The Foreign Service Journal, September 2004

online this year in Djibouti and Uganda. The TIP system provides nations with a state-of-the-art com- puter network that enables immi- gration and border control officials to identify suspects attempting to enter or leave the country. The U.S. is also funding a police devel- opment program in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, developing a training and equipment program for Kenya’s law enforcement agen- cies, and setting up forensic labora- tories in Tanzania and Uganda. As welcome as this new assistance is, it has not stemmed complaints from countries in the region. Uganda claims it is being shortchanged because it has dealt successfully with international terrorist threats on its own. In addition, Kampala’s priority is dealing with local terrorist groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army and Allied Democratic Front, while Washington is focused on international terrorists like al-Qaida. Eritrea offered the U.S. access to its port facilities and, together with Ethiopia, joined the “coalition of the willing” against Iraq. But it now finds itself frozen out of counterterrorist assis- tance because of U.S. concerns over the continued deten- tion of two Eritreans employed by the American embassy and other human rights issues. Both Eritrean and Ethiopian cooperation on counterterrorism are also linked to the two countries’ desire to gain favor with the U.S. on their festering border demarcation disagreement. Looking Ahead The resources and attention devoted to counterterror- ism in East Africa and the Horn are impressive but inad- equate. At a House subcommittee hearing on terrorism in April, Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., emphasized that the U.S. needs to devote more resources for counterter- rorism in Africa. He is correct. President Bush’s FY 2005 international affairs budget request has as its top priority the winning of the war on terrorism. Exclusive of Iraq and Afghanistan, it requests $5.7 billion for assistance to countries around the world that have joined the war on terrorism and another $3.5 billion that indirectly supports the war by strengthening the U.S. ability to respond to emergencies and conflict situations. The $100 million East Africa Counterterrorism Initiative and several other modest programs just don’t mea- sure up to the threat. The components of the coun- terterrorism program for East Africa and the Horn are good as far as they go. But the focus is primar- ily short- and medium-term: catch- ing bad guys, providing training and, to a limited extent, building up counterterrorism infrastructure. What is missing is a major, new, long-term program to reduce poverty and social alienation. U.S. foreign assistance worldwide in constant dollars has declined about 44 percent since 1985 and another 18 percent since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Until the U.S. and the international community generally are prepared to put far more resources into improving the environment that encourages terrorism — namely poverty — it is difficult to see lasting progress against this enemy. If only the U.S. had had the foresight years ago to devote to counterterrorism and economic development the equivalent cost of over- throwing the Taliban and rebuilding a destroyed Afghanistan! Assuming adequate financial assistance from outside, countries in the region must bear the primary responsi- bility for curbing terrorism. They know the different cul- tures, speak the local languages and control the security forces. Foreigners will never be able to function as effec- tively in the native environment as local nationals. Accordingly, action on the recent recommendation by the Africa Policy Advisory Panel (organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies) for an annual $200-million Muslim outreach initiative in Africa is long overdue. Finally, the U.S. has allowed its language and area expertise among foreign affairs personnel to degrade to dangerous levels. The time has come to rebuild this expertise. In the case of East Africa and the Horn, there should be adequate numbers of Arabic, Somali, Swahili and Amharic speakers from State, the CIA, USAID and the military assigned to appropriate countries. Only then will the U.S. be able to engage in reliable information- gathering and increase the public affairs outreach to communities where Islamic fundamentalism and sympa- thy for terrorists are taking hold. F O C U S 42 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 4 It took the coordinated bombings in 1998 of Embassy Nairobi and Embassy Dar es Salaam to make clear the full scope of al-Qaida’s menace.