U.N.: Use of U.S. drones over Somalia may violate embargo
The skies over Somalia have become so congested with drones that the unmanned aircraft pose a danger to air traffic and potentially violate a long-standing arms embargo against the war-torn country, according to U.N. officials.
In a recently completed report, U.N. officials describe several narrowly averted disasters in which drones crashed into a refugee camp, flew dangerously close to a fuel dump and almost collided with a large passenger plane over Mogadishu, the capital.
Although U.N. investigators did not directly pin the blame for the mishaps on the United States, the report noted that at least two of the unmanned aircraft appeared to be U.S.-manufactured and suggested that Washington had been less than forthcoming about its drone operations in Somalia.
The U.S. military has conducted clandestine drone flights over Somalia for years as part of a broader counterterrorism campaign against Al-Shabab, a group of Islamist fighters that controls much of the country and is affiliated with Al-Qaida.
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