WASHINGTON, July 4 - The United States military is seeking to expand its presence in the Arab countries of northern Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa through new basing agreements and training exercises intended to combat a growing terrorist threat in the region.
Even as military planners prepare options for American troops to join an international peacekeeping force to oversee a cease-fire in Liberia, the Pentagon wants to enhance military ties with allies like Morocco and Tunisia.
It is also seeking to gain long-term access to bases in countries like Mali and Algeria, which American forces could use for periodic training or to strike terrorists. And it aims to build on aircraft refueling agreements in places like Senegal and Uganda, two countries that President Bush is to visit on his five-nation swing through Africa that begins on Tuesday.
There are no plans to build permanent American bases in Africa, Defense Department officials say. Instead, the United States European Command, which oversees military operations in most of Africa, wants troops now in Europe to rotate more frequently into bare-bones camps or airfields in Africa. Marines may spend more time sailing off the West African coast.
This fall the command will send trainers to work with soldiers from four North African nations on patrolling and gathering intelligence.
Some plans are still on the drawing board and will need the approval of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld or his top aides. But other military initiatives in Africa are already under way or will soon begin.
Since late last year, for example, more than 1,800 members of the American military have been placed in Djibouti to conduct counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa....
United States military and intelligence officials say vast swaths of the Sahara, from Mauritania in the west to Sudan in the east, which have been smuggling routes for centuries, are becoming areas of choice for terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda.
General [James L. ] Jones [of the Marine Corps, the head of the European Command] said an allied maritime armada in the Mediterranean had forced international drug smugglers, weapons traffickers, Islamic extremists and other terrorists south to overland routes through Africa.
The countries in the area are some of the poorest in the world and have scant resources to monitor their borders or patrol the large remote areas of their interiors....
Since the end of major combat in Iraq, the United States has diverted reconnaissance aircraft and satellites to watch the region more closely and share that information with governments there, a senior military official said....
In a sign of Africa's growing prominence, General [Charles F.] Wald [of the Air Force, the European Command's second-in-charge], who led American air forces in the Afghan war, now spends about half of his time on African-related issues.
The European Command is preparing to hold a conference of the defense attachés from United States embassies on the continent and, increasingly, ambassadors as well, General Jones said.
The military's entreaties to expand and deepen ties to Africa are receiving largely positive responses from many of those countries. "We are very much interested in expanding our cooperation with the U.S. in civilian and military fields," said Idriss Jazairy, Algeria's ambassador to the United States. "We would be ready to cooperate in training African antiterrorist teams to address this common challenge."
But some Africa experts warn that the Pentagon, which promotes the idea of democratization in other Arab states, ought not compromise those values by dealing with governments with heavy military influence, like Algeria. "The downside of this is that you can take on the agenda of local leaders," said Herman J. Cohen, who was assistant secretary of state for Africa in the administration of the first President Bush.
The military's renewed focus on Africa pre-dates Mr. Bush's trip, and is part of an effort by the European Command to reshape where and how many American troops are based in a 93-country area of responsibility that arches from South Africa to Russia. That review is a portion of a global effort by the Defense Department to determine where to position United States forces.
General Jones said he envisioned what he called a family of bases. In Africa this would include forward-operating bases, perhaps with an airfield nearby, that could house up to a brigade, or 3,000 to 5,000 troops. "It's something that could be robustly used for a significant military presence," General Jones said.
A second type of base would be a forward-operating location, which would be a lightly equipped base where Special Forces, marines or possibly an infantry rifle platoon or company could land and build up as the mission required.
"Over all, we're trying to come up with a more flexible basing option that allows more engagement through our area of responsibility," General Jones said.
The Pentagon made early strides a few years ago, when it negotiated agreements with Ghana, Senegal, Gabon, Namibia, Uganda and Zambia to allow American aircraft flying through the region to refuel at local air bases.
In the fall, the Defense and State Departments will begin a $6.25 million program to provide training, as well as radios and Toyota pickup trucks, to company-size army units in Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad.
"If we do this we can make friends who, when they get information out on patrol, can share with us," said one senior military officer.
American Special Forces and the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade have conducted joint exercises with Moroccan troops in the last three years, and military officials say they would like to expand and increase those contacts.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/05/international/africa/05BASE.html> ***** -- Yoshie
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