January 5, 2016 | The U.S government has shut down its drone operation base in Ethiopia four years after it first set up the base.
the Pentagon has reached the decision to close down the operation of the base that is located in Arba Minch, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Addis Ababa without giving out any good reason for its closure.
David Kennedy, the Spokesman of the U.S embassy in Ethiopia told the press that the base has served out its purpose.
The U.S drone operations in Ethiopia has killed top Al Shabab and Al Qaida operatives in Somalia. The latest high level target was carried out in August 2014 when the leader of Al Shabab Ahmed Godane was killed.
“U.S. military personnel are no longer in Arba Minch,” Kennedy said. “In our ongoing bilateral discussions on defenceco-operation, we reached a mutual decision that our presence in Arba Minch is not required at this time.”
In July, US drones reportedly killed two senior leaders of al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, in south-west Somalia.
However, Ethiopia is not the US drone base. It has another in Djobouti. The only formal base Washington acknowledges in Africa, Camp Lemonnier occupies a part of Djibouti’s main international airport.
After more than a decade of operation and numerous drone crashes, Djiboutian authorities worried the unmanned planes posed a danger to civilian air traffic and nearby residences.
In October 2015, a whistle-blower has revealed documents showing the extensive casualties caused by the US drone operations in Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Some 2,500 people have been killed by US drone strikes outside the country’s declared war zones since President Barack Obama took office seven years ago, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
The closure of US base in Ethiopia therefore would mean less casualties in what the US army refer to as “targeted killings” overseas
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Xafiiska Wararka Qaranimo Online | Mogadishu, Somalia
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