US Africa Command

The United States Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM) is one of nine unified combatant commands of the United States Armed Forces, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. It is responsible for U.S. military operations and military relations with 53 African nations. Its area of responsibility covers all of Africa except Egypt.

On [6 February 2007], Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that President George W. Bush had given authority to create the new African Command. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Moeller, the director of the AFRICOM transition team, arrived in Stuttgart, Germany to begin creating the logistical framework for the command. On 28 September the U.S. Senate confirmed General William E. "Kip" Ward as AFRICOM's first commander and AFRICOM officially became operational.

AFRICOM participates in a wide variety of tasks: maritime law enforcement, foreign military sales, international military and education training, pandemic response program, partnerships for integrated logistics operations and tactics, national guard state partnership program, and contingency operations training and assistance.