Rumsfeld Considers US Military in Africa

Miami.com ^ | December 9, 2002 | Robert Burns

[Prodigal Son]

SOUDA BAY, Crete - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Monday left open the possibility of expanding the new U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa, where hundreds of American troops are based as part of a land, sea and air campaign to root out al-Qaida terrorists.

In an interview en route to his first visit to the Horn of Africa since taking office, Rumsfeld said some countries in that unstable region had offered the use of military facilities, but that so far the United States had only agreed to use Camp Le Monier in the desert hinterland of Djibouti.

Eritrea, which lies to the northwest of Djibouti on the Red Sea, was Rumsfeld's first stop, following a change of planes on this Greek island. In an indication of the level of concern about terrorist threats, Rumsfeld switched from an Air Force C-32 jetliner to a C-17 cargo plane for his Africa tour.

Rumsfeld also was scheduled to visit Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar, where more than 1,000 U.S. battle planners are conducting a computer-simulated war game at a new command post. A war against Iraq likely would be run from that command post.

The port at Assab, on the southern tip of Eritrea, is one of the largest on the Red Sea. When Gen. Tommy Franks, the commander of U.S. forces in the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, visited Assab in March the government offered to play host to his troops.

Rumsfeld told reporters flying with him from Washington that he was not ready to strike any deals.

"I'm not here to engage in transactions," he said. "I'm not here to put pressure on anybody. I'm here to demonstrate that the United States values what these countries are doing."

He said there is no doubt that some members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network are operating in several countries in the Horn of Africa, although he did not say how many or name the countries.

Rumsfeld said discussions about ways Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia can contribute to the global war on terrorism are ongoing. "It is something that evolves over time," he said. They already are doing things such as sharing intelligence and permitting the use of their airspace for U.S. planes.

Rumsfeld's trip is the latest in a series of consultations by senior Bush administration officials with crucial allies in the country's two main current foreign policy crises. His top deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, visited Turkey last week and secured a preliminary agreement to let U.S. forces use Turkish bases in the event of war in Iraq.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was due to visit Moscow this week to consult on Iraq and the terror war.

U.S. troops under Franks' command are stationed in many countries near the Gulf and in Central Asia. About 12,000 troops are in Kuwait, mostly Army, and more than 5,000 in Saudi Arabia, mostly Air Force. The Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters is in Bahrain, and more than 4,300 troops are in Qatar.

More than 1,000 U.S. troops are in Djibouti, a small nation across the Gulf of Aden on the Horn of Africa.

Coinciding with Rumsfeld's trip was the arrival off the Red Sea coast of Djibouti of the USS Mount Whitney. The ship is a floating command post for Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, a specially tailored U.S. naval, air and ground force supposed to monitor, track and, if possible, attack al-Qaida terrorists in the area.