October 3, 2026 marks 18 years since the establishment of the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). As one of 11 U.S. Department of War combatant commands, AFRICOM has worked to sustain capitalist plunder of Africa through neo-colonial domination on behalf of the U.S. and its NATO allies. Its existence undermines the human rights of African people to exercise self-determination and reclaim the use of the continent’s vast natural resources for alleviating their ongoing suffering under imperialism.
The Black Alliance for Peace Africa Team is clear that AFRICOM is in no way a vehicle for the collective security of Africans, but is instead a vehicle for securing U.S. interests in Africa. As such, it is nothing more than the covert institutionalization of gunboat diplomacy in the 21st century on the African continent under the cynical mask of “African Solutions to African Problems.” We reject the United States’ fabricated narrative of fighting terrorism on the continent, and instead recognize AFRICOM’s vested interest in and documented history of destabilizing African nations. As referenced in our Principles of Unity, the Black Alliance for Peace takes a resolute anti-colonial, anti-imperialist position that links the international role of the U.S. empire – which is an empire based on war, aggression and exploitation – to the domestic war against poor and working class Black people in the United States. The link is not at all abstract when we consider initiatives like the National Guard State Partnership Program, which sends state-level U.S. National Guard regiments to Africa to do AFRICOM’s legwork when they aren’t being unleashed on civilians resisting ICE and racist police killings.
To continue our struggle against the war on African peoples, throughout the month of October, the Black Alliance for Peace will observe the 6th annual Month of Action Against AFRICOM. This year, we ground ourselves in the theme “Oppression Breeds Resistance: Escalations in the Perpetual War on Africa and The Struggles Against It.” We’ve seen key escalations in 2026 as compradors in Kenya increase repression against the masses, imperialists arm proxies in Niger & Mali to wage war against the anti-imperialist Alliance of Sahel States, and neocolonial forces allow AFRICOM to bomb Nigeria as they seek to encircle the Sahel region. But as we know, Africans will continue to fight back until true self-determination is achieved. Whether it is the masses in Kenya developing a Pan-Africanism Summit Against Imperialism to counter the neocolonial France-Africa Summit or the people of Mali rallying in defense of their sovereignty, Africans will continue the protracted struggle for sovereignty. This is why we say, “Oppression breeds resistance.”
Please join us this October to demand the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Africa, the demilitarization of the African continent, the closure of U.S. bases throughout the world, and that the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) must oppose AFRICOM and support hearings on AFRICOM’s impact on the African continent. Participants are encouraged to use the Month of Action to educate their communities the imperialist origins of AFRICOM, its ongoing affronts to African sovereignty, and any existing connections to your state or region through the State Partnership Program. The Month of Action Against AFRICOM Toolkit is full of resources for planning direct actions, teach-ins, banner drops, and other actions for contributing to a sustained mass movement against AFRICOM.
We hope you will join us.
No Compromise, No Retreat!