The United States Government on Thursday said that the controversial US Africa Command, also known as AFRICOM, would not undermine the sovereignty of Nigeria and other host African countries.
The Deputy Commander, Civil-Military Activities, US Africa Command, Ambassador Mary Yates, and Deputy Commander, Military Operations of the command, Vice Admiral Robert Moeller, said this at a press briefing in Abuja.
AFRICOM is a new US military headquarters the American Government planned to devote solely for Africa .
Unlike traditional unified commands, the US said that the AFRICOM would focus on war prevention rather than war-fighting.
The outfit will also work with African nations and organisations to build regional security and crisis-response capacity in support of its efforts in Africa .
Despite extensive lobby by the US Government for African countries to support the command, Nigeria openly opposed the establishment of such command in the country.
The issue was also tabled at the Council of State meeting two weeks ago, where the country�s leaders foreclosed the idea of allowing the US to use the nation as an operational base.
But Liberia was said to have been lobbying the US to establish the headquarters of the command in Monrovia.
Yates and Moeller, however, said that they were in the country to consult with top government and military officials in order to clear some misconceptions about the command.
Yates added that in the course of their consultation in the country, they spoke with the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Abdullahi Muktar (rtd), Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, and President, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Ibn Chambers on Wednesday.
She added that after listening to the government and military officials, they felt that it would have been better if they were in the country and other parts of the continent sooner than they did.