My wife was told this during a dinner conversation when she offered one of her own journalism books to the visitors and was assured it would be read by many people.
It's fair to say that several of the visitors from Cameroon arrived with a healthy skepticism about U.S. Africa Command. They thought AFRICOM was focused on looking for bases. They said they were worried we work too closely with European nations that were former colonial powers in Africa. They were concerned that our primary interest is securing oil. We addressed these perceptions with openness, letting them walk around Kelley Barracks and talk to people from throughout the command, from staff officers to our most senior leaders. We also helped them meet with local German and international officials who have worked for the U.S. military for decades. The Cameroon visitors said they appreciated the transparency and were impressed with the idea, widely expressed, that the U.S. military belongs to the people of the United States, and that the people have a right to know about what their military is doing.
They told us we can do a better job in Africa by ensuring that our work in African nations in undertaken with this same level of openness we showed them Stuttgart. For example, the visit to Cameroon earlier this year by the USS Nashville was particularly well received because the ship invited journalists and local officials aboard, and also sent ashore teams of military people to work in the local community. If Africa Command can build this kind of two-way interaction into as many programs as possible, they said, we'll go a long way toward building a partnership of trust with the people of the nations of Africa.
On 9/29/2009 2:11:03 PM Anonymous in Unspecified wrote Why don't you start the ARFICOM book drive by for Cameroon. Just a thought.
PA mission to Ethiopia 1/8/2011 · By Airman 1st Class Jevon Smith
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa strategic communication combat camera videographer
VETCAP in Negele 1/8/2011 · Captain David Creech
402nd Civil Affairs Battalion functional specialty team veterinarian
Visiting Our Teams over the Holidays 1/4/2011 · Rear Admiral Brian Losey, commander, and Captain John Dixon, chief of staff, Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa
From LTC David Knellinger on 9/10/2012 2:02:03 PM "The Central Africa Region Environmental Security Symposium, hosted by the United States Africa Command Environmental Security Program and the United Nations Environmental Programme..." (Read Full Entry)
From Brigadier General Stayce Harris on 7/19/2012 8:54:32 AM "The following blog is by Brigadier General Stayce Harris, U.S. Africa Command's mobilization reserve assistant to the commander.
Over the past 2 years, I have had the..." (Read Full Entry)
Herman in Pretoria wrote on 9/23/2012 5:46:33 PM "Awesome aircraft, thank you for the display! It is most appreciated...." (Read Full Entry)
Paul in UK wrote on 8/22/2012 9:16:10 AM "I was also involved in the communications training at Kisangani and share Michel Beya's comments I'm sure we met. What I saw was a very well trained battalion and hope that..." (Read Full Entry)
Mark in Fort Leavenworth wrote on 8/21/2012 10:25:29 PM "False allegations against Commander USAFRICOM appear to be in fashion. It is shameful that someone felt the need to assassinate the character of the previous commander — one ..." (Read Full Entry)
Anonymous in Unspecified wrote on 8/21/2012 10:06:10 PM "Glad to see this, and would love to see more. It's about time we start calling out publications that feel free to write whatever they want based on rumors and myths and not fac..." (Read Full Entry)
Anonymous in Unspecified wrote on 8/21/2012 10:03:43 PM "Congratulations for calling Ethiopian Review on the carpet. The contributor who stated that the clarification was not warranted is clearly very near sighted. It is exactly those so..." (Read Full Entry)