Beijing confirms military support facilities in Djibouti
Source: China News Service
Beijing confirmed on Thursday its construction of "military supporting facilities" in Djibouti, the first of its kind for China in Africa.
"China is negotiating closely with Djibouti in the construction of military supporting facilities," Wu Qian, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said during a monthly news conference in Beijing.
He explained the aim is to "provide better logistics and safeguard Chinese peacekeeping forces in the Gulf of Aden, offshore Somalia and other humanitarian assistance tasks of the UN".
The East African country of Djibouti is on the Gulf of Aden, bordering the Red Sea and across from Yemen. It currently hosts military forces from the U.S., France, Italy, Japan and Pakistan.
Read more: http://www.ecns.cn/military/2015/11-27/190304.shtml
= new reply since forum marked as read
Who is propping up whose Oligarchs?
"What the military will say to a reporter and what is said behind closed doors are two very different things -- especially when it comes to the U.S. military in Africa." So writes investigative reporter Nick Turse in his latest book, Tomorrow's Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa.
Adapted from a series of articles written for TomDispatch.com from 2012 to late 2014, Tomorrow's Battlefield methodically follows Turse's exploration of the U.S. military's Africa Command, or AFRICOM, a reporting mission that Turse says was continually re-inspired by his subjects' lack of cooperation. "Basically, it was AFRICOM that made me do it. They were really responsible for this book," he told HuffPost in a recent interview.
From the outset of his reporting, Turse faced continual resistance and was refused even the most basic information or access in response to his questions. When asked for a simple tally of U.S. installations, military spokespersons repeatedly emphasized to Turse that the command maintains only one permanent "base," Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, contradicting documentary evidence of activity and infrastructure on a much larger and rapidly growing scale.
Turse's investigations eventually showed that the U.S. military has been involved in one way or another -- "construction, military exercises, advisory assignments, security cooperation, or training missions" -- with more than 90 percent of Africa's 54 nations. He writes, "While AFRICOM... maintains that the United States has only a 'small footprint' on the continent, following those small footprints across the continent can be a breathtaking task." "
Map of US military operations in Africa, 2012-2013, compiled by Nick Turse for TomDispatch.com. Key here. | TomDispatch.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bryan-maygers/nick-turse-tomorrows-battlefield_b_7480360.html
You want to play the bases across the world game, be our guest, that way you can be hated like we are >
