Ethiopia and the Global Antiterrorism Campaign

By John W. Harbeson

The Bush Administration’s recent announcement that it plans to create an Africa Command underscores Africa’s growing strategic significance to the United States, particularly in the post 9/11 era. At the same time, however, a new Africa-specific military command highlights critical, underemphasized, and to a large extent Africa-specific issues at the heart of U.S. foreign policy. The core issue is this: how can the United States pursue its global counter-terrorism agenda in partnership with African countries in ways that strengthen weak states, encourage embryonic democratization, and support Millennium Development Goal objectives?