The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) will run a single command post that will answer to the Pentagon on US military relations with 53 countries on the continent, it said in a statement.

In its first year, AFRICOM will operate under US European Command (EUCOM), based in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart, until it is a fully operational unified command by October next year.

The Pentagon's presence in Africa was previously managed by three regional commands.

The move comes amid heightened US military activities in the region aimed at denying new havens to militant groups aligned with Al-Qaeda.

Some 1,500 US troops are already in Djibouti, neighbouring Ethiopia and Somalia, on "anti-terror" operations in the Horn of Africa.

AFRICOM will provide security assistance to African countries, as well as helping them to build more professional militaries, the statement said.

It added that unlike other US military commands, AFRICOM would integrate staff members from other branches of the US government including the State Department and the US Agency for International Development.

Last month the Senate confirmed Army General William Ward, the US military's only serving African-American four-star general, as AFRICOM's first commander.

Ward has said that AFRICOM would seek to work closely with the African Union, regional African institutions and individual nations.

"A fundamental focus of the AFRICOM commander's engagement should include careful consideration of what our partners need from the US to help them develop to meet their stated needs," Ward told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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