To indicate the range of the operations he envisioned, Greene also said he would "be watching some of the region's hot spots for potential seeds of instability," including "the situations in Kenya, Somalia and Sudan's Darfur region, as well as tension on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border and piracy along the Indian Ocean coastline." [8]
In 2006 a Kenyan daily newspaper wrote that (as of four years ago) "direct US arms sales to East Africa and the Horn of Africa countries Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia have shot up from under one million dollars in 2003 to over $25 million in 2006. Djibouti leads the list with nearly $20 million in direct arms purchases in 2005 and 2006." [9]
The same feature described broader U.S. plans for the Horn of Africa region and further afield being hatched from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti:
"Overall, direct US weapons sales [to Africa] increased from $39.2 million in 2005 to nearly $60 million in 2006. In both years, East Africa and the Horn accounted for nearly 40 percent of US weapons sales to Africa, and this demonstrates the US military's strategic shift to the region.
"Access to strategic airfields and ports has also increased for the US military. Beyond Camp Lemonier in 2003, the US had an agreement with Kenya that allowed it access to the port of Mombasa and airfields at Embakasi and Nanyuki.
"Zambia and Uganda have joined Kenya in this unique arrangement. At Entebbe, the US has constructed two K-Span steel buildings to house troops and equipment. The so called 'Lily Pad' arrangement will allow the US
military to use the base when needed in times of conflict or as a staging area for a conflict within the region."
The article also stated, "Strategically, the US military has developed a
regional operations plan that centres on Djibouti to support the Horn countries. It anchors the southern flank with bases in Kenya, Zambia and Uganda to the west....[L]ike in Nigeria, it can be used to ensure an
uninterrupted flow of oil from the newly discovered fields of Uganda and Kenya, and it opens the door to the construction of a well-protected oil pipeline carrying oil from the interior of Central Africa to the port of Mombasa. It also provides a strategically located airbase to support future military operations to the north in Sudan or to the west." [10]
In 2006 the Pentagon expanded Camp Lemonnier by almost five times its original size, from 88 to 500 acres. Late last year it completed an airfield project in the country to provide parking spaces for C-130 Hercules and CV-22 Osprey aircraft and to support C-17 Globemaster III and C-5 Galaxy military transport planes.
Four years ago the Reuters news agency reported "the United States is already providing Ethiopia and Kenya with logistical support and U.S. special forces had been observed on the Kenya-Somalia border," [11] and shortly afterward the U.S. Air Force divulged that U.S. airmen were operating out of Contingency Operating Location Bilate (also known as Camp Bilate) in Ethiopia in conjunction with the the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa headquarters at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. [12]
The U.S. military headquarters in Djibouti is in charge of three smaller downrange bases, known as Contingency Operating Locations, at Bilate and Hurso in Ethiopia and Manda Bay in Kenya.
An Ethiopian newspaper revealed at the time that "The United States would continue providing training and other assistance to the Ethiopian Defence Forces as per the Ethio-US bilateral cooperation" [13] during the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in 2006.
Ethiopian troops were being trained in infantry tactics by soldiers with the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division's 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment at the Training Academy in Hurso as jets from the country bombed the Somali capital and ground forces invaded their eastern neighbor. The U.S. Army conducted training at the base starting no later than 2003. "U.S. military personnel with the Combined Joint Task Force--Horn of Africa...have spent the last four years training the Ethiopian National Defense Forces in basic military tactics." [14] The effects of that preparation were seen in the 2006 invasion of Somalia.
The Pentagon's role in Somalia was not limited to training and arming Ethiopian invasion forces, as in early 2007 it was reported that "recent military operations in Somalia have been carried out by the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command, which directs the military's most secretive and elite units, like the Army's Delta Force.
"The Pentagon established a desolate outpost in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti in 2002 in part to serve as a hub for special missions...." [15]
As U.S. special forces were operating in Somalia and Washington's military client was launching air and ground attacks there, the U.S. deployed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, which "has an air wing of about 75 aircraft, including F/A-18 Hornet and SuperHornet strike fighters, E-2C Hawkeyes, EA-6B Prowlers, and SH-60 Seahawks," [16] to join the the guided-missile cruisers USS Bunker Hill and USS Anzio and the amphibious landing ship USS Ashland off the coast of Somalia.
An "AC-130 gunship, operated by the Special Operations Command, flew from its base in Djibouti to the southern tip of Somalia" [17] where it "rained gunfire on the desolate village of Hayo" on January 8. A local official was quoted as saying "There are so many dead bodies and animals in the village." [18]
