US to build drone base in Ethiopia
* Article
* Comments (2)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
*
*
*
*
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
September 24, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) - The United States is reportedly set
to build a new drone base in Ethiopia for counter-terrorism operations
in the Horn of Africa, the Washington Post reports.
The establishment of the drone base in the East African country will
be used to carry out strikes against targets in the region mainly to
confront the activities of designated terrorist groups such as
Al-Shabab an al-Qaeda affiliate who are fighting the the weak
transitional government of Somalia.
Ethiopia has in recent years proved as “a valued counterterrorism
partner to deal with the threats posed by al-Shabaab.” according to US
officials who spoke to the Washington Post.
“The CIA and other agencies also employ Ethiopian informants who
gather information from across the border,” the Washington Post
reported.
The United States and Ethiopia have been discussing creating a drone
base inside the Horn of Africa nation for the past four years
according to one US official, but the plan was delayed because “the
Ethiopians were not all that jazzed.”
Ethiopian officials have not been available for confirmation over the report.
The United States has in the past insisted it had no plans to build
new bases in the African continent reassuring Africans that the new US
Africa Command, responsible for US military operations and military
relations with 53 African nations except Egypt, would not mean a
stretched US military presence in Africa.
However the latest move instead has proved Washington’s interest to
extend the range of its drone weapons to Africa.
The US has a long established base in Djibouti where it conducts drone
attacks over targets inside Somalia and Yemen.
The US government had carried out unauthorised deadly drone attacks in
at least six countries namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya,
Somalia and Yemen where in most cases the attacks have sparked public
anger.
(ST)
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD
info" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
