US Defence Secretary James Mattis is greeted by Djibouti’s Minister of Defence Ali Hasan Bahdon as he arrives at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport in Ambouli, Djibouti.REUTERS
DJIBOUTI: US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis arrived Sunday for a short visit to Djibouti, a strategic Horn of Africa nation which hosts Washington’s only permanent military base on the continent.
Camp Lemonnier, home to some 4,000 US soldiers and contractors, is vital to US military operations in Somalia against militant groups like Al-Shabaab, and also provides support for US operations in Yemen, where special forces regularly carry out drone strikes against Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
China is also in the process of establishing its first overseas military base in the small port country just a few miles from the US camp, which has raised concern in Washington.
Mattis is scheduled to meet with Djibouti’s president, Esmail Omar Guelleh as well as with General Thomas Waldhauser, commander of US troops in Africa.
“For (the defence department) Camp Lemonnier and Chabelley are critical in terms of logistics. They support multiple US combat command”, a senior defence official said, referring to an airfield close to the camp, from which the US military operates drones.
