The tiny country of Sao Tome and Principe composed of two main islands in the Gulf on Guinea, blessed with virgin palm-fringed beaches and unspoiled beauty may soon become a hot bed of U.S. military activity. According to Sao Tome and Principe President Fradique de Menezes, his country will soon be the sight of a new U.S. Naval base. "It will be a harbor for aircraft carriers... patrol boats and for marines stationed in the region." Although U.S. officials have not confirmed the construction plans, the potential construction of the Naval base will fall in line with the Bush Administration's oil driven foreign policy objectives for Africa as recommended by the newly created African Oil Policy Initiative Group (AOPIG).

In January of this year a symposium sponsored by Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (a Jerusalem based think tank) was held in Washington to discuss "African Oil and U.S. National Security Priorities," as Africa is quickly becoming the new oil frontier for the U.S. According to Ed Royce (R-CA) Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, "African oil should be treated as a priority for U.S. national security post 9-11, and I think that post 9-11 it's occurred to all of us that our traditional sources of oil are not as secure as we once thought they were."

The main product emerging from the symposium was a newly developed working group called the African Oil Policy Initiative Groups (AOPIG) composed of Congressional members, representatives from various offices in the Bush Administration as well as oil companies, U.S. investors and international consultants. AOPIG then created a blueprint for energy investment in Africa that the Administration has been closely following.

AOPIG recommendations are divided into three categories Energy Security, Developmental Strategies, and Regional Security - all encompassing the same theme of securing oil and strategic mineral resources.

Under the title of Regional Security, AOPIG recommends that
1) Congress and the Administration should declare the Gulf of Guinea an area of "Vital Interest to the U.S."
2) A regional sub-command, similar to U.S. Forces in Korea, should be established for the area
3) That regional sub-command should strongly consider the establishment of a regional homeport, possibly on the islands of Sao Tome and Principe
4) A U.S. -Nigerian compact on regional security issues should be established to make the area more secure and thereby more attractive for direct foreign investment.

Additionally, AOPIG has declared that U.S. interest should not be limited to oil. "The Gulf of Guinea, as part of the Atlantic oil-bearing basin, surpasses the Persian Gulf in oil supplies to the U.S. by 2:1; moreover, it maintains significant deposits of critically important strategic mineral including chromium, uranium, cobalt, titanium, diamonds, gold, bauxite, phosphate and copper."

Increasingly, Asian countries, Russia eastern Europeans and "rogue" Arab states are involved in mining in Africa. AOPIG recommends focusing on Africa to deter "U.S. rivals such as China, adversaries such as Libya, and terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda to secure political, diplomatic and economic presence in parts of Africa." To achieve the goal of oil and strategic mineral cultivation U.S. number one foreign policy initiative is to create "a new and vigorous focus on U.S. military cooperation in sub-Saharan Africa, to include design of a sub-unified command structure which could produce significant dividends in the protection of U.S. investments."

Powell's recent visit to Angola and his prescriptions for Angolan development followed AOPIG's recommendations to a "T," particularly in terms of encouraging privatization encouraging the pursuit of "enhanced recovery techniques to access all of the oil available in the region." Also, closely in line with AOPIG's policy proposals, President Bush met leaders of the Republic of Congo, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, South Africa, and Sao Tome and Principe, in three separate sessions at the UN. Most of the Countries on Bush's guest list were either steady oil producers or in the heart of West Africa's oil exploration area, which provides the U.S. with 15% of its oil.

Missing from Bush's list of leaders from oil producing states is Nigerian President Obasanjo who is currently dealing with growing calls for his impeachment, a Sharia court sentence of stoning a young Northern Nigerian mother to death, revelations of his leadership position in ordering military operations that resulted in hundreds of civilians deaths in 1999 and 2001, and growing resistance to oil domination in the oil rich Niger Delta region. Powell also avoided Nigeria while in Africa. Although overt public relations have waned, the U.S. continues to foster military and oil relations with Nigeria.

In a report from This Day in Nigeria, both the U.S. and oil companies operating in Nigeria have been pressuring the Nigerian Government to pull out of OPEC to avoid production quota imposed by the organization. Instead the U.S. and the oil companies seek to promote a "U.S. - Nigeria Alignment" which would place Nigeria as the primary oil exporter to the U.S.

Recent comments made by Nelson Mandela elucidate the struggle between human rights activists and oil producers that will inevitably develop as the U.S. implements its oil strategy. In a recent Newsweek article that was extremely critical of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, Mandela mentioned Dick Cheney's opposition to his release from prison. The association between Cheney and oil is clear as well as the association between Mandela and human rights. The symbolic relationship between Mandela and Cheney may represent the future of U.S. oil politics in Africa.

A pertinent example being that of the continuing human rights struggle in the Nigeria's oil rich Niger Delta where local women have been active in demanding basic human necessities while oil companies make millions off of their land. Although many view the women's action as a human rights triumph, according to AOPIG, community action is a security concern, and thus defined as "a recurring problem due to lack of Nigerian off-shore security capabilities." Build the military and extract the oil - the benevolent future of Africa in the hands of U.S. policy.

Links: African Oil: A priority for U.S. National Security and African Development, www.allafrica.com, www.africa-confidential.com