Posted on 02/10/2002 6:43:21 PM PST by blam
February 11, 2002
US turns to Yemen and Somalia in war on terrorism
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
THE United States is preparing to launch intensive surveillance missions over Somalia and Yemen as it prepares to launch the next phase of its war against terrorism. Having gathered intelligence of an al-Qaeda terrorist presence in the two countries, Britain, Germany and France are expected to offer the Americans aerial surveillance assistance, although no decision has been taken on what aircraft will be made available.
Military sources said that past flights over Somalia by US reconnaissance aircraft had provided a general picture of suspected al-Qaeda training camps, but a new intensive effort would be initiated soon to uncover further “targeted” intelligence. “It won’t be on the scale of Afghanistan but there is now enough information about Somalia and Yemen to merit a coalition operation,” a source said.
Although Iraq is being openly discussed as a possible target for military action by the Americans, defence sources indicated that action was unlikely in the near future.
Britain is likely to offer a range of aircraft for the operation. This could include the Canberra PR9 reconnaissance plane, equipped with sophisticated photographic equipment, and the electronic intelligence-gathering Nimrod R1. Both were deployed over Afghanistan but have returned to their bases in Britain.
British sources said that the Government would be ready to provide these aircraft for operations over Somalia and Yemen. However, they said that all military offers to the US had to go through an extended approval process.
Diplomatic clearance procedures are also needed for basing rights and overflight missions. Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, visited Kenya in December and may have raised the possibility of locating RAF reconnaissance aircraft at a Kenyan airfield.
The British sources said that at this stage there was no discussion about sending British troops to either Somalia or Yemen. “This is not going to be another Afghanistan and, at the moment, all the effort is going to go into gathering intelligence from the air over specific areas,” one source said.
American maritime patrol aircraft are already engaged in regular reconnaissance missions off the coast of Somalia and Yemen. The P3 Orion surveillance aircraft has optical sensors and cameras and has been watching for suspicious shipping to Somalia and Yemen. The EP3E has been monitoring communications in and out of both countries.
The Americans are convinced that Somalia and Yemen are potential havens for terrorists. The American warship USS Cole was attacked by suicide bombers in Aden in October 2000, killing 17 sailors, and one American official described Yemen as having “the second largest al-Qaeda network outside of Afghanistan”.
But before the Americans can switch reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft on any large scale from flying over Afghanistan to missions over Somalia and Yemen, the US will have to redeploy some of its combat search and rescue capability to a country in Africa.
The sources said that the Americans never engage in military operations involving manned aircraft over potentially hostile countries unless there is a search and rescue unit on standby. For the campaign in Afghanistan, the US has had a full range of combat search and rescue specialists based in ships in the Arabian Sea, and on air bases in Pakistan and Uzbekistan. They have been needed several times.
There are still about 4,000 American troops in Afghanistan, but the operational tempo has dramatically reduced. Although there are thought to be significant numbers of al-Qaeda terrorists still in Afghanistan, the Americans believe they no longer have the ability to fight or communicate with each other.
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