The Africa Partnership Station (APS), AFRICOM's naval element, now has an almost permanent presence in the Gulf of Guinea, where it is indeed very busy: training up local navies, installing a network of Maritime Domain Awareness sensors, painting schools, hugging natives (hadn't this 'hearts and minds' stuff already passed its sell-by-date in Vietnam?) and no doubt preparing a few contingency plans to protect energy supplies.
I would have thought a spell in the Indian Ocean would do AFRICOM's foundering PR campaign a world of good. Although APS doesn't need a land base it would have both Camp Lemonier in Djibouti and a 'lily pad' in Mombassa nearby.
And the whole world agrees that pirates are criminals and deserve to be dealt with: the whole world does not agree that Al-Shabaab are terrorists or that missile attacks against civilians are a good idea, even if they are aimed at an Al Qaeda suspect.
The EU, led by French action, has approved plans for a naval mission. US bluewater forces are already involved in a coalition patrolling international waters but could do with the brownwater capacity of APS.
