U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs  Print     Share  

ABUJA, Nigeria, 

Aug 22, 2011 — General Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, met with senior Nigerian defense officials and U.S. Embassy personnel during his first visit to Nigeria August 16, 2011.

In addition to attending various meetings with officials, Ham also spoke to members of Nigerian media organizations during a press event where he discussed the shared commonality of security challenges between Nigeria and the U.S.

"As we look to the future and we look at those things that can undermine security in your country and in mine, we share a lot in common," said Ham. "So what I’m looking for in this first visit is first of all the opportunity to meet many important Nigerian leaders, to meet our ambassador and our country team here in Abuja, but more specifically to explore opportunities for us to strengthen and further the cooperation between the armed forces of the United States and the armed forces of Nigeria."

The general also fielded questions from the media on various topics, including the headquarters location, future training and support opportunities between AFRICOM and the Nigerian military, and handling civil unrest and cross-border crimes.

Below is the transcript of the press event:

AMBASSADOR TERENCE MCCULLEY: (In progress) – your tenure at AFRICOM – (inaudible) – the new Jonathan administration is a signal and a symbol of the strength of the U.S.-Nigeria bilateral relationship and the importance we attach to that relationship and the importance we attach to Nigeria’s very significant role in regional security.

Without further ado, I’d like to turn the floor over the General Ham. And then we would happy to take your questions.

General, welcome to Nigeria.

GENERAL CARTER HAM: Well, thank you very much, ambassador. It is a great honor to be here.

The ambassador is exactly right. About five months or so ago when I joined U.S. Africa Command, one of the places I wanted to come early on was to Nigeria because of the great importance that Nigeria has, and it’s not only its bilateral relationship with my country but its effect regionally and in fact continentally across Africa.

The ambassador suggested – and obviously we always defer to the ambassador – that it might be wait – it would be best to wait until after the elections, get through that and the formation of the government. So we did, and here we are. So this is, for me, a long-anticipated visit, though clearly my first visit to this country.

People say, so, why – you know, why are you interested in Nigeria and why should the – why is the United States military specifically interested in Nigeria? And I would say it’s simply because our two nations share a great commonality of security challenges. As we look to the future and we look at those things that can undermine security in your country and in mine, we share a lot in common. So what I’m looking for in this first visit is first of all the opportunity to meet many important Nigerian leaders, to meet our ambassador and our country team here in Abuja, but more specifically to explore opportunities for us to strengthen and further the cooperation between the armed forces of the United States and the armed forces of Nigeria.

I think there’s much that we can do in the future to strengthen that partnership, though much that we have done over the past several years, as indicated that there is already a strong bond between our two militaries. And my goal, along with the chief of defense staff and others here in Nigeria, are to seek opportunities to make those bonds even stronger so that we can advance the interests of our nations simultaneously.

So thanks again for joining us. (Side conversation.)

AMB. MCCULLEY: Thank you, General…

Ladies and gentlemen, over to you. Please identify yourselves and your outlet as you pose your question.

Q: Yeah, my name is – (name inaudible). I work for Guardian newspapers. Two quick questions – first, can you avail us with the details of any partnership AFRICOM has with the Nigerian military or ECOWAS towards the security of the Gulf of Guinea. Do you have such and what are the details of the areas of cooperation between Nigeria and AFRICOM in things like this war against terrorism, (inaudible) and criminal activities?

GEN. HAM: Good, thanks. Those are – those are the areas – the areas that you have identified are the areas where I think our cooperation can be the strongest. First, to talk about ECOWAS – it’s my view in my first few months of traveling in Africa and specifically throughout West Africa that Nigeria’s role regionally and specifically with ECOWAS is a very, very important role. And so we will look for opportunities for United States Africa Command to further enhance that regional capability. After this interview, I will be traveling to the ECOWAS headquarters to meet with some of their leaders to further explore what we might do. But some examples could be the conduct of regional exercises, bringing the ECOWAS nations together in a more cooperative manner to practice the military involvement, for example, in a disaster relief scenario or in provision of humanitarian assistance in an area of West Africa that might be affected.

So we’ll look for ways that we can enhance cooperation in communication, in logistics, transportation and in other ways. I think there is much that we can do and should be doing to help foster regional cooperation.

With specifics to security in the Gulf of Guinea, maritime security, this is an area where probably in the recent past, our military-to-military partnership has been the strongest. We have a program that we call the Africa Partnership Station, with which Nigeria is a leading partner in that program. And it is a mechanism by which we bring U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, training and personnel into West Africa to help – to help build our own capacity, build our own situational awareness and understanding but also to help build the capability of our partners. As recently as two days ago, there was a U.S. Navy vessel here, the high-speed vessel Swift, which was here to conduct some exercises as part of that exercise.

Specifically also in the area of maritime security, we are in the process of finalizing the refurbishment of a United States Coast Guard vessel, which is – which is – which is now under the control of the Nigerian Navy. And we’re seeing if we can’t expedite the delivery of that vessel and crew, which are currently in training in California, and to get those here, get the ship and the crew back home to Nigeria as quickly as possible so that they can play a very, very important role in maritime security.

And then lastly, as you ask about countering violent extremists, countering terrorist organizations, this again, I think, is a specific area of interest to both of our nations. Nigeria is concerned about this not only from a domestic standpoint but also regionally and internationally. The United States has those very same concerns. And we are increasingly worried about how some of these organizations, violent extremist organizations in Africa, have at least stated the intent to collaborate more closely and to cooperate more closely amongst themselves. And we along with Nigeria and many others will seek ways to prevent that from happening so that these terrorist organizations cannot operate collaboratively. Thank you for those questions.

Q: General, my name is Bashir. I work with the Daily Trust. You said from the beginning that we have common problems, the U.S. and Nigeria have some common problems. One of these problems actually is urgent which we have some here in Nigeria. Our militaries are involved in handling civil unrest. I wanted to know if you have a package or if there is any effort from your side to train the military on how to handle civil unrest, because there are so many complaints people are getting any time they send military to handle civil disturbances you hear people saying that excessive force was used, people were killed, innocent people. I want to specifically know if you’re considering in terms of cooperation training or helping the Nigerian military to address these kinds of situations.

GEN. HAM: This is an area where we could help if that’s the type of assistance that Nigeria requests. We just concluded a meeting with the acting chief of defense staff, Admiral Ibrahim, and many of the officers of the defense staff. We addressed areas where we can further our cooperation.

And I think this – it is one of the great challenges of confronting an insurgency, where the range of options are significant. And we have to be – we want to make sure that those who are countering insurgency have a wide array of options available to them, not simply do nothing or apply overwhelming military force but a vast array of capabilities, whether they’re – whether it’s a more constrained or restrained approach to civil disturbance, whether it’s the use of nonlethal munitions and other kinds of tactics and techniques. All of those things are possible. We, along with Nigeria, have some experience in this regard. And if that’s a matter that the Nigerian military leaders would like us to pursue, that certainly is an area where I think we could help one another.

Q: My name is Bill Blu (ph) with the Nigerian. I want to find out if the Nigerian government has made any requests to AFRICOM. Have you got any requests from the Nigerian government in terms of partnership or anything like that? Have you gotten any requests from Nigeria?

GEN. HAM: We do have some specific requests. Some of them are enduring requests. We have – we have programs each year, where the opportunity for Nigerian military leaders to participate in military education and professional development programs in the United States – sometimes that training is conducted here. Those are routine matters that occur. And these are, again, mutually beneficial opportunities. A Nigerian officer who goes back to the U.S. to participate in military education, we hope that that officer gains a broader experience and awareness of international security challenges. But that officer also carries with him or her, when they attend that training, an opportunity to inform the American officers with whom they interact about Nigerian security issues. So it is a – very much a mutually beneficial relationship, one that’s been occurring for many years and I have every reason to believe will continue well into the future.

There are some specific equipment issues that we do address with Nigeria. One already mentioned is the delivery of the former U.S. Coast Guard vessel, which will now be a – now a Nigerian Navy ship, which will be delivered relatively soon. Major General Maggie Woodward is here. She’s the United States Africa Command air commander, and she’s working with the Nigerians to find opportunities to improve the maintenance and the flying capability of the C-130 cargo aircraft, which are present here.

So those – so those kinds of specific requests occur on a frequent basis. And part of my intent of being here are to open the lines of communication at the most senior levels of the Nigerian military, with the U.S. military, so that if there are issues that are of concern to Nigeria, that they don’t have to go through a very bureaucratic process. They can let me know, let the ambassador know, and then we can try to address those concerns. We have to be realistic. The United States, like Nigeria, is confronting some fiscal – some fiscal difficulties. The reality is, we’re going to have less money to spend on defense in the future than we – than we have today. So that necessitates a very clear prioritization and a very clear articulation of Nigeria’s needs. And I’m very confident that we’ll be able to do that well into the future.

Q: General, I understand that the headquarters – my name is – from This Day newspaper. I understand that the headquarters of AFRICOM is in Stuttgart, Germany.

GEN. HAM: Yes.

Q: And somehow it sounds strange that the headquarters of AFRICOM is outside Africa. And – (inaudible) – I understand that you had some challenges initially wanting to locate the headquarters in Africa; there was a protest against it. So I want to know if there’s still any movement by U.S. to find a headquarters within Africa for the AFRICOM. That’s one.

Secondly, recently there was the issue of this Libyan crisis. And the first major attack was carried out under this command, on African soil. I don't know if the major players like Nigeria or South Africa was consulted before such action was taken.

GEN. HAM: Let me – I’ll take the first one first, the headquarters location. It – while on the surface it appears not particularly logical, in an odd way, it is very, very logical.

Prior to the establishment of the United States Africa Command about three and a half years ago, United States military activity on the continent of Africa was overseen by our European Command, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. They had responsibility for Europe and Africa. A few years ago, when the decision was made to separate those responsibilities and establish a separate headquarters to exclusively address Africa security matters, it made a lot of sense for the headquarters to be in the same place. In many cases it was the same people who simply changed their duty responsibilities; instead of reporting to European Command, now reported to the new Africa Command. So some of the same office spaces and how people – where people lived didn’t have to change. So it was a bit of a practical decision at the time.

There was indeed conversation and discussion and a discussion of possibilities of establishing the headquarters in Africa. In some cases, that was met with a degree of resistance and probably best characterized as misunderstanding.

Today as I look at that, it frankly is, again, a matter of practicality. Our headquarters in Stuttgart is actually in a pretty good location. We have an adjacent international airport, which allows us pretty convenient travel through Frankfurt or Paris to many locations in Africa. But simply the cost of establishing a new headquarters – you know this – you know, when we do things, we tend to do things in a big way. So my headquarters is about 1,500 people. So to find a place to build a headquarters for 1,500 people with all the office space, parking lots, communications, gymnasiums, schools, churches, shopping areas – all of the rest that comes with the U.S. military community is very, very expensive. And as already mentioned, we’re in a difficult time financially. So I think it’s very – it would be – it would be financially irresponsible at this point for us to seek to establish a new headquarters anywhere. So I think we’ll probably stay right where we are in Stuttgart.

We – I should note that we already do have, by the way, a fairly sizable presence already on the continent. We have a – our organization called the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa based in Djibouti. It has about 4,000 people.

Q: How many?

GEN. HAM: About 4,000.

GEN. HAM: Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa based in Djibouti. Again, about 4,000 U.S. service members, so it’s a pretty large presence already. And while it’s not my headquarters, they do a lot of work in East Africa and is a very capable headquarters.

(U.S. Africa Command Note: Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa is located on Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti. The number of personnel located on Camp Lemmonier is around 4,000. The number of personnel assigned to CJTF-HOA, a tenant unit on Camp Lemmonier, is around 1,800.)

To your second point, the issue of Libya, I was – I was nominated by the secretary of defense and president to serve as commander of United States Africa Command in the autumn of 2010. If you had asked me at that time, do you think you’ll conduct military operations in Libya, I would have said, what are you thinking? Why would we do that? It shows how rapidly things can change in a very short period of time.

So you have to think back to what caused the initial conduct of military operations and remember that it was a United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 that was approved by the United Nations. And if my recollection is – serves me, Nigeria was serving as a nonpermanent member of the Security Council at the time and had – and was involved in that discussion and voted in support of that resolution that basically said all means available to protect the citizenry. And if you remember back those many months, Mr. Qadhafi had very specifically threatened the people of Benghazi, and you recall the – recall the language that he used: We will hunt them down like rats; we will exterminate them. We’ve seen that language – we’ve heard that language before. Africa has heard that language before of dehumanizing those who oppose you.

And so the United Nations, in my view, took a very bold action to say we’re not going to allow that to happen. And in the initial stages of that military operation, indeed United States Africa Command led that effort. I’m proud of that effort. I think there are lots of Libyan citizens who are alive today who would not be had we had the United Nations not taken that bold step to authorize that action.

The challenge really now is how does this unfold into the future and what does Libya look like in the future? That’s the real challenge. And so our role at United States Africa Command, along with the African Union and many others, is to seek to play whatever role might be appropriate in a post-conflict Libya. And that’s really what we’re focused on nowadays. Tough questions. Yes, ma’am.

Q: My name is Margaret (inaudible) for – from AIT. My question is that – do you have special engagements to combat trans-border crimes in Africa, because that’s one of the major problems we have – not just military operations – within Africa. Is there any major thing you’re doing to take care of cross-border crimes in terms of transportation of small arms? And again – what is the percentage in terms of funding and contingency? Is it totally a U.S. – or the African countries that – (off mic)?


GEN. HAM: The – addressing – the term we use is “illicit trafficking.” That can apply to weapons, to narcotics, to people, to funding. These issues that tend to cross many borders, particularly in West Africa, are issues of concern to us. They may have – in many cases do have – primarily a law enforcement aspect to them. And this is an area which is sometimes problematic for the United States because in our – in our culture, we have some very clear delineation between law enforcement authorities and capabilities and military authorities and capabilities. That’s not always the case in the – with our African partners.


But we do see that there are in many cases areas in which we can help. For example, there’s a program called the West African Citizen Security Initiative, which is – which is primarily addressed – is intended to address a regional basis that – the illicit trafficking of narcotics, as these come from Central and South America across the Atlantic, into West Africa, throughout Africa and then in many cases into Europe and other parts of the world. It does indeed require – the phrase we use is a “whole-of-government” approach. There’s – there may be well a military role in this; for example, in that particular example, the use of Nigerian navy assets and air force assets to monitor the maritime domain in coastal areas of the country would be an important contributor; the connection with law enforcement, the connection with the intelligence and security services, with the judiciary and in many cases as well as economic matters.

So it does indeed require a whole-of-government approach, which the military is one specific component. We try to help in those areas as best we can. It does in some ways tie back to the – to the earlier question about countering violent extremists and terrorists, because we have seen in other cases where narcotics routes, the trafficking routes for illegal trafficking of persons or money, are also used by terrorist networks. So there is a connection there that does have a very strong security aspect. It’s one of the toughest things we do because it does require so many different agencies and activities within the regional governments to address.

Q: General, sir – (name inaudible) – is my name. I report for the Nation's Newspapers. Since you are in Nigeria to see how you can strengthen the relationship between the U.S. – or AFRICOM and Nigerian military, we know that the U.S. has done something for the Nigerian navy with the investment you’re talking about. I think you even had one before the one that is on the way now. And you are also considering doing something for the Nigerian air force with the C-130 cargo planes. So if the Nigerian army were to ask for assistance in improving or boosting its armory and its communications facilities, would U.S. or AFRICOM be willing to do that?

GEN. HAM: Well, we obviously would have to look at the specifics of the request. But as an example of the kind of area where perhaps we could help, there’s a growing risk here in Nigeria and regionally of the threat of improvised explosive devices. Unfortunately, we have some significant experience in this from our operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be of use to the Nigerian army if that’s an area that they would like to explore with us. Some of that is equipment. Much more of it is training and understanding and intelligence sharing.

So there’s a wide variety of specific things that we should like to do. And again, we want to be helpful in ways and in areas that the Nigerians would like us to be helpful. So I’m hopeful that my visit will cause future conversations to occur, again, between U.S. and Nigerian military leaders and we’ll be able to get more specific into the – more specifically into the areas in which Nigeria would like some assistance. But I think, you know, just like the navy and the air force, there are many areas, both equipment, training and other ways in which this relationship could be quite beneficial.

OK, it’s silent. That’s good. (Laughter.)

AMB. MCCULLEY: OK. There are no more questions?

GEN. HAM: Well, thank you all very much. I mean, this is – this is a great opportunity for me to come. I’ve enjoyed my short time here, and I’d again just publicly thank the ambassador for allowing us to come. I’m already looking forward to the – to the next trip. I know General Woodward has also been anxious to come and see areas in which the – in which the air forces can more closely cooperate as well.

AMB. MCCULLEY: Thank you. Thank you, General.