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Construction of the long-awaited rail network that will link the six members of the GCC is expected to start in 2010 or 2011. Abu Dhabi: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries' proactive approach to building railroad networks, whose estimated cost is more than $60 billion (Dh220 billion), will help boost cross-border trade, cut freight costs and result in faster movement of cargo and passengers, experts have said. "Rail is safer, faster, cleaner and [a] more economical mode of transportation. Strong logistics networks encourage trade and provide industry with a competitive advantage," Hussain Al Nowais, chairman of the UAE's newly created...

S&P: Dubai Is Nearly Out Of Cash Joe WeisenthalOct. 11, 2009, 12:07 PM Don't assume that the economic comeback means Dubai is out of the woods. Holders of its debt may be in trouble, unless the Emirate can raise more money. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An analyst at credit rating firm Standard & Poor's says Dubai has "insufficient" funds to pay back billions of dollars worth of debt coming due, putting added pressure on the city-state to raise additional cash. Farouk Soussa, S&P's head of Middle East government ratings, said Sunday that the sheikdom has about $4 billion...

UAE wants its fighters its own way Ivan Gale If the UAE signs for 60 Rafale fighter aircraft from France’s Dassault later this year, as some expect, in a deal valued at €6 billion (Dh32.2bn) to €10bn, it will be purchasing a jet more advanced than those being flown by the French air force. A more powerful engine, a new air-to-air missile and cutting-edge radar systems are some of the requirements the UAE has made to Dassault and its French partners Safran, Thales and MBDA, according to media reports. Such requests for upgrades and modifications have been a central theme...

Note: The following text is a quote: Dutch Firm and Two Officers Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Export Aircraft Components and Other Goods to Iran A Dutch aviation services company, its director and sales manager pleaded guilty today in the District of Columbia to federal charges related to a conspiracy to illegally export aircraft components and other items from the United States to entities in Iran via the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus. The announcement was made by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Channing D. Phillips, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and...

A Santa Monica architect known for his high-rise designs is working on what may be the ultimate "spec" building -- a 224-story skyscraper with green ambitions that would be the tallest structure in the world. The tower is envisioned for a man-made island in Abu Dhabi, if leaders of the oil-rich emirate decide they want to make a statement to rest of the world and perhaps one-up neighboring Dubai. A conceptual design for the $3.5-billion project in the United Arab Emirates is under consideration by an Abu Dhabi planning committee, said Tommy Landau, the architect who created the design and...

Month and a half after plan to blow up tallest skyscraper in world exposed, 45 more suspects arrested in addition to eight arrested when plot unraveled. Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese among those detained. Iran suspected to be mastermind behind plot Roee Nahmias 09.15.09 / Israel News The defense apparatus in the United Arab Emirates arrested 45 suspects, most of them Palestinian and Lebanese, after the plot to blow up Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) was uncovered. Dubai Tower, currently under construction, is the tallest building in the world. The current wave of arrests adds to the eight other suspects detained immediately after...

A Chinese military expert has accused India of "violating" Beijing's diplomatic rights and "spying" on its military ware while inspecting the cargo plane of the United Arab Emirates air force which was detained in Kolkata. "The actions by Indian authorities violated diplomatic rights as the cargo on board belong to China," Dai Xu, a renowned military expert, said. "Any inspection onboard, which may have violated China's property rights and constituted spying on its military secrets, should be approved by both the UAE and China," Dai was quoted as saying by the state-run Global Times. It also quoted an unnamed military...

England is deserted, Australia and New Zealand have merged, and the man who bought Ireland has killed himself. They were designed to make Dubai the envy of the world: a series of paradise islands inhabited by celebrities and the super-rich reclaimed from the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf and shaped like a map of the Earth. It was called The World. As millions of tonnes of rock were dumped into the sea for the foundations, timely leaks suggested that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were to buy Ethiopia, Sir Richard Branson was tipped to occupy England, while Rod Stewart...

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Emirates jetliner carrying more than 225 people slammed its tail into the runway as it took off from Australia, sending smoke into the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, officials said Saturday.No one was hurt, but passengers described being terrified after learning something was wrong soon after the Airbus A340 took off from the southern city of Melbourne about 10:30 p.m. Friday, bound for Dubai.After the strike, which reportedly left debris strewn on the runway and knocked out some runway lights, the pilot flew over the sea, dumping fuel, before returning to...

What is the mysterious weapons cargo in the China-bound UAE Air Force’s C-130 Hercules aircraft detained at Kolkata Airport since Sunday? Defence and intelligence sleuths say it could be a sophisticated US-made weapons system, which explains the unconcealed concern of the Indian authorities and the silence on the part of the UAE government. UAE authorities applied to the Indian government to get the plane released on Wednesday evening — nearly 72 hours after it was detained. The plane has been given a take-off slot of 9.30am on Thursday for China’s Xiangyang. Sources confirmed that the three mysterious boxes in the...

KOLKATA: After trying to fob off Indian officials and investigators all of Sunday night, one of the pilots of the United Arab Emirates air force aircraft detained at Kolkata airport since Sunday finally admitted to the plane carrying a consignment of weapons. The C-130 Hercules among the biggest transport aircraft in the world was on its way to Xiangyang, China, from UAEAF's Western Air Command base in Abu Dhabi. Although the UAE government had the necessary clearances from Indian authorities for the flight to land in Kolkata, it had not informed that the aircraft would be carrying weapons. Indian Customs...

An aircraft belonging to the United Arab Emirates Air Force was found carrying a large cache of arms and ammunition and detained along with its nine crew members here last night. ( Watch Video ) The plane, bound for Hanyang in China from Abu Dhabi, landed at the NSC Bose International airport here for refuelling last night. Airport sources said that while customary checking of the plane by customs officials it was found that a large cache of arms and ammunition were stockpiled inside the flight. The airport authority of India was informed and as the plane's crew did not...

Note: The following text is a quote: International Arms Dealer Arrested for Conspiracy to Supply U.S. Fighter Jet Engines to Iran Jacques Monsieur, a Belgian national and resident of France suspected of international arms dealing for decades, has been arrested on charges alleging that he conspired to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts from the United States to Iran. Monsieur is scheduled to have his arraignment today in federal court in Mobile, Alabama. A six-count indictment returned on Aug. 27, 2009, in the Southern District of Alabama charging Monsieur, 56, and co-defendant Dara Fotouhi, aka Dara Fatouhi, 54,...

It has the makings of the opening sequence in an apocalyptic thriller. A ship enters the Gulf, carrying a secret, illicit cargo of munitions, bound for Iran from North Korea. The ship is seized by the United Arab Emirates, where authorities discover that instead of the oil boring equipment listed on the manifest, the cargo includes some 10 containers filled with rocket launchers, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and detonators. The UAE seizes the cargo and notifies the United Nations Security Council. But for weeks, the public is told nothing about it – not by the UN, and not by Washington. The...

The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship secretly carrying embargoed North Korean arms to Iran, say diplomats. News of the interception comes at a sensitive time. North Korea has invited the US for bilateral talks on nuclear issues and the UN Security Council’s western members are pressing for greater Iranian co-operation over its nuclear programme. The UAE reported the seizure to the UN sanctions committee responsible for vetting the implementation of measures, including an arms embargo, imposed against North Korea under Security Council resolution 1874, according to diplomats in New York. The committee, chaired by Turkey, has made no...

NEW YORK (CNN) — The United Arab Emirates seized a ship carrying banned arms from North Korea to Iran, diplomats told CNN Friday. The incident occurred in early August and was reported to the U.N. Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions committee, Western diplomats at the United Nations said. The diplomats did not disclose which country owned the vessel. It also was not immediately clear whether this was the first time such an incident had happened, or only the first time such a case had been revealed. A U.N. resolution passed in July imposes an embargo on the shipment of arms...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday.

UAE F-16s make debut appearance in US 'Red Flag' exercise By Craig Hoyle Lockheed Martin F-16Es from the United Arab Emirates air force are participating in the US Air Force's "Red Flag" series of multinational exercises for the first time, with the current manoeuvres set to conclude at Nellis AFB, Nevada on 5 September. The UAE aircraft are drawn from its US-based training squadron for the Block 60 F-16E/F, which is permanently based at Tucson AFB. Air force personnel set for involvement in the Red Flag exercise took part in a two-week series of preparatory training at the Arizona base...

SNIPPET: "ABU DHABI // A Lebanese American who faces terrorism charges is linked to al Qa’eda, the Federal Supreme Court was told yesterday. Naji Hamdan, 43, is charged with promoting terrorism, participating in the work of a terrorist organisation and funding a terrorist organisation. Details of the charges, all relating to alleged activity outside the UAE, emerged for the first time yesterday. A lawyer for the State Security Public Prosecution told the court: “Naji Hamdan is directly linked to Ansar al-Sunna and al Qa’eda members through electronic communication.” Ansar al-Sunna is a militant Sunni faction in Iraq connected to al...

Back in March the authorities in Dubai had stated that they were going to toughen up their laws to be more in accordance with Islam. Unfortunately the authorities in Abu Dhabi are on the same path. Like I have said in the past, the Islamic world is getting stricter and stricter.

BOSTON – A crowd of hundreds of local Muslims inaugurated a large new mosque last week in Roxbury Crossing. The 68,000 sq foot Islamic Cultural Center in the heart of Boston, designed by Dr. Sami Angawi, and pioneered by board member Dr. Walid Fitaihi, Dr. Osama Kandeel and others, celebrated its inauguration with the historic attendance of the first Muslim in the United States Congress, Keith Ellison, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. This new Islamic cultural center in America is tremendously significant as it resides 5 minutes from the heart of downtown Boston and less than...

Kingston Police have arrested at least three people in connection with the mysterious deaths of four Montreal women found in a submerged car in Kingston Mills June 30. Three teenage sisters were found dead in the car, Zainab Shafi, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with a 50-year-old woman, Rona Amir Mohammed. La Presse newspaper in Montreal said three people who were heading to Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport were arrested yesterday morning. Initially, police said the case was suspicious but that they had not found evidence of foul play. It's not clear what charges are being laid, but...

RIYADH/LONDON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will seek to reassure Gulf Arab states this week that U.S. dollar assets they hold in large quantities remain a strong investment. A recent decline in Saudi foreign assets shows the purchase of U.S. treasuries by Washington's Gulf allies, five having currencies pegged to the dollar, at levels seen in the past decades should no longer be taken for granted. Geithner, offering assurances on the United States' ability to pull out of recession, is combining a visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Arab world's largest and second-largest economies, with...

Despite denials from her soon-to-be former employers, the Albright Group, former Clinton EPA head and soon-to-be climate change czar Carol Browner served as a de facto lobbyist for Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, which arranged to buy a company operating six major U.S. ports, including New York and New Jersey. Browner told the Obama transition team that she never served as a lobbyist in her time in Washington, and her employer, the Albright Group, owned by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, also said that the firm does not lobby. But in 2006, when...

Police arrested a man early Saturday who had a bomb in a backpack that he may have been preparing to use at a school in the area, officials said. The man, identified as Jason A. Babson, 29, of 13 School St., Hudson Falls, was found with an explosive device just before 3 a.m. Saturday, said Hudson Falls Police Chief Randy Diamond. The FBI was notified of the incident and is conducting its own investigation into the matter. Hudson Falls Police Detective Scott Gillis said residents of the area where Babson was walking believed he made a comment about using a...

DUBAI // Iranian protesters who gathered in Dubai last night were prevented by police from signing a petition against their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Officers told the 100-strong crowd they were forbidden from sending official petitions from UAE soil. The Iranians had gathered on the beach at Jumeirah Beach Residence to sign a green banner in protest at recent events in Iran. They had planned to send it to Paris, where it would join others from around the world in being hung from the top of the Eiffel Tower, along with the slogan “Ahmadinejad is not our president”. But protesters said...

First Rafale Export Sale Advances as UAE Detail Specifications (Updated) (Source: defense-aerospace.com; published June 19, updated June 20, 2009) PARIS --- Negotiations for the sale to the United Arab Emirates of 60 Dassault Aviation Rafale combat aircraft passed a major milestone today, as the U.A.E. government submitted its specifications to France. This will allow detailed contract negotiations to begin on prices and delivery dates, possibly leading to contract signature by year-end. This government-to-government deal is valued at 6 to 8 billion euros, depending on the exact content of the weapons, support and spares package included in the contract. Long-running talks...

A BRISBANE woman was jailed for eight months in the United Arab Emirates for claiming she was raped by three men after her drink was spiked in a hotel bar. The woman, identified only as Amanda, said she ordered one drink from the bar in the United Arab Emirates hotel she was staying, but then remembered nothing until waking up the next afternoon. Amanda...was arrested after reporting her rape to police and later sentenced to 11 months' jail for having illicit sexual relations and one month for consumption of alcohol. Amanda said she had extensively researched the customs of the...

BANGKOK, Thailand - A Russian dubbed the "Merchant of Death" for allegedly supplying weapons to Africa's bloody conflicts over power and diamonds was arrested Thursday in Thailand on suspicion of conspiring to smuggle guns to Colombia's leftist rebels. Viktor Bout, 41, whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, was arrested at U.S. request in his hotel room in Bangkok, said police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan. Bout had eluded arrest for years and was finally seized after a four-month sting organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In New York, federal authorities unsealed a criminal complaint...

BANGKOK, Thailand — A Russian arms dealer accused of breaking U.N. arms embargoes by supplying weapons to African war zones was arrested Thursday in Bangkok, Thai police said. Viktor Bout was arrested in the heart of the capital city on a warrant issued by a Thai court, said Police Lt. Gen. Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau. The warrant stemmed from an earlier one issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, he said. A U.S. Embassy spokesman "congratulated" Thai police for the arrest but could not provide details about the role U.S. officials played in it. Details of...

Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion. Arrest of Kenyan Exposes Massive Global Arms Trade The East African Africa News February 25, 2002 Monday Kenya L AST WEEKEND'S arrest of Kenyan-born Sanjivan Ruprah, who is alleged to be a part of a major arms smuggling operation to Africa, has brought into the open the extent of the multi-million dollar illegal business. The whereabouts of Bout remain unknown. Some media reports say he is in Moscow, while others say he is in the Congo or the United Arab Emirates. An international ...

For the past eight years, the Muslim world has heard and seen relentless hostility from the Bush/Cheney administration. In a welcome change, President Barack Obama’s masterfully written, artfully delivered recent speech in Cairo was filled with just what the Muslim world had been waiting to hear: an intelligent, respectful address calling for normalised relations with the Muslim world, including former “betes noires” Iran and Syria, co-operation, and advancement of democracy and human rights. Very nice, to a point. But the Muslim world was not as taken by Obama’s silver-tongued oratory as many Americans. The general response was, “actions speak louder...

Facility in UAE to safeguard shipping lines, fight piracy and compete with Britain and the US for influence in the Gulf Tuesday 26 May 2009 Nicolas Sarkozy today opened France's first permanent military base in the Gulf region, in a symbolic move to show his new tough line on Iran and to compete with Britain and the US for military and commercial influence in the area. The Abu Dhabi base in the United Arab Emirates is the first foreign military installation built by France for 50 years and its first ever base outside French or African soil. It is a...

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – French President Nicolas Sarkozy opened his nation's first military base in the Gulf Tuesday, boosting the naval presence along strategic oil routes and in pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast. The new naval base outside the United Arab Emirates' capital, Abu Dhabi, is France's first major foreign military installation since the 1960s and its first outside Africa. It is expected help safeguard vital Persian Gulf shipping lanes. It also puts France in position to play a higher profile role in calming the growing tensions between Iran and Gulf Arab states. Some of the most...

France could sell 60 Rafale jets to UAE May 23, 2009 at 05:56 France is finalising the sale of 60 Rafale combat jets made by France's Dassault Aviation to the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth 6 billion to 8 billion euros ($8 billion to $11 billion), a newspaper reported on Saturday. France has so far failed to find a foreign buyer for the Rafale jet. Newspaper Le Parisien said President Nicolas Sarkozy would personally push the talks in a visit to Abu Dhabi on Monday and Tuesday. "An enormous contract, concerning the sale of 60 planes for a...

President Barack Obama agreed Wednesday to share US nuclear power technology with the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, giving his consent to a deal signed in the final days of George W. Bush's administration. The pact now goes to Congress, which will have 90 days to amend or reject it. The agreement creates a legal framework for the US to transfer sensitive nuclear items to the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven Middle Eastern states that wants nuclear power to satisfy growing demand for electricity. Although flush with oil, the emirates imports 60 percent of the natural gas they use...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ----------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release May 20, 2009 May 19, 2009 Presidential Determination No. 2009-18 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY SUBJECT: Proposed Agreement for Cooperation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Arab Emirates Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy I have considered the proposed Agreement for Cooperation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Arab Emirates Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear...

SNIPPET: "Some of the bravest and most distinguished analysts from the Middle East emphasize that region's culture of cruelty." SNIPPET: "That cruelty, usually at a remove from outsiders, became cinematically vivid on April 22, 2009, when ABC News aired a tape of a prince from the United Arab Emirates sadistically torturing an Afghan merchant he accused of dishonesty. No less instructive were the passive reactions of his government and of American officials. The story reveals much and is worth pondering:"

A VIDEOTAPE showing a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family torturing a man is jeopardising a multi-billion-dollar nuclear power deal between the US and the Gulf kingdom. The 45-minute tape shows a man the Government of Abu Dhabi has acknowledged is Sheik Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan - one of 22 royal brothers of the UAE President and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince - mercilessly and repeatedly beating a man with a cattle prod and a nailed board, burning his genitals and driving his Mercedes over him several times. He is assisted in the torture by a uniformed policeman.

A videotape showing a member of the United Arab Emirates Royal Family torturing a man is threatening a multibillion-dollar nuclear power deal between the US and the Gulf kingdom. The 45-minute tape shows a man that the Government of Abu Dhabi has acknowledged is Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan — one of 22 royal brothers of the UAE President and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince — mercilessly and repeatedly beating a man with a cattle prod and a nailed board, burning his genitals and driving his Mercedes over him several times. He is assisted by a uniformed policeman. The fallout from...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

Once again we see the true colors of our Islamic "allies" of the UAE. Back in March Dubai had tightened up its rules to conform with their Islamic culture. Now a video of Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan of the UAE Royal Family and the police torturing a man has been smuggled out of the UAE.

A video tape smuggled out of the United Arab Emirates shows a member of the country's royal family mercilessly torturing a man with whips, electric cattle prods and wooden planks with protruding nails. A man in a UAE police uniform is seen on the tape tying the victim's arms and legs, and later holding him down as the Sheikh pours salt on the man's wounds and then drives over him with his Mercedes SUV. In a statement to ABC News, the UAE Ministry of the Interior said it had reviewed the tape and acknowledged the involvement of Sheikh Issa bin...

The United States has concluded a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) despite that country’s record as a transshipment point for weapons-related material to Iran. The agreement was concluded five days before President Barack Obama was inaugurated. It was signed by the Bush administration’s Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and it will be submitted to Congress in late April for their review, House Foreign Relations Committee spokeswoman Lynn Weil told CNSNews.com. Once submitted, Congress has 90 days to review the deal, which would allow joint ventures with U.S....

Federal agents searched three money-transfer businesses in Minneapolis on Wednesday, carrying away boxes of documents and copying computer hard drives in a quest for details of financial transactions between the U.S. and several African nations. Agents searched Mustaqbal Express, also known as North American Money Transfer Inc.; Quran Express; and Aaran Financial. FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson confirmed the searches but wouldn't elaborate on the reason.

The President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, expressed hope that leaders at the Arab Summit would take a unified stand to counter the current challenges facing the Arab nation, Wam reported. “The will of Arab leaders would converge at the forthcoming Arab Summit to forge effective pan-Arab positions to counter the current challenges facing our Arab nation,” he said in a Press statement issued upon his arrival at Qatar’s capital Doha to participate in the 21st regular two-day Arab League Summit. He said that the Summit was being held amid “extremely significant...

March 24, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/March/09-nsd-264.html Irish Trading Firm and Its Officers Charged in Scheme to Supply Iran with Sensitive U.S. Technology WASHINGTON – An Irish trading company and three of its officers have been charged with purchasing helicopter engines and other aircraft components from U.S. firms and illegally exporting them to Iran using companies in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. Among the alleged recipients of these U.S. goods was an Iranian military firm that has since been designated by the United States for being owned or controlled by entities involved in Iran’s nuclear...

PORTLAND - Tests indicated explosives residue on the luggage of a local Islamic religious leader arrested at the Portland International Airport on charges of document fraud, a federal prosecutor said Monday at the man's arraignment. Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, 41, was arrested at the airport without incident around noon Sunday and booked at the Multnomah County Jail. Kariye on Monday pleaded innocent to two felony charges of using false information - including a changed name - while applying for and receiving three different Social Security cards between 1983 and 1995. The federal indictment also alleges that Kariye used an altered...

Cars are being abandoned in record numbers at Dubai International Airport. The dust-covered Mercedes and BMW’s at the Dubai International Airport is a tell-tale reminder of what is happening there. The number of deserted cars crested the 3,000 mark in recent months, according to a Times Online article. What is happening is the over-extended are making a mass exodus of possibly Biblical proportions. The cause has a lot to do with the draconian Sharia, a code of Islamic law that has gained reputation among smugglers of tiny amounts of illicit contraband. Under Sharia, the punishment for defaulting on a debt...

The French Minister of Defence Hervé Morin has confirmed the opening of a new base in the United Arab Emirates. ‘BA 104’ is the first new French base of this type since the Second World War. There will be three different establishments to house separate elements from France’s army, navy and air force. Together they will make up a total of 500 troops and be fully operational by May this year. The first Mirage French air force fighters arrived in the country in September last year. Washington is certainly content with this, as most of their allies cannot wait to...