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Given our recent discussion (here and here) of the rising importance of Africa in the world's power and money echelons, it is not entirely surprising that the NY Times reports that US military command in Africa is actively preparing to establish a drone base in northwest Africa to increase "unarmed surveillance missions on the local affiliate of Al Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups" that American and other Western officials say pose a growing menace to the region. It would appear Niger will be the most likely place for the base - from which officials envision flying only unarmed surveillance drones though, of course, they have not ruled out conducting missile strikes at some point if the threat worsens. “This is directly related to the Mali mission, but it could also give Africom a more enduring presence for I.S.R.,” one American military official said Sunday, referring to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Perhaps, actually scratch the "perhaps", what is really happening is the US now has a drone base with which to supervise Chinese expansion in Northweast Africa, anda drone fleet to use defensively and offensively as it sees fit.
Originally posted by solve
reply to post by macman
hi, man very interesting read,,
we have us drones here in finland too, i saw one last fall, i got a picture of it too, i will post it someday.
i am saying american becouse we have joint training programs in our air space, foreign drones are illegal here, but they dont care. still they fly around.
Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Cinrad
Not really no. As I said, the US has already been flying manned and unmanned missions out of Africa. So why the need to help Mali to build a base, when they already have a number of them all across the continent?
Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Cinrad
Not really no. As I said, the US has already been flying manned and unmanned missions out of Africa. So why the need to help Mali to build a base, when they already have a number of them all across the continent?
NIAMEY, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Niger has given permission for U.S. surveillance drones to be stationed on its territory to improve intelligence on al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters in northern Mali and the wider Sahara, a senior government source said.
The drones could be stationed in Niger's northern desert region of Agadez, which borders Mali, Algeria and Libya, the source said.