Current Events

For the Week Ending in 1/13/2012

1.    Western oil firms remain in Iraq even as the US exits.  Iraq has a goal of raising its oil production capacity to 12m barrels per day by 2017, which would place it in the top echelon of global producers.  Recently, BP and CNPC finalized the first new oil contract issued by Baghdad for the largest oil field in the country, the 17 billion barrel super giant Rumaila field.  ExxonMobil, with junior partner Royal Dutch Shell, won a bidding war against Russia's Lukoil (and junior partner ConocoPhillips) for the 8.7 billion barrel West Qurna Phase 1 project. Italy's Eni SpA, with California's Occidental Petroleum and the Korea Gas Corp, was awarded Iraq's Zubair oil field with estimated reserves of 4.4 billion barrels. Shell was the lead partner with Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, winning a contract for the super-giant Majnoon field, one of the largest in the world, with estimated reserves of up to 25 billion.

2.    Iraq: Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the panel that the U.S. military will continue limited counterterrorism training with Iraqi forces at up to 10 camps around the country beyond the end of the year.  Panetta left open the possibility for continued negotiations with Baghdad over a force presence there.  The Pentagon chief also pointed out that the United States has some 40,000 troops in the region, including in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

3.    Iran:  Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes.  One of the scientists working in the uranium enrichment project Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Behdast, was also assassinated this week in a car blast.  These recent events, along with the positioning of a new aircraft carrier strike group in the Arabian Sea (and another on the way to the region) continues to increase the tension in the region.  

4.    A rotor-wing UAV makes its debut in Afghanistan.  The U.S. military is testing a revolutionary new drone for its arsenal, a pilotless helicopter intended to fly cargo missions to remote outposts where frequent roadside bombs threaten access by road convoys. The craft have flown 20 transport missions since the inaugural flight on Dec. 17.  They have delivered nearly 18 tons of cargo, mainly thousands of Meals Ready to Eat and spare parts needed at the forward operating bases.

5.    The popularity of the unmanned aircraft continues to soar, and its relevance is only predicted to continue to grow.  UAV missions in the military already include deploying missiles and bombs, performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, making cargo drops and more.  Combat air patrols by UAVs grew 660 percent from 2004 to 2009, according to the Air Force.  When President Obama rolled out his new military strategy earlier this month, he proposed more emphasis and resources on UAVs.

6.    China’s Pipelines in Myanmar In order to meet energy demands in its resource-crunched eastern, southern and central parts, China is constructing oil and gas pipelines in Myanmar, almost reaching to the seashores of Bay of Bengal. Currently, the CNPC, in agreement with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the Myanmar state security forces, is engaged in laying a 982 km (620 miles) long crude oil pipeline from Kyaukpyu Port on the western coast of Arakan State linking Kunming after entering the border city of Ruili in Yunnan Province of China at a cost of US $2.5 billion. Concurrently, they are also constructing another gas pipeline, capable of delivering 12 bn cm of natural gas per year, from Shwe Gas off the Arakan coast up to Kunming. At the same time, a deep underwater crude oil unloading port and oil storage facility is being constructed at Maday Island (Arakan Coast) to serve as terminus for the tankers coming from West Asia and Africa.

7.    US Military to Help Build South Sudan.  The United States military is joining efforts to help build the newly independent nation of South Sudan.  U.S. Defense officials say they are dispatching five officers from the Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Marines starting January 13 on the orders of President Barack Obama.  The United States has been boosting its military assistance to Africa in recent months. In October, Obama announced the deployment of about 100 troops to Uganda and other parts of Central Africa to help armies in the region battle the Lord’s Resistance Army guerrilla group.

8.    The Marine Corps is slowly increasing its mission objectives in the African continent.  The 180 members of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 12 (SPMAGTF-12) are serving in the Trans-Sahel region of Africa, stretches across the center of the continent’s north along the Sahara Desert. The unit has also deployed farther east, in countries such as Djibouti.  SPMAGTF-12 will rotate out of Italy in the spring, and 3rd Force Recon will take over the command element. Rotations for fiscal 2013 “are being sourced,” Winnacker added.  While not expected grow to the level of a 2,300-member Marine expeditionary unit, the SPMAGTF could add Marines in order to be “as relevant as possible.”
 

United States Africa Command, AFRICOM, one of six of the Defense Department's regional military headquarters, was declared a fully unified command on October 1, 2008. As such, Africa Command has administrative responsibility for U.S. military support to U.S. government policy in Africa, to include military-to-military relationships with 53 African nations. The other five regional commands and their locations are: U.S. Central Command, Tampa, Florida; U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany; U.S. Northern Command, Colorado Springs, Colorado; U.S. Pacific Command, Honolulu, Hawaii; and U.S. Southern Command, Miami, Florida.

Commander: General William E. "Kip" Ward, United States Army
Deputy to the Commander for Military Operations:
Vice Admiral Robert T. Moeller, United States Navy
Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Activities:
Ambassador Tony Holmes, United States Department of State

Chain of Command: The commander of Africa Command reports to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, who reports to the President of the United States. In individual countries, U.S. Ambassadors continue to be the President's personal representatives in diplomatic relations with host nations.

AFRICOM Mission: United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.

Partnering with African Nations: Through strong and lasting strategic partnerships with African partners and by delivering sustained, effective, and coherent security cooperation programs, U.S. Africa Command helps foster a more stable and secure Africa:

* where military organizations perform professionally and with integrity;
* that promotes legitimate and professional security institutions;
* that has the will and means to direct, dissuade, deter and defeat transnational threats;
* and whose militaries and governments are increasingly capable of supporting continental and international peace efforts.

U.S. Africa Command's theater strategic objectives:

* Defeat the Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations and its associated networks;

* Ensure peace operations capacity exists to respond to emerging crises, and continental peace support operations are effectively fulfilling mission requirements;
* Cooperate with identified African states in the creation of an environment inhospitable to the unsanctioned possession and proliferation on WMD;

* Improve security sector governance and increased stability through military support to comprehensive, holistic and enduring USG efforts in designated states;

* Protect populations from deadly contagions.

Personnel: U.S. Africa Command projects a staff of 1,300 personnel for its headquarters and joint subordinate activities, half of whom are civilian employees, including representatives from non-military agencies of the U.S. government. As of September 1, 2009, more than 1,200 personnel were assigned.

Location: Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart-Moehringen, Germany. In the near term, AFRICOM will focus on working with Embassies, Country Teams, and Offices of Defense Cooperation to strengthen existing military-to-military relationships. If our African partners and the U.S. government agree that further cooperation would benefit from a more robust Africa Command presence, we will consult accordingly and determine the best way to proceed.

Funding: The U.S. Africa Command transition team was budgeted for approximately $50 million in Fiscal Year 2007, and the command received $75.5 million for Fiscal Year 2008 and $310 million for Fiscal Year 2009. The Obama administration has requested $278 million for U.S. Africa Command for Fiscal Year 2010.

Supporting the U.S. Department of State: U.S. Africa Command supports the U.S. Department of State in the achievement of US foreign policy objectives in Africa. In addition and where appropriate, U.S. Africa Command provides personnel and logistical support to State Department-funded activities. Command personnel work closely with U.S. embassies in Africa to coordinate training programs to improve African nations’ security capacity. Read full article.