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AFRICOM's First War: U.S. Directs Large-Scale Offensive In Somalia
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AFRICOM's Footsteps: Japan To Open First Foreign Military Base

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:32 pm (PDT)



http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/art...FVIz_6b5OA

Agence France-Presse
April 23, 2010

Piracy rattles Japan to open first foreign military base
By Emmanuel Goujon

-"A camp will be built to house our personnel and material. Currently we are stationed at the American base....We sent military teams to Yemen, Oman, Kenya and Djibouti. In April 2009, we chose Djibouti."
-The Red Sea state, which is home to the largest overseas French military base and the only US army base in Africa, was picked for its suitable air and sea ports as well as political stability....

DJIBOUTI: Japan is opening its first overseas army base in Djibouti, a small African state strategically located at the southern end of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aden, to counter rising piracy in the region.

The 40-million-dollar base [is] expected to be completed by early next year....

The Djibouti base breaks new ground for Japan, which has had no standing army since World War II and cannot wage war. It however has armed forces - the Japan Self-Defence Forces - which were formed at the end of US occupation in 1952.

"This will be the only Japanese base outside our country and the first in Africa," Keizo Kitagawa, Japan's navy force captain and coordinator of the deployment, told AFP recently.
....
"A camp will be built to house our personnel and material. Currently we are stationed at the American base," Kitagawa said.

Since 2008, an international flotilla of warships has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden in a bid to stop the hijackings.

"The safety of the seas is therefore essential for Japan... the stability of this region will benefit Japan," Kitagawa added.

....
Japan's decision was prompted by pressure from the country's maritime industry.

"We sent military teams to Yemen, Oman, Kenya and Djibouti. In April 2009, we chose Djibouti," Kitagawa said.

The Red Sea state, which is home to the largest overseas French military base and the only US army base in Africa, was picked for its suitable air and sea ports as well as political stability, the official said.

Last April, Japan's defence ministry announced it was sending two destroyers and surveillance planes to boost the anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.
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AFRICOM's First War: U.S. Directs Large-Scale Offensive In Somalia - by Magda Hassan - 24-04-2010, 08:23 AM

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