Unique Capabilities: U.S. Military Involvement In Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa has endured frequent and large-scale humanitarian emergencies (HE) of both the natural and man-made variety, and further HE in the region are likely. It is also likely that the United States military will become involved to prevent or alleviate some of these HE, as with Somalia in 1992. In other circumstances, the military will not be used even though it seems like the best (or only) means available, as with the Rwandan genocide of 1994. For the military planner this poses a dilemma: under what circumstances will the United States response to a HE in Sub-Saharan Africa involve military forces, and what missions will those forces be tasked to carry out? This paper attempts to predict not prescribe the answer to this dilemma.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA420516

Entities

People

  • Anthony M. Packard

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Africa
  • Agreements
  • Civil Affairs
  • Civil War
  • Cold War
  • Combat Forces
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • International Relations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Nongovernmental Organizations
  • Saharan Africa
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • United States European Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • International Relations, focusing on Korea-Africa and North Korea-South Korea relations, and Nigeria-Latin American Relations.
  • Strategic Security Studies