Bush approves new military command for Africa

Al Qaeda carried out near simultaneous car bombings at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in 1998, killing more than 250 people. U.S. forces carried out at least two air strikes in Somalia last month, targeting al Qaeda militants.

The United States began counterterrorism training in West and Central Africa in 2002, teaching local armies basic techniques to help them locate and take out militant cells.

But Washington is also interested in the potential offered by natural resources, particularly as it aims to reduce dependence on oil from the volatile Middle East.

The world's biggest energy consumer hopes the Gulf of Guinea region in West Africa will provide up to a quarter of its oil imports within a decade and is working to guarantee stability in one of the most volatile parts of the planet.

"It's an important continent," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

He said Pentagon officials would flesh out plans for the new command at a briefing on Wednesday. No commander had yet been nominated to run it, he said.

"Standing a combatant command, a unified command, is obviously a large endeavor and it will take some time to do but we're going to move out expeditiously," Whitman said.

While Africa now mainly falls under the remit of European Command and Central Command, Pacific Command has responsibility for Madagascar and some other smaller islands.

U.S. officials declined to say what the exact geographical boundaries of the new command would be.

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington and Nick Tattersall in Dakar)