Ominous dangers of America’s military base in Africa

Beyond the traditional and significant dangers that American military bases pose, such as environmental contamination from hazardous waste, omnipresent risks of sexual violence and alcohol-related crimes in local communities, the current unprovoked U.S-Israel war against Iran has raised the most potent danger of hosting American bases and other Western military facilities in Africa. Since the […]

Beyond the traditional and significant dangers that American military bases pose, such as environmental contamination from hazardous waste, omnipresent risks of sexual violence and alcohol-related crimes in local communities, the current unprovoked U.S-Israel war against Iran has raised the most potent danger of hosting American bases and other Western military facilities in Africa.

Since the start of the war, the US/Israel war against Iran, Tehran. Iran has pummelled countries in the region -Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia which hosts U.S military facilities in the area.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway through which is about 20 percent of the world energy is moved. The Gulf countries mostly dependent on their oil and gas exports, have had their financial life-line put in a limbo, along with other countries which imports their energy from the region.

The worldwide spike in energy cost, has brought to the world’s attention and not just the countries concerned, the dangers of harbouring or hosting American military base in particular and Western military bases in general.

As staging points of the Washington’s current war of choice against Iran, the countries in the Gulf region, providing military facilities for America have taken most of the hits which has affected a considerable number of civilian infrastructures. Washington, which chose the war against all reasonable and rational assessment that Iran would not be an easy prey as Nicholas Maduro’s Venezuela, has largely escaped unharmed except for the galloping energy prices that has hit the world.

While the Gulf states hosting U.S military facilities were obviously not consulted before the war was launched against Iran, the region has been most negatively affected from the conflict, they were far from being direct parties. Isreal, the Washington partner on the war against Iran, has been observed to use the conflict and its regional context to stage attacks against some countries in the region, shifting the blame on Iran.

Iran has never hidden that when once attacked by Washington, it would aim her revenge at American facilities that are hosted in the region. Iran’s targets at U.S military facilities has not been restricted to the facilities alone but has had ramifications for the whole region.

The fact remains that Washington or other Western military bases in Africa or elsewhere in the Global South is a real and ominous danger. Even the rational for anti-terrorism has proven hollow. For years of French military bases both in the Republic of Niger and Mali, demonstrated that the period of the existence of the bases saw a surge in terrorist activities.

In fact, the military coups, which removed the civilian administration in the two countries described rapid rise terrorist insurgencies as their main reason. Among their first actions were the expulsions of the French military accusing them of been busy with other things, while insurgent terrorist bled the countries. Therefore, terrorist counter-insurgency cannot justify Western military bases.

Right after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, students of Nigeria premier university, University of Ibadan protested British plot to establish a military base in Nigeria, describing it as an entanglement, the young country could not afford.

Recently in 2024, the British Ministry of Defence funded and constructed a counter-insurgency training facility in Ogun State which was formally inaugurated by the Nigerian Army and British officials. While officially presented as a security partnership, it poses more questions than the two sides were willing to offer.

However, since the inauguration of the training facilities to ostensibly tackle security challenges, terrorist activities have rapidly escalated. The worst of the recent terrorist campaign took place, not very far from Ogun State. The infamous Woro massacre in Kwara State, which occurred in a sleepy town, where terrorist operated for eleven hours unchallenged, killing about 200 persons and abducting similar numbers, which they marched to the camp unchallenged, demonstrate beyond all reasonable doubt that foreign military bases established by the Americans, British or the French and disguised as counter-terrorist facilities are mere idle alibi for other sinister purpose of control aimed to undermine the country’s sovereignty and re-enslave her people.

Mr. Bassey wrote from Calabar in Cross River State