Bush approves new military command for Africa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he had approved plans to create a U.S. military command for Africa, a move that reflects increased U.S. strategic interest in the continent.

Bush's decision was the culmination of a long debate that gained momentum as Washington grew more concerned about Islamist militancy in parts of Africa and more attracted by the potential of the continent's natural resources.

"This new command will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa," Bush said.

"Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy and economic growth in Africa," he said in a statement.

In Germany, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military, Holly Silkman, told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper the unit dubbed "Africom" would be based initially in the Kelly Barracks in the Moehringen district of Stuttgart.

"We've started moving already this week," Silkman told the newspaper's Wednesday edition. She said the unit would later be transferred to a base in Africa.

"But that is the long term plan," she said.

Bush said he had asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to get the new Africom unit up and running by the end of September 2008. The United States would work closely with African allies to choose a location for the new command in Africa, he said.

The U.S. military assigns responsibility for parts of the world to regional commands, such as Central Command, which handles the Middle East and Horn of Africa. The commands are unified, meaning they control assets from different armed services.

"This command will enable us to have a more effective and integrated approach than the current arrangement of dividing Africa between Central Command and European Command -- an outdated arrangement left over from the Cold War," Gates told the U.S. Senate's armed services committee.

"IMPORTANT CONTINENT"

The United States has paid increasing attention to Africa in recent years, partly out of anxiety that African states with weak governments can be a haven for Islamist militants.