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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Eritrea offers military help to US |
| 2002-12-10 |
| The United States can have access to Eritrea's military bases as part of its war against terror, President Isaias Afewerki has said. He made the offer to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who began a four-nation tour of the Horn of Africa in the capital, Asmara. Mr Rumsfeld did not say whether the US would take Eritrea up on its offer. But Mr Afewerki's offer marks a change of tone in relations between Eritrea and the US. In October, the US accused Eritrea of human rights abuses. Eritrea responded by accusing the CIA of plotting against it. Mr Rumsfeld said he had also discussed the political situation with Eritrea's leader. "We have very limited resources, but we are willing and prepared to use these resources in any way that is useful to combat terrorism," Mr Afewerki said. Mr Rumsfeld went to Addis Ababa after Asmara and is also due to visit the Gulf state of Qatar. Eritrea's neighbours Somalia, Sudan and Yemen have all been seen as possible havens of the al-Qaeda network, which is accused of launching the attacks on Israelis in Kenya last month. Nice neighbors, no wonder they want to help us. That and the jobs a U.S. base would generate. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Eritrea is representative of the Balkanization of Africa, and we all know how well that worked for Europe. I'm very leary of becoming buddies with tiny countries that didn't exist two decades ago, that were invented. It makes economic and political sense for nations to be large, not small. These folks fought a long civil war with Ethiopia, then a war or two with them again, over land that makes the moon look fertile. Their tribal politics resemble Yemen or Somalia, and we're not putting bases in either of those countries. We have a relatively stable Horn of Africa location, Djibouti. The Foreign Legion has been camped there for a hundred years or so. And, while I distain the rest of the French military, I respect the Legion. Because they're not French. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2002-12-11 08:43:46 |
| #2 Jesus, Chuck, what's gotten in to you? I think it represents a strategic opportunity. One more base, one more facility, hey, Brezhinsky might have been right... |
| Posted by: Brian 2002-12-10 17:11:27 |
| #1 Don't forget the nasty war they fought with Ethiopia over a plot of land that is, possibly, worse than hell. We should stay away from this place, too many nomads. The whole damn country could just wander off one day. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2002-12-10 15:54:54 |