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<h2 style="margin:20px 0px 0px 0px;">Nick Turse, America's Empire of
African Bases</h2>
<h5 style="margin:0px 0px 20px 0px;">
By Nick Turse<br>
Posted on November 17, 2015, Printed on November 17, 2015<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/">http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/</a>
</h5>
<p>[<strong>Note for TomDispatch Readers:</strong> <em>Last week,
Nick Turse appeared on </em>Democracy Now!<em> to discuss his
superb </em>TomDispatch<em> work on Special Operations forces
and his new Dispatch book, </em><a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608464636/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20">Tomorrow's
Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa</a><em>. <a
href="http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/13/tomorrows_battlefield_as_us_special_ops">Click
here</a> to check him out at </em>DN!<em> (or <a
href="http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/11/13/part_2_nick_turse_on_us">here</a>
for the online extended interview). Then, if you’d like a
personalized, signed copy of his new book, just go to <a
href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1443285?uniqueID=634795889283895124">the
</a></em><a
href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1443285?uniqueID=634795889283895124">TD</a><em><a
href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/1443285?uniqueID=634795889283895124">
donation page</a>. For $100 -- and the knowledge that you’ve
helped this website roll into 2016 -- it’s yours! Tom</em>]</p>
<p>As I’ve written <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176043/tomgram%3A_david_vine,_our_base_nation/">elsewhere</a>,
what Chalmers Johnson called America’s “empire of bases” was “not
so much our little secret as a secret we kept even from ourselves”
-- at least until Johnson broke the silence and his book <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805075593/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20"><em>Blowback</em></a>
became a bestseller in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those
years, however, if (like Johnson) you actually wanted to know
about the way the U.S. garrisoned the world, you could profitably
start simply by reading the Pentagon's tabulations of its global
garrisons, ranging from military bases the size of <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/03/AR2006020302994_pf.html">small
American towns</a> to what were then starting to be called “lily
pads,” which were small sites in potential global hot spots
stocked with pre-positioned materiel and ready for instant
occupation. It was all there on the record for those who cared to
know. Well, perhaps not quite <em>all</em> there, but enough of
it certainly to get a sense of what the “American Raj” (as Johnson
called it) looked like from Europe to Asia, Latin America to the
Persian Gulf. </p>
<p>And it was impressive, that empire of bases, once you took it
in. It represented a garrisoning of the globe unprecedented in
the history of empires. That we Americans didn’t generally know
much about it was, in a sense, a matter of choice, a matter, you
might say, of self-blinding behavior. To hazard a guess: as a
people, we were uncomfortable enough with the idea of ourselves as
a global imperial power that we preferred not to know what “we”
were doing, or at least not to acknowledge what we had become,
even though every year hundreds of thousands of Americans,
military personnel and civilians alike, lived on, worked on, or
cycled through those bases. In this context, it was startling how
seldom they were part of our everyday news cycle. For those in
other countries, they often <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/1112/">loomed large</a>
indeed as the local face of the United States, but you’d never
know that if your source of news was the mainstream media here. </p>
<p>That, of course, hasn’t changed. What has changed is
Washington’s attitude toward the public record. Its latest basing
moves are taking place enveloped in a blanket of secrecy, which
means that even if you want to know, it’s increasingly tough to
find out. Washington’s latest garrisoning strategy is based on a
new premise: a “<a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_africom%27s_gigantic_%22small_footprint%22">small
footprint</a>,” meaning a tiny-bases, rapid-deployment,
special-ops and drone-heavy way of war that’s being put into place
across Africa in the twenty-first century, as <em>TomDispatch</em>’s
Nick Turse lays out today. While the U.S. has always pursued
parts of its imperial strategy in "the shadows," to use a phrase
from my Cold War childhood, in this new strategy everyday basing,
too, is disappearing into those shadows, which is why Turse’s
latest piece on the subject is a small reportorial triumph of time
and effort.</p>
<p>For this site in these last years, Turse has regularly revealed
much that has been out of sight when it comes to Washington’s
expanding military focus on Africa, including the <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175981/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_the_u.s._military%27s_battlefield_of_tomorrow/">cascading
number</a> of U.S. military missions across that continent, a
similar spike in missions to <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176042/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_nothing_succeeds_like_failure/">train
proxy forces</a> there, and <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176060/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_success,_failure,_and_the_%22finest_warriors_who_ever_went_into_combat%22/">soaring
deployments</a> of U.S. Special Operations forces -- that secret
military-within-the-military of <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176048/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_a_secret_war_in_135_countries/">70,000</a>
that now thrives solely in a world of shadows. It took a year of
his efforts, but today he finishes off his portrait of the
garrisoning of a whole continent in a new way with a look at the
basing policies of U.S. Africa Command. It’s a piece that
couldn’t be more important or hard-won, and it offers us our first
look at how a continent is being prepared for what Turse, in his
latest book, has called “<a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608464636/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20">tomorrow’s
battlefield</a>.” <em>Tom</em></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Does Eleven Plus One
Equal Sixty? </strong> </span><br>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>AFRICOM’s New Math, the
U.S. Base Bonanza, and “Scarier” Times Ahead in Africa</strong>
</span><br>
By <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/authors/nickturse">Nick
Turse</a></p>
<p>In the shadows of what was once called the “dark continent," a
scramble has come and gone. If you heard nothing about it, that
was by design. But look hard enough and -- north to south, east
to west -- you’ll find the fruits of that effort: a network of
bases, compounds, and other sites whose sum total exceeds the
number of nations on the continent. For a military that has
stumbled from Iraq to Afghanistan and suffered setbacks from
Libya to Syria, it’s a rare can-do triumph. In remote locales,
behind fences and beyond the gaze of prying eyes, the U.S.
military has built an extensive archipelago of African outposts,
transforming the continent, experts say, into a laboratory for a
new kind of war.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>So how many U.S. military bases are there in Africa? It’s a
simple question with a simple answer. For years, U.S. Africa
Command (AFRICOM) gave a <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175574/">stock response</a>:
one. Camp Lemonnier in the tiny, sun-bleached nation of Djibouti
was America’s only acknowledged “base” on the continent. It
wasn’t true, of course, because there were camps, compounds,
installations, and facilities elsewhere, but the military leaned
hard on semantics.</p>
<p>Take a look at the Pentagon’s official list of bases, however,
and the number grows. The 2015 report on the Department of
Defense’s global property portfolio lists Camp Lemonnier and
three other deep-rooted sites on or near the continent: <a
href="http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmrc/Pages/namru3.htm">U.S.
Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3</a>, a medical research
facility in Cairo, Egypt, that was established in 1946;
Ascension Auxiliary Airfield, a spacecraft tracking station and
airfield located 1,000 miles off the coast of West Africa that
has been used by the U.S. since 1957; and warehouses at the
airport and seaport in Mombasa, Kenya, that were built in the
1980s.</p>
<p>That’s only the beginning, not the end of the matter. For
years, various <a
href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/05/01/mapped-the-u-s-militarys-presence-in-africa/">reporters</a>
have shed light on hush-hush <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/contractors-run-us-spying-missions-in-africa/2012/06/14/gJQAvC4RdV_story.html">outposts</a>
-- most of them built, upgraded, or expanded since 9/11 --
dotting the continent, including so-called <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175743/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_africom%27s_gigantic_%22small_footprint%22">cooperative
security locations</a> (CSLs). Earlier this year, AFRICOM
commander General David Rodriguez <a
href="http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/staging-sites-enable-africom-to-reach-hot-spots-within-4-hours-leader-says-1.345120">disclosed</a>
that there were actually 11 such sites. Again, devoted
AFRICOM-watchers knew that this, too, was just the start of a
larger story, but when I asked Africa Command for a list of
bases, camps and other sites, as I periodically have done, I was
treated like a sap. </p>
<p>“In all, AFRICOM has access to 11 CSLs across Africa. Of
course, we have one major military facility on the continent:
Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti,” Anthony Falvo, AFRICOM’s Public
Affairs chief, told me. Falvo was peddling numbers that both he
and I know perfectly well are, at best, misleading. “It’s one
of the most troubling aspects of our military policy in Africa,
and overseas generally, that the military can’t be, and seems
totally resistant to being, honest and transparent about what
it’s doing,” says David Vine, author of <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1627791698/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20"><em>Base
Nation</em></a><em>: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm
America and the World</em>.</p>
<p>Research by <em>TomDispatch </em>indicates that in recent
years the U.S. military has, in fact, developed a remarkably
extensive network of more than 60 outposts and access points in
Africa. Some are currently being utilized, some are held in
reserve, and some may be shuttered. These bases, camps,
compounds, port facilities, fuel bunkers, and other sites can be
found in at least 34 countries -- more than 60% of the nations
on the continent -- many of them <a
href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/niger">corrupt</a>,
<a
href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2015/djibouti">repressive</a>
<a
href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/chad">states</a>
with <a
href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/central-african-republic">poor</a>
<a
href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2014/ethiopia">human
rights</a> records. The U.S. also operates “Offices of
Security Cooperation and Defense Attaché Offices in
approximately 38 [African] nations,” according to Falvo, and has
struck close to 30 agreements to use international airports in
Africa as refueling centers. </p>
<p>There is no reason to believe that even this represents a
complete accounting of America’s growing archipelago of African
outposts. Although it’s possible that a few sites are being
counted twice due to AFRICOM’s failure to provide basic
information or clarification, the list <em>TomDispatch</em> has
developed indicates that the U.S. military has created a network
of bases that goes far beyond what AFRICOM has disclosed to the
American public, let alone to Africans.<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong><em><a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/images/managed/areasofaccess_large.jpg"
target="_blank">Click here to see a larger version</a></em></strong><br>
<img src="cid:part31.05090903.07040608@freedomarchives.org"
alt=""></p>
<p><em>U.S. military outposts, port facilities, and other areas of
access in Africa, 2002-2015 (Nick Turse/TomDispatch, 2015) </em></p>
<p><strong>AFRICOM’s Base Bonanza</strong></p>
<p>When AFRICOM became an independent command in 2008, Camp
Lemonnier was reportedly still one of the few American outposts
on the continent. In the years since, the U.S. has embarked on
nothing short of a building boom -- even if the command is loath
to refer to it in those terms. As a result, it’s now able to
carry out increasing numbers of overt and covert missions, from
training exercises to drone assassinations. </p>
<p>“AFRICOM, as a new command, is basically a laboratory for a
different kind of warfare and a different way of posturing
forces,” says Richard Reeve, the director of the <a
href="http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/ssp">Sustainable
Security Programm</a><a
href="http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/ssp">e</a> at the
<a title="Link to website."
href="http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/">Oxford Research
Group</a>, a London-based think tank. “Apart from Djibouti,
there’s no significant stockpiling of troops, equipment, or even
aircraft. There are a myriad of ‘lily pads’ or small forward
operating bases... so you can spread out even a small number of
forces over a very large area and concentrate those forces quite
quickly when necessary.”</p>
<p>Indeed, U.S. staging areas, cooperative security locations,
forward operating locations (FOLs), and other outposts -- many
of them involved in intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance activities and Special Operations missions --
have been built (or built up) in <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/05/21/map-the-u-s-currently-has-troops-in-these-african-countries/">Burkina
Faso</a>, <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-setting-up-drone-base-in-africa-to-track-boko-haram-fighters/2015/10/14/0cbfac94-7299-11e5-8d93-0af317ed58c9_story.html">Cameroon</a>,
the <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hunting-joseph-kony/2012/04/29/gIQACS07pT_graphic.html">Central
African Republic</a>, <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/opinion/dealing-with-boko-haram.html">Chad</a>,
<a
href="https://theintercept.com/2015/10/21/stealth-expansion-of-secret-us-drone-base-in-africa/">Djibouti</a>,
<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-drone-base-in-ethiopia-is-operational/2011/10/27/gIQAznKwMM_story.html">Ethiopia</a>,
<a
href="http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/staging-sites-enable-africom-to-reach-hot-spots-within-4-hours-leader-says-1.345120">Gabon</a>,
<a
href="http://www.stripes.com/news/africa/staging-sites-enable-africom-to-reach-hot-spots-within-4-hours-leader-says-1.345120">Ghana</a>,
<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national-security/drones-and-spy-planes-over-Africa/">Kenya</a>,
<a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175830/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_africom_becomes_a_%22war-fighting_combatant_command%22">Mali</a>,
<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-set-to-open-second-drone-base-in-niger-as-it-expands-operations-in-africa/2014/08/31/365489c4-2eb8-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html">Niger</a>,
<a
href="http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140930/NEWS08/309300058/Marines-establish-three-new-staging-locations-West-Africa">Senegal</a>,
<a
href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904106704576583012923076634">the
Seychelles</a>, <a
href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/02/exclusive-u-s-operates-drones-from-secret-bases-in-somalia-special-operations-jsoc-black-hawk-down/">Somalia</a>,
<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national-security/drones-and-spy-planes-over-Africa/">South
Sudan</a>, and <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national-security/drones-and-spy-planes-over-Africa/">Uganda</a>.
A 2011 report by Lauren Ploch<em>,</em> an analyst in African
affairs with the Congressional Research Service, also mentioned
U.S. military access to locations in Algeria, Botswana, Namibia,
São Tomé and <span class="st">Príncipe</span>, Sierra Leone,
Tunisia, and Zambia. AFRICOM failed to respond to scores of
requests by this reporter for further information about its
outposts and related matters, but an analysis of open source
information, documents obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act, and other records show a persistent, enduring,
and growing U.S. presence on the continent.</p>
<p>“A cooperative security location is just a small location where
we can come in... It would be what you would call a very austere
location with a couple of warehouses that has things like:
tents, water, and things like that,” explained AFRICOM’s
Rodriguez. As he implies, the military doesn’t consider CSLs to
be “bases,” but whatever they might be called, they are more
than merely a few tents and cases of bottled water. </p>
<p>Designed to accommodate about 200 personnel, with runways
suitable for C-130 transport aircraft, the sites are primed for
conversion from temporary, bare-bones facilities into something
more enduring. At least three of them in Senegal, Ghana, and
Gabon are apparently designed to facilitate faster deployment
for a rapid reaction unit with a mouthful of a moniker: Special
Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Africa (<a
href="http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/01/31/marine-corps-merges-european-based-spmagtfs/22589509/">SPMAGTF-CR-AF</a>).
Its forces are <a
href="http://archive.militarytimes.com/article/20140930/NEWS08/309300058/Marines-establish-three-new-staging-locations-West-Africa">based</a>
in <a
href="http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=129069">Morón</a>,
Spain, and Sigonella, Italy, but are focused on Africa. They
rely heavily on MV-22 Ospreys, <a
href="http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104531/cv-22-osprey.aspx">tilt-rotor</a>
aircraft that can take-off, land, and hover like helicopters,
but fly with the speed and fuel efficiency of a turboprop plane.</p>
<p>This combination of manpower, access, and technology has come
to be known in the military by the moniker “<a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175844/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_how_%22benghazi%22_birthed_the_new_normal_in_africa/">New
Normal</a>.” <a
href="http://www.stripes.com/news/nato-s-trident-juncture-exercise-ends-with-marines-storming-the-beach-1.377174">Birthed</a>
in the wake of the September 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya,
that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three
other Americans, the New Normal effectively allows the U.S.
military quick access 400 miles inland from any CSL or, as
Richard Reeve notes, gives it “a reach that extends to just
about every country in West and Central Africa.” </p>
<p>The concept was <a
href="https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/2014/04/filling-gap">field-tested</a>
as South Sudan plunged into civil war and 160 Marines and
sailors from <span class="st">Morón </span>were forward
deployed to Djibouti in late 2013. Within hours, a contingent
from that force was sent to Uganda and, in early 2014, in
conjunction with another rapid reaction unit, dispatched to
South Sudan to evacuate 20 people from the American embassy in
Juba. Earlier this year, SPMAGTF-CR-AF ran trials at its
African staging areas including the CSL in Libreville, Gabon,
deploying nearly 200 Marines and sailors along with four
Ospreys, two C-130s, and more than 150,000 pounds of materiel. </p>
<p>A similar test run was carried out at the Senegal CSL located
at Dakar-Ouakam Air Base, which can also host 200 Marines and
the support personnel necessary to sustain and transport them.
“What the CSL offers is the ability to forward-stage our forces
to respond to any type of crisis,” Lorenzo Armijo, an operations
officer with SPMAGTF-CR-AF, told a military reporter. “That
crisis can range in the scope of military operations from
embassy reinforcement to providing humanitarian assistance.” </p>
<p>Another CSL, mentioned in a July 2012 briefing by U.S. Army
Africa, is located in <a
href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=54ef8d869f63c896522b4ee5715ccd3f&tab=core&_cview=0">Entebbe</a>,
Uganda. From there, according to a <em>Washington Post</em>
investigation, U.S. contractors have flown surveillance missions
using innocuous-looking turboprop airplanes. “The AFRICOM
strategy is to have a very light touch, a light footprint, but
nevertheless facilitate special forces operations or ISR
[intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] detachments
over a very wide area,” Reeve says. “To do that they don’t need
very much basing infrastructure, they need an agreement to use a
location, basic facilities on the ground, a stockpile of fuel,
but they also can rely on private contractors to maintain a
number of facilities so there aren’t U.S. troops on the ground.”</p>
<p><strong><em><a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/images/managed/entebbecsl_large.jpg"
target="_blank">Click here to see a larger version</a></em></strong><br>
<img src="cid:part60.03040603.09030807@freedomarchives.org"
alt=""></p>
<p><em>U.S. Army Africa briefing slide from 2012 detailing work at
the Entebbe CSL</em></p>
<p><strong>The Outpost Archipelago</strong></p>
<p>AFRICOM ignored my requests for further information on CSLs and
for the designations of other outposts on the continent, but <a
href="http://www.army.mil/article/117849/Overcoming_logistics_challenges_in_East_Africa/">according</a>
to a 2014 article in <em>Army Sustainment</em> on “Overcoming
Logistics Challenges in East Africa,” there are also “at least
nine forward operating locations, or FOLs.” A 2007 Defense
Department news release referred to an FOL in Charichcho,
Ethiopia. The U.S. military also utilizes “Forward Operating
Location Kasenyi” in Kampala, Uganda. A 2010 report by the
Government Accountability Office <a
href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gao.gov%2Fassets%2F310%2F303408.pdf&ei=bLF1VaWbNKTnsAS4u4LoAQ&usg=AFQjCNFWs51vh8Yb_xeuvBhiSPpCvm2Fyg">mentioned</a>
<a href="http://www.hoa.africom.mil/image/6223/cjtf-hoa-photo">forward
operating locations</a> in Isiolo and Manda Bay, both in
Kenya. </p>
<p>Camp Simba in Manda Bay has, in fact, seen significant
expansion in recent years. In 2013, Navy Seabees, for example,
<a
href="http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/united-states-using-local-soldiers-fight-al-qaida-allies-east-africa/">worked</a>
24-hour shifts to extend its runway to enable larger <a
href="http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/c-130-c-5-c-17-airlifters-prompt-washington-debate/">aircraft</a>
like C-130s to land there, while other projects were initiated
to accommodate greater numbers of troops in the future,
including increased fuel and potable water storage, and more
latrines. The base serves as a home away from home for Navy
personnel and Army Green Berets among other U.S. troops and, as
recently <a
href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">revealed</a>
at the<em> Intercept</em>, plays an integral role in the secret
<a href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">drone
assassination</a> program aimed at militants in neighboring
Somalia as well as in Yemen.</p>
<p>Drones have played an increasingly large role in this post-9/11
build-up in Africa. MQ-1 Predators have, for instance, been
based in Chad’s capital, <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/opinion/dealing-with-boko-haram.html">N’Djamena</a>,
while their newer, larger, more far-ranging cousins, <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-crashes-mount-at-civilian-airports-overseas/2012/11/30/e75a13e4-3a39-11e2-83f9-fb7ac9b29fad_story.html">MQ-9
Reapers</a>, have been <a
href="http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424053111904106704576583012923076634?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424053111904106704576583012923076634.html">flown</a>
out of Seychelles International Airport. As of June 2012, <a
href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">according</a>
to the<em> Intercept</em>, two contractor-operated drones, one
Predator and one Reaper, were based in <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-drone-base-in-ethiopia-is-operational/2011/10/27/gIQAznKwMM_story.html">Arba
Minch</a>, Ethiopia, while a detachment with one <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/us/simple-scaneagle-drones-a-boost-for-us-military.html?_r=0">Scan
Eagle</a> (a low-cost drone used by the Navy) and a remotely
piloted helicopter known as an <a
href="http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.display&key=8250AFBA-DF2B-4999-9EF3-0B0E46144D03">MQ-8
Fire Scout</a> operated off the coast of East Africa. The
U.S. also recently began setting up a <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-setting-up-drone-base-in-africa-to-track-boko-haram-fighters/2015/10/14/0cbfac94-7299-11e5-8d93-0af317ed58c9_story.html">base</a>
in Cameroon for unarmed Predators to be used in the battle
against Boko Haram militants. </p>
<p><strong><em><a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/images/managed/africabriefing_large.jpg"
target="_blank">Click here to see a larger version</a></em></strong><br>
<img src="cid:part77.01070506.02000908@freedomarchives.org"
alt=""></p>
<p><em>U.S. Army Africa briefing slide from 2013 obtained by </em>TomDispatch<em>
via the Freedom of Information Act</em></p>
<p>In February 2013, the U.S. also began <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-base-in-niger-gives-us-a-strategic-foothold-in-west-africa/2013/03/21/700ee8d0-9170-11e2-9c4d-798c073d7ec8_story.html">flying</a>
Predator drones out of Niger’s capital, <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-set-to-open-second-drone-base-in-niger-as-it-expands-operations-in-africa/2014/08/31/365489c4-2eb8-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html">Niamey</a>.
A year later, Captain Rick Cook, then chief of U.S. Africa
Command’s Engineer Division, <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175830/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_africom_becomes_a_%22war-fighting_combatant_command%22">mentioned</a>
the potential for a new “base-like facility” that would be
“semi-permanent” and “capable of air operations” in that
country. That September, the <em>Washington Post</em>’s Craig
Whitlock <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-set-to-open-second-drone-base-in-niger-as-it-expands-operations-in-africa/2014/08/31/365489c4-2eb8-11e4-994d-202962a9150c_story.html">exposed</a>
plans to base drones at a second location there, Agadez. Within
days, the U.S. Embassy in Niamey <a
href="http://niamey.usembassy.gov/droneinagadez.html">announced</a>
that AFRICOM was, indeed, “assessing the possibility of
establishing a temporary, expeditionary contingency support
location in Agadez, Niger.”</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Captain Rodney Worden of AFRICOM’s Logistics
and Support Division mentioned “a partnering and
capacity-building project... for the Niger Air Force and Armed
Forces in concert with USAFRICOM and [U.S.] Air Forces Africa to
construct a runway and associated work/life support area for
airfield operations.” And when the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 was <a
href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d114:H.R.1735:">introduced</a>
in April, embedded in it was a $50 million <a
href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&sid=cp114llNjh&r_n=hr102.114&dbname=cp114&&sel=TOC_1188734&">request</a>
for the construction of an “airfield and base camp at Agadez,
Niger... to support operations in western Africa.” When
Congress recently passed the annual defense policy bill, that
sum was authorized.</p>
<p>According to Brigadier General Donald Bolduc, the head of U.S.
Special Operations Command Africa, there is also a team of
Special Operations forces currently “living right next to” local
troops in Diffa, Niger. A 2013 military briefing slide,
obtained by <em>TomDispatch</em> via the Freedom of Information
Act, indicates a “U.S. presence” as well in Ouallam, Niger, and
at both Bamako and Kidal in neighboring Mali. Ouagadougou, the
capital of Burkina Faso, a country that borders both of those
nations, plays host to a Special Operations Forces Liaison
Element Team, a Joint Special Operations Air Detachment, and the
Trans-Sahara Short Take-Off and Landing Airlift Support
initiative which, according to official documents, facilitates
“high-risk activities” carried out by elite forces from Joint
Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara. </p>
<p>On the other side of the continent in Somalia, elite U.S.
forces are <a
href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/02/exclusive-u-s-operates-drones-from-secret-bases-in-somalia-special-operations-jsoc-black-hawk-down/">operating</a>
from small compounds in Kismayo and Baledogle, according to
reporting by <em>Foreign Policy</em>. Neighboring Ethiopia has
similarly been a prime locale for American outposts, <a
href="http://www.africom.mil/newsroom/photo/3396/US-AFRICOM-Photo">including</a>
<a
href="http://www.nationalguard.mil/News/ArticleView/tabid/5563/Article/574829/transportation-missions-in-africa-boost-soldier-morale.aspx">Camp
Gilbert</a> in <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/NMCB5/photos/a.10150425774194868.384728.265326024867/10150425775434868/?type=3&theater">Dire
Dawa</a>, contingency operating locations at both Hurso and
Bilate, and facilities used by a 40-man team <a
href="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/428388/ilw-contemporary-military-forum-10-army-service-component-commands-applying-army-operating-concept-joint-effects#.VkJFD7-m3nc">based</a>
in Bara. So-called Combined Operations Fusion Centers were set
up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan as part
of an effort to destroy Joseph Kony and his murderous Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA). <em>Washington Post </em>investigations
have revealed that U.S. forces have also been based in <a
href="http://www.africom.mil/Newsroom/Transcript/8949/transcript-commander-of-special-operations-command">Djema</a>,
<a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-military-opens-a-new-front-in-the-hunt-for-african-warlord-joseph-kony/2015/09/29/73ffef96-66a9-11e5-9223-70cb36460919_story.html">Sam
Ouandja</a>, and <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/contractors-run-us-spying-missions-in-africa/2012/06/14/gJQAvC4RdV_story.html">Obo</a>,
in the Central African Republic as part of that effort. There
has recently been new construction by Navy Seabees at Obo to
increase the camp’s capacity as well as to install the
infrastructure for a satellite dish.</p>
<p>There are other locations that, while not necessarily outposts,
nonetheless form critical nodes in the U.S. base network on the
continent. These include 10 marine gas and oil bunkers located
at ports in eight African nations. Additionally, AFRICOM
acknowledges an agreement to use Léopold Sédar Senghor
International Airport in Senegal for refueling as well as for
the “transportation of teams participating in security
cooperation activities.” A similar deal is in place for the use
of Kitgum Airport in Kitgum, Uganda, and Addis Ababa Bole
International Airport in Ethiopia. All told, according to the
Defense Logistics Agency, the U.S. military has struck 29
agreements to use airports as refueling centers in 27 African
countries. </p>
<p>Not all U.S. bases in Africa have seen continuous use in these
years. After the American-backed military <a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2008/08/20088695834599264.html">overthrew</a>
the government of Mauritania in 2008, for example, the U.S. <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national-security/drones-and-spy-planes-over-Africa/">suspended</a>
an airborne surveillance program based in its capital,<strong> </strong>Nouakchott.
Following a coup in Mali by a U.S.-trained officer, the United
States suspended military relations with the government and a
spartan U.S. compound near the town of Gao was apparently <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175830/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_africom_becomes_a_%22war-fighting_combatant_command%22">overrun</a>
by rebel forces. </p>
<p>Most of the new outposts on that continent, however, seem to be
putting down roots. As <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176043/tomgram%3A_david_vine,_our_base_nation/"><em>TomDispatch</em>
regular</a> and <a
href="http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/lily-pads/htmlmulti/mapping-growth-bases-africa/">basing
expert</a> David Vine suggests, “The danger of the strategy in
which you see U.S. bases popping up increasingly around the
continent is that once bases get established they become very
difficult to close. Once they generate momentum, within
Congress and in terms of funding, they have a tendency to
expand.”</p>
<p>To supply its troops in East Africa, AFRICOM has also built a
sophisticated logistics system. It’s officially known as the
Surface Distribution Network, but colloquially <a
href="http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/MarApril12/New_Spice_Africa.html">referred</a>
to as the “new spice route.” It connects Kenya, Uganda,
Ethiopia, and Djibouti. These hubs are, in turn, part of a
transportation and logistics network that includes bases located
in Rota, Spain; Aruba in the Lesser Antilles; Souda Bay, Greece;
and a <a
href="http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/africacommand.htm">forward
operating site</a> on Britain’s Ascension Island in the South
Atlantic. </p>
<p>Germany’s Ramstein Air Base, headquarters of U.S.<em> </em>Air
Forces Europe and one of the largest American military bases
outside the United States, is another key site. As the<em>
Intercept</em> <a
href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/04/17/ramstein/">reported</a>
earlier this year, it serves as “the high-tech heart of
America’s drone program” for the Greater Middle East and
Africa. Germany is also host to AFRICOM’s headquarters, located
at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart-Moehringen, itself a site
reportedly <a
href="http://international.sueddeutsche.de/post/52323491304/exclusive-us-armed-forces-piloting-drones-from-bases">integral</a>
to drone operations in Africa. </p>
<p>In addition to hosting a contingent of the Marines and sailors
of Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis
Response-Africa, Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily, Italy,
is another <a
href="http://www.distribution.dla.mil/news/articles/2010/2010_11_09_dla644.aspx">important</a>
<a
href="http://www.distribution.dla.mil/news/articles/2009/articles/2009_12_01_ddsi.aspx">logistics</a>
facility for African operations. The <a
href="https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09NAPLES69_a.html">second-busiest</a>
military air station in Europe, Sigonella is a key hub for
drones covering Africa, serving as a <a
href="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/329656/drone-assembly#.VW_0rUbD7ag">base</a>
for <a
href="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/328981/drone-maintenance#.VW_1y0bD7ag">MQ-1
Predators</a> and <a
href="http://www.beale.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=19533">RQ-4B
Global Hawk</a> <a
href="https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08ROME398_a.html">surveillance
drones</a>.</p>
<p><strong>The Crown Jewels</strong></p>
<p>Back on the continent, the undisputed crown jewel in the U.S.
archipelago of bases is indeed still Camp Lemonnier. To <a
href="http://archive.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=5236">quote</a>
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, it is “a hub with lots of
spokes out there on the continent and in the region.” Sharing a
runway with Djibouti's <a
href="http://www.stripes.com/news/military-responds-to-air-safety-issues-in-djibouti-1.344317">Ambouli</a>
International Airport, the sprawling compound is the
headquarters of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa and is
<a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175844/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_how_%22benghazi%22_birthed_the_new_normal_in_africa/">home</a>
to the East Africa Response Force, another regional
quick-reaction unit. The camp, which also serves as the forward
headquarters for <a
href="https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/wp-uploads/sites/1/2015/10/03.jpg">Task
Force 48-4</a>, a hush-hush counterterrorism unit targeting
militants in East Africa and Yemen, has seen personnel stationed
there jump by more than 400% since <a
href="http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=2888">2002</a>.</p>
<p>In the same period, Camp Lemonnier has <a
href="http://www.stripes.com/news/accompanied-tours-in-djibouti-us-military-looks-at-options-as-it-settles-in-for-the-long-term-1.277526?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">expanded</a>
from 88 acres to nearly 600 acres and is in the midst of a
years-long <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/world/africa/us-signs-new-lease-to-keep-strategic-military-installation-in-the-horn-of-africa.html?_r=0">building
boom</a> for which more than $600 million has already been
awarded or allocated.<strong> </strong> In late 2013, for
example, B.L. Harbert International, an Alabama-based
construction company, was <a
href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9ra0ajF-kDIJ:www.blharbert.com/about/news/bl-harbert-international-awarded-%24150m-naval-contract-in-djibouti,-africa&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0">awarded</a>
a $150 million contract by the Navy for “the P-688 Forward
Operating Base at Camp Lemonnier.” According to a corporate
press release, “the site is approximately 20 acres in size, and
will contain 11 primary structures and ancillary facilities
required to support current and emerging operational missions
throughout the region.” </p>
<p>In 2014, the Navy <a
href="http://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2014/04/22/nmcb-74-completes-facility-in-support-of-socafrica/">completed</a>
construction of a $750,000 secure facility for Special
Operations Command Forward-East Africa (SOCFWD-EA). It is one
of three similar teams on the continent -- the others being <a
href="https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CD0QFjAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjsou.socom.mil%2FJSOU%2520Publications%2F2015SOFRefManual_final.pdf&ei=blR2VeK2IM7_yQTs3oGgCQ&usg=AFQjCNEYTENURprGNxW9qr0ynIksGaaHJQ&bvm=bv.95039771,d.cWc">SOCFWD-Central
Africa</a> and SOCFWD-North and West Africa -- which, <a
href="http://www.soc.mil/swcs/swmag/archive/SW2502/SW2502OperationalizingStrategicPolicyInLebanon.html">according</a>
to the military, “shape and coordinate special operations forces
security cooperation and engagement in support of theater
special operations command, geographic combatant command, and
country team goals and objectives.” </p>
<p>In 2012, according to secret documents recently <a
href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">revealed</a>
by the<em> Intercept</em>, 10 Predator drones and four Reaper
drones were <a
href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">based</a>
at Camp Lemonnier, along with six <a
href="http://www.hurlburt.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/136/Article/204913/four-hurlburt-airmen-die-in-u-28a-crash-in-djibouti.aspx">U-28As</a>
(a single-engine aircraft that conducts surveillance for special
operations forces) and two <a
href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/products/p3.html">P-3
Orions</a> (a four-engine turboprop surveillance aircraft).
There were also eight F-15E Strike Eagles, heavily armed, manned
fighter jets. By August 2012, an average of 16 drones and four
fighters were <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/remote-us-base-at-core-of-secret-operations/2012/10/25/a26a9392-197a-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html">taking
off</a> or landing at the base each day.</p>
<p>The next year, in the wake of a number of drone crashes and
turmoil involving Djiboutian air traffic controllers, drone
operations were moved to a more remote site located about six
miles away. Djibouti’s <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2015/10/21/stealth-expansion-of-secret-us-drone-base-in-africa/">Chabelley
Airfield</a>, which has seen significant construction of late
and has a much lower profile than Camp Lemonnier, now serves as
a key base for America’s regional drone campaign. Dan
Gettinger, the co-founder and co-director of the Center for the
Study of the Drone at Bard College, recently <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2015/10/21/stealth-expansion-of-secret-us-drone-base-in-africa/">told</a>
the<em> Intercept</em> that the operations run from the site
were “JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command] and CIA-led
missions for the most part,” explaining that they were likely
focused on counterterrorism strikes in Somalia and Yemen,
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities, as
well as support for the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen.</p>
<p><strong>A Scarier Future</strong></p>
<p>Over many months, AFRICOM repeatedly ignored even basic
questions from this reporter about America’s sweeping
archipelago of bases. In practical terms, that means there is
no way to know with complete certainty how many of the more than
60 bases, bunkers, outposts, and areas of access are currently
being used by U.S. forces or how many additional sites may
exist. What does seem clear is that the number of bases and
other sites, however defined, is increasing, mirroring <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175574/">the rise</a> in
the <a
href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">number</a>
of U.S. troops, <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176048/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_a_secret_war_in_135_countries/">special
operations deployments</a>, and <a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175981/tomgram%3A_nick_turse,_the_u.s._military%27s_battlefield_of_tomorrow/">missions</a>
in Africa.</p>
<p>“There’s going to be a network of small bases with maybe a
couple of medium-altitude, long-endurance drones at each one, so
that anywhere on the continent is always within range,” says the
Oxford Research Group's Richard Reeve when I ask him for a
forecast of the future. In many ways, he notes, this has
already begun everywhere but in southern Africa, not currently
seen by the U.S. military as a high-risk area. </p>
<p>The Obama administration, Reeve explains, has made use of
humanitarian rhetoric as a cover for expansion on the continent.
He points in particular to the deployment of forces against the
Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa, the build-up of forces
near Lake Chad in the effort against Boko Haram, and the
post-Benghazi <a
href="http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/briefing_papers_and_reports/sahel_counterterrorism_new_normal">New
Normal</a> concept as examples. “But, in practice, what is
all of this going to be used for?” he wonders. After all, the
enhanced infrastructure and increased capabilities that today
may be viewed by the White House as an insurance policy against
another Benghazi can easily be repurposed in the future for
different types of military interventions.</p>
<p>“Where does this go post-Obama?” Reeve asks rhetorically,
noting that the rise of AFRICOM and the proliferation of small
outposts have been “in line with the Obama doctrine.” He draws
attention to the president’s embrace of a lighter-footprint
brand of warfare, specifically a reliance on Special Operations
forces and drones. This may, Reeve adds, just be a prelude to
something larger and potentially more dangerous. </p>
<p>“Where would Hillary take this?” he asks, referencing the <a
href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/417455/hillary-ultimate-hawk-david-french">hawkish</a>
Democratic primary <a
href="http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-national-democratic-primary">frontrunner</a>,
Hillary Clinton. “Or any of the Republican potentials?” He
points to the George W. Bush administration as an example and
raises the question of what it might have done back in the early
2000s if AFRICOM’s infrastructure had already been in place.
Such a thought experiment, he suggests, could offer clues to
what the future might hold now that the continent is dotted with
American outposts, drone bases, and compounds for elite teams of
Special Operations forces. “I think,” Reeve says, “that we
could be looking at something a bit scarier in Africa.”</p>
<p><em>Nick Turse is the managing editor of </em>TomDispatch<em>
and a fellow at the </em><a
href="http://www.nationinstitute.org/fellows/2904/nick_turse/"><em>Nation
Institute</em></a><em>. A 2014 Izzy Award and </em><a
href="http://www.beforecolumbusfoundation.com/foundation-news/2014-american-book-awards/"><em>American
Book Award</em></a><em> winner for his book </em>Kill
Anything That Moves<em>, his pieces have appeared in the </em><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/04/29/lessons-40-years-after-the-fall-of-saigon/in-vietnam-callous-use-of-power-led-to-years-of-civilian-misery-3">New
York Times</a><em>, the </em><a
href="https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/target-africa/">Intercept</a><em>,
the </em>Los Angeles Times<em>, the </em>Nation<em>, and
regularly at </em><a
href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176060/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_success%2C_failure%2C_and_the_%22finest_warriors_who_ever_went_into_combat%22/">TomDispatch</a><em>.
His latest book is </em><a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608464636/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20">Tomorrow's
Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa</a><em>.</em></p>
<p><em>Follow </em>TomDispatch<em> on <a
href="https://twitter.com/TomDispatch">Twitter</a> and join
us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch">Facebook</a>.
Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turse’s </em><a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608464636/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20"
target="_blank">Tomorrow’s Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and
Secret Ops in Africa</a><em>, and Tom Engelhardt's latest
book, </em><a
href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20"
target="_blank">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars,
and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a><em>.</em></p>
<p>Copyright 2015 Nick Turse</p>
</blockquote>
<h5 style="margin:30px 0px 20px 0px;">© 2015 TomDispatch. All rights
reserved.<br>
View this story online at: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/">http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176070/</a></h5>
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