Diplomat skilled in disaster response

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Diplomat skilled in disaster response
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, February 20, 2009

STUTTGART, Germany — Africa Command staffers phone in daily for a virtual powwow in which military leaders deliver rundowns on various projects and developments around the sprawling continent.

Whether it’s Trans-Sahara counterterrorism efforts, a piracy spike in the Gulf of Guinea or a political crisis someplace else, there’s always plenty of territory to cover.

But more and more, matters that are less overtly military also are getting attention at these morning sessions.

"I don’t know that the military would normally think about — ‘Oh, we have 20 declared disasters, whether it’s the caterpillars in Liberia, or the drought here or the locusts there or flooding here,’" said Mary Carlin Yates, U.S. African Command’s deputy for civil/military activities.

"And of course, all of those could have potential effects on a country’s stability and security," said Yates, describing how AFRICOM’s unique interagency structure aims to paint a more complete picture of the security landscape in Africa.


Rest of Africom article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60840