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STUTTGART, Germany - General Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, addresses a group of visiting media from Senegal during a briefing at the AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, August 26, 2011. Throughout the week, the Senegalese delegation met with senior military officials, visited military and local news organizations, and received briefings on AFRICOM programs related to Senegal. (U.S. AFRICOM photo by Nancy Hudson)

STUTTGART, Germany, 

Aug 26, 2011 — The commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General Carter F. Ham, discussed the command's role in helping African militaries develop and strengthen their capabilities to address security challenges during an interview August 26, 2011, with Senegalese journalists.

Ham explained AFRICOM's two fundamental principles: a safe, stable and secure Africa is in the best interests not only for African countries, but for the United States as well, and the recognition that Africans are best able to address African security issues.

"...what we seek to do with our African partners where they -- in places where we are invited -- is to help African militaries become more capable, to be subordinate to civilian government, to operate under the rule of law, to be respectful of and protective of the peoples of their country," Ham said.

The interview culminated a visit by six Senegalese journalists and two Senegalese military public affairs officers to learn more about AFRICOM's organization, operations, exercises, and military-to-military security cooperation programs.

See related article: AFRICOM Commander Interviewed by Senegalese Media

Below is the transcript of the interview:

(Note: General Ham's remarks were translated into French.)

GENERAL CARTER F. HAM: â? Well, thank you very much for making the long trip to Stuttgart. I hope that your trip has been enjoyable so far. It's really good to see you here, and my wife reported last night that she had an enjoyable time meeting you.

But I'm especially glad to see you here because it's very important to the United States to encourage a free and open press in all the countries that we interact with. Your role, your responsibilities in a democratic society is very, very important. We think -- those of us in the military -- we think we also have an important role in a democratic society. So while we don't always agree on things, I think our interests are the same in that we want our nations always to be strong.

Now I know that since you've been here, you've attended many briefings, so I'm not going to give you another briefing. What I'm really interested in is hearing your questions.

But just to start, let me just describe two fundamental principles for United States Africa Command. The first principle is simply that a safe, stable and secure Africa is in the best interests not only of the African countries, but of my country as well. The second principle is that we recognize that it is Africans who are best able to address African security issues. What we at the United States Africa Command seek to do is to find ways that we can help African militaries contribute to their own security. So one of our characteristics is that we like to listen to our African partners to hear from them how we may be able to assist.

That's probably enough of me talking because our time is short. So let's see what you want to talk about.

(cross talk)

Question: The United States has had throughout history some confrontational strategies toward certain issues, and it seems like that confrontation has been transported, if you may, into Africa. Is AFRICOM just a ploy for the United States to get a foothold on the continent?

GENERAL HAM: No. It's very clear to me that Africa is -- the countries of Africa are increasingly important on the world scene. Whether one thinks about economic issues or diplomatic issues or security issues, Africa is rising in importance. And for that reason, my government decided a few years ago that we should have a military command that was established specifically and exclusively to engage with the armed forces of the African nations.

So what we seek to do with our African partners where they -- in places where we are invited -- is to help African militaries become more capable, to be subordinate to civilian government, to operate under the rule of law, to be respectful of and protective of the peoples of their country.

Question: Thank you, General. My question relates to AFRICOM's involvement in the Sahara region. Is there some sort of activity of AFRICOM's in that area? Are there AFRICOM, quote, unquote, "agents" in that region in the fight against terrorism?

GENERAL HAM: We view the threat posed by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb as a very serious threat not only to African people but to us as well. This organization has demonstrated through their willingness to kidnap, to kill people, that they are indeed a dangerous organization. And I am increasingly concerned about their stated intent to associate more closely with the main al-Qaida but also to collaborate with smaller, other terrorist organizations such as al-Shabaab in East Africa or Boko Haram in Nigeria.

So, several of the nations in North and Western Africa have asked us for some assistance. So where we are asked, we provide some training -- in some cases, some equipping of the nation's forces -- so that they can be more capable in countering this threat from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. But our role is one of support and training, not one of actually conducting operations. For many, many reasons, it's better for the Africans to address this problem. But if we can help, we'd like to do that. The other area we try to help in this matter is to increase the cooperation of the regional countries.

Question: Thank you, sir, General. Thank you for your time and for meeting with us. What I would like to know is if you could give us an assessment of your activities in Africa in general and especially an evaluation of the impact that your activities have had in different regions of Africa -- by country, by region, if possible.

GENERAL HAM: Yeah, that's a big -- it's a big question. (laughter.)

GENERAL HAM: If I may start in the East, where there are a number of difficult problems, for us, the highest priority is al-Qaida and al-Shabab. But as with other things, we try to help Africans address these problems. So, for example, we do not operate in Somalia, but we train Ugandan and Burundi forces who do operate in Somalia. And those very good soldiers, very brave soldiers from those countries, have had some recent success. That's the type of mission where we have the greatest effect.

In East Africa, as you know, there is also a very severe problem with piracy. And to be honest, we have had less success in countering piracy than I would have liked. At present, the famine in East Africa is a very, very high concern for us. So we are coordinating with the relief organizations; so if they have any requests of us that we -- that we would be ready to respond to those requests should they need assistance.

If we shift now to the -- to North Africa, our recent activities, of course, have been dominated by activities in Libya. And as you will recall, in the middle of March, when operations began, they were controlled by me and by our headquarters here for the first few weeks. But since the first of April, as you know, NATO has controlled those operations. In that -- in the time since then, we have been thinking about and planning for what happens after the conflict ends in the Libya.

And again, I don't think there will be a significant role for the U.S. military, and I don't think we will have any troops stationed in Libya. In fact, our president has been very clear that there will not be American forces in Libya. But we remain looking for opportunities to help the neighbors or to otherwise contribute to security in a new Libya.

We'll come back to your region last.

And the central part of Africa is perhaps the most difficult area for us to operate. A wide -- a large number of extremist groups with a variety of motivations really complicates the security challenges in Central Africa. And so we seek to assist the countries of Central Africa, those who would like assistance and help addressing those threats.

And in the south, you will not be surprised that South Africa exerts the most significant influence in the south. And we just concluded the largest U.S.-South African exercise to be conducted since the end of apartheid.

So, let's go now to West Africa, where the threats are very diverse and the distances are very challenging. There is the threat of al-Qaida, as we've just discussed. There is a threat of piracy which is -- in my view is getting worse rather than better. There is the challenge of illegal narcotics and other illegal trafficking.

So the challenges are many. And again, what we seek to do is partner with individual nations who seek our assistance. For example â? so, for example, in Senegal, where we have a very, very strong naval cooperation. And as stated before, we seek to find ways to increase regional cooperation in West Africa. I've not yet been to CCÃte d'Ivoire, but I'll go [soon]. As that country, as you know, has recently emerged from a difficult time, we'll seek to see ways in which they may want our assistance.

So that's a very brief review of the continent. As you know, the security challenges across Africa are very diverse and very complex. We could stay here for days and not talk about all of the challenges.

Question: I was going to ask about -- a question about trafficking -- drug trafficking, but you covered it pretty well answering the previous question. So I'm going to ask something different. You spoke about a lot of countries in North and Western Africa who had requested support in combatting terrorism. I would like to know what countries requested that sort of assistance; and if Senegal was one, and what kind of assistance it asked, if it did.

GENERAL HAM: I've found over time that it's best for the countries themselves to talk about specific matters. But I'll give you just an example of the type of request that we -- that we often receive. In some of the countries -- particularly some of the countries that do not have a long tradition of professional military or democratic government -- they sometimes request of us some additional training and sometimes equipment to help their armed forces become more effective in dealing with this terrorist threat.

Some of the training is pretty basic and would be -- would be well-known to you, such as, how do you enter or exit an aircraft, weapons training, explosives training, those kinds of things. Some of the training is more complicated; for example, intelligence analysis and subjects such as that.

The other thing we try to do where the African nations are willing is to try to bring together the armed forces of several nations so that they become increasingly experienced and comfortable working with one another. So we try where we can to conduct training exercises that involve the military forces of many countries. I think you learned about the exercise called Flintlock. This is one of the most successful exercises in this regard. It brings together the special forces of many different countries, and it allows them to train and practice together in a very realistic scenario.

Question: It's never fun to be last.

GENERAL HAM: Next time, we'll start -- we'll go the other way (laughter) --

Question: My question -- thank you, General. And my question is with the economic crisis that the United States is going through. Is that going to affect the budget of AFRICOM? And if yes, to what extent, and how will that impact your activities?

GENERAL HAM: I think, like many nations, we are going to see our budget affected. I don't yet know what the effect will be, but my assumption is that I will have less money next year than I have had this year and probably less money the year after that. So it creates a difficult situation. It causes us to do two things. The first is we must be very precise in the prioritization of the command's efforts. So when I -- when I travel or members of the command travel and engage and discuss matters with their -- with our African partners, we ask them for a very clear prioritization of their requirements.

These are very hard decisions. We sometimes ask our African partners to make a hard choice. Do they need pilot training in aircraft maintenance, or do they need assistance with ships and training and ship maintenance? So a difficult prioritization is the first impact.

The second impact is related to the previous question. We will seek opportunities for regional training and exercises involving many nations, rather than bilateral exercises with just one nation, because we find when we are able to bring many nations together, to include our own nation, we have a greater effect than if we do a number of simply bilateral events. But the uncertainty of the budget creates for us a difficult problem at present.

Well, thanks. Those were all very good questions, very tough questions. That convinces me that the Senegalese press is alive and well. As some of you know, I was able to make a very brief visit to Dakar, but I -- and it was great to meet the president, General Fall and the minister of defense and others. But I'll come back if the -- if the president and the U.S. ambassador allow me to come back. And if I am able to come back, which I -- which I hope, perhaps we could meet again in Dakar and continue this conversation.

It's the first time I've ever been to Dakar, and though it was very brief, I really enjoyed it, but we only saw a little bit of the city. And so I'd like to see not only more of the city but also to get out of the city and see more of the country next time. Again, thank you for making the trip to Stuttgart. This is important for us. I hope that it is important for you.

Question: I know there's a lot that's being done as far as informing not only the partners but the world about what AFRICOM is all about, what they do and how they do it and why they do it. I know there's a lot of effort done by officials from public affairs. Is there -- are there plans for public affairs officials of AFRICOM and officers of AFRICOM to partner with public affairs officers from partner countries?

GENERAL HAM: Yes, I mean, if that's -- if that's something that the -- that the nation would like and that the armed forces of that nation are interested in -- in fact, we have such partnerships and such relationships with some African militaries, some of whom are just beginning to have a public affairs office. So we're ready to do that and think that can be a very valuable part of our assistance. I suspect if you invited Colonel Davis to Dakar, he would say yes. (Laughter.)

Well again, thank you very much for making this trip. It's great to see you. And I do hope to see you again on the next trip to Senegal. Thanks. Thank you very much.

(END)