Unilateral U.S. military action against security threats in Africa would do more harm than good, the State Department's top envoy in Africa said at a security conference in Lisbon, June 22, 2010.

Instead, the key to security in Africa rests with effective partnerships, said Ambassador Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Carson spoke at a forum hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a U.S. Defense Department research institute based in Washington, D.C.

General William Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM), also spoke at the conference.

"Given the competing preoccupations and limited capacity of African governments to deal adequately with terrorism, some individuals in our government occasionally clamor to do the jobs ourselves, by whatever means possible, including kinetic military strikes," Carson said.

"I believe such an approach has serious shortcomings in Africa," Carson added. "It would only worsen the problem over the long run, unleash new unforeseen conflicts, and alienate our African partners."

Terrorism and violent extremism often are closely tied with local conflicts and criminal activities, and so addressing the challenges relies on more than just military action.

"The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan are clear," Carson said. "Military action must be followed by costly support for social and political reconstruction, and, even with the infusion of massive resources, a positive final outcome is not guaranteed."

The United States, he added, "is simply not resourced to resolve all the problems in this area. Our best option for dealing with terrorism and other security challenges in Africa is to form effective partnerships and to work harder at bolstering democracy and governance with our existing diplomatic and development tools. We need to work together to continue to strengthen the border control, law enforcement, and judicial capabilities of our African partners and multilateral organizations such as the African Union."

A full transcript of Carson's remarks is linked below: