The United States has deployed its ships, soldiers and diplomats in Northern and Eastern Africa to enlist the support of countries it deems to be of strategic value in its campaign against al-Qaeda and Iraq.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld this week led the diplomatic offensive in a tour of Ethiopia and Eritrea before stopping for talks in Djibouti on his way to Qatar to view US military exercises.
Rumsfeld said he was pleased with offers of overflight rights, access to bases, intelligence and maritime security and hinted that the US might expand its presence in the Horn of Africa, the volatile region across the Red Sea from Yemen.
Speaking as a separate US delegation visited Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, Rumsfeld said he came not to make specific requests but to strengthen ties ”in the global war on terrorism”.
”I’m not here to engage in transactions. I’m not here to put pressure on anybody. I’m here to demonstrate that the US values what these countries are doing.”
The defence secretary changed from an air force C-32 jet to a C-17 cargo plane following a State Department warning of a possible terrorist attack in the Horn of Africa in the wake of last month’s attacks in Mombasa.
The Pentagon chose the former French colony of Djibouti to base 1 000 US troops — mostly special forces and marines — at Camp Lemonier, a former French foreign legion base. USS Mount Whitney, a floating command post, is stationed off the coast.
Indicating that the base will stay for several years, Rumsfeld said: ”We need to be where the action is. [There are] a number of terrorists across the water in Yemen and in the southern part of Saudi Arabia.”
After meeting Djibouti’s leader, President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Rumsfeld was due to observe a computer simulated war game, dubbed ”Internal Look”, in Qatar, which involves naval, land and air components. The Gulf state’s newly established US command post is expected to be the battle headquarters for any war against Iraq.
Washington opened its diplomatic offensive last week, when President George W Bush had talks at the White House with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi.
The Assistant Secretary of State, William Burns, led a separate US delegation this week to shore up North African support. After talks in Morocco and Algeria, which was reportedly promised equipment to fight Islamist guerrillas, he was due to meet Tunisia’s President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Later this month Washington is expected to host peace talks between Sudan’s warring factions in a further engagement with the region, which came into the US’s focus after the September 11 attacks. — Â