U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he is in favor of setting up a new U.S. military command to oversee operations in Africa.
Rumsfeld said Friday that he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, have pressed the military for six months for a proposal on setting up an Africa command.
The U.S. military assigns responsibility for specific parts of the world to regional commands, including European Command, Central Command and Pacific Command. Responsibility for Africa is currently fractured under all three.
General Pace said there are several options available for Africa, including a full-blown regional command or a regional authority that would answer to another command center.
The U.S. military has a task force in the Horn of Africa to help fight terrorism in the region.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.