| Americans are preparing for defense in East Africa The war on terrorism is increasingly spreading to Africa. Yesterday, the US State Department warned Americans and other citizens about the danger of new terrorist attacks in the east of this continent. The statement said terrorists may attempt to carry out an attack in the state of Djibouti similar to the one carried out last week in Kenya. The Republic of Djibouti is located in northeast Africa and borders Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.
In this regard, the Americans are hastily taking increased security measures and, as part of the war on terror, expanding their military presence in the Horn of Africa (the Somali peninsula in the Indian Ocean, where Somalia, Djibouti and part of Ethiopia are located). Moreover, Djibouti is precisely the focus of the Pentagon’s activity in this region. This is where the CIA bases its unmanned Predator spy planes. One of them recently destroyed a car with six al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen with a rocket. The Predators roaming the sky have more than once frightened the crews of numerous Western ships in the surrounding waters: they were mistaken for kamikaze planes.
Djibouti serves not only as a staging area for operations against al-Qaeda in Yemen and East Africa, but also as a training ground for US Marines to practice landings and desert warfare, which will be useful in a possible war with Iraq. There are fewer and fewer places in the world where the US military can conduct large-scale maneuvers using aircraft and artillery. The Pentagon has conducted bombing and artillery fire exercises in Djibouti three times this year. Once, the explosions of howitzer shells scared a herd of donkeys grazing in the desert, but the Americans buttered up the shepherd by buying three crazed donkeys from him for $250 per head.
In addition, Djibouti lies along the sea routes through which American weapons and equipment are delivered to the Persian Gulf.
The country cannot offer Americans oil or other natural resources, but it does have a decent airport and bay. The former French colony, which gained independence in 1977, is politically stable and accustomed to the presence of foreign troops. There is still a French garrison of almost three thousand people there: Djibouti is France's largest overseas military base.
During the American operation in Somalia in the early 90s, AC-130 Spector flying artillery batteries were based in Djibouti and US warships were refueled. Then Washington decided to develop ties with Yemen and moved the fleet there, although subsequently, in light of the sabotage against the destroyer Cole in the Aden roadstead, this decision turned out to be short-sighted.
According to the New York Times, the Horn of Africa occupies such an important place in the current Pentagon plans that the US Central Command has deployed a separate headquarters there, which is headed by Marine Major General John Sutter and is currently based on the Mount Whitney landing ship, but will subsequently be transferred to land. After 9/11, Western allies sent a naval patrol, Battle Group 150, to the east coast of Africa to intercept Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters fleeing Afghanistan by sea. The 150th group, commanded by the Spaniards, has not yet detained a single person or intercepted a single shipment of weapons, but no one is going to curtail its activities. Vladimir KOZLOVSKY, New York |
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