From high
above, Agadez almost blends into the cocoa-colored wasteland that
surrounds it. Only when you descend farther can you make out a city
that curves around an airfield before fading into the desert. Once a
nexus for camel caravans hauling tea and salt across the Sahara,
Agadez is now a West African paradise for people smugglers and a way
station for refugees and migrants intent on reaching Europe’s
shores by any means necessary.
Africans
fleeing unrest and poverty are not, however, the only foreigners
making their way to this town in the center of Niger. U.S. military
documents reveal new information about an American drone base under
construction on the outskirts of the city. The long-planned project —
considered the most important U.S. military construction effort in
Africa, according to formerly secret files obtained by The Intercept
through the Freedom of Information Act — is slated to cost $100
million, and is just one of a number of recent American military
initiatives in the impoverished nation.
The base is
the latest sign, experts say, of an ever-increasing emphasis on
counterterror operations in the north and west of the continent. As
the only country in the region willing to allow a U.S. base for MQ-9
Reapers — a newer, larger, and potentially more lethal model than
the venerable Predator drone — Niger has positioned itself to be
the key regional hub for U.S. military operations, with Agadez
serving as the premier outpost for launching intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance missions against a plethora of
terror groups.
Full
report:
Comments
Post a Comment