The small East African nation of Djibouti has ordered US troops to leave their secondary military base in the country, Camp Obock, in order to turn it over to China, reports Duowei News, a media outlet run by overseas Chinese, citing California-based left-wing magazine CounterPunch.
Due to China’s significant investments in the country, Djibouti president Ismail Omar Guelleh has publicly spoken of the importance the country’s “new friends from Asia,” according to the magazine report.
If the reports are true, Beijing will undoubtedly be pleased to finally establish an overseas military base for itself.
Camp Obock is a secondary base to the only permanent US military base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier, which houses 4,000 soldiers and is a major drone base for the US in the region and plays an important role in the US’s intelligence gathering operations targeting Islamic State and al-Qaida.
Djibouti, strategically located on the Horn of Africa on the western bank of the Gulf of Aden at the neck of the Red Sea as it passes into the Indian Ocean, is also one of landlocked Ethiopia’s only access routes to the sea and China is currently constructing a US$3 billion railroad from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to Djibouti and has invested US$400 million to modernize its underdeveloped port, according to the magazine. The US, in comparison, pays just US$63 million a year for use of Camp Lemonnier.
The announcement calling for the vacation of the base was made the day after a visit to the country in May by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, which has raised concerns in Washington given the prospect that 10,000 Chinese troops will occupy a base neighboring the main US base in Africa, according to the magazine.
The UK’s Daily Telegraph stated that the move may prompt the US “to relocate sensitive intelligence-gathering operations to more secure locations outside Djibouti where they are better protected from interception by the Chinese.” The paper also suggested that the US will oppose Guelleh’s run for re-election next year, given that he has been in power since 1999 and persuaded the National Assembly to amend the Constitution in order to allow him to run in the 2011 presidential election despite having already served the two-term maximum. Many opposition parties have boycotted elections in the country and several opposition leaders have been jailed. Counterpunch said the damage to its interests may suddenly awaken the US to the human rights abuses in the country which it has overlooked until now.
Djibouti as a nation became better known to China’s public due to the PLA Navy’s operation earlier this year to evacuate nationals of several nations from strife-torn Yemen, when Djibouti was used as an evacuation route, according to Duowei.
Construction on the Port of Djibouti began in 1896 and it is now one of the most modern ports in East Africa, serving as a major intersection for Europe, Asia and Africa. All boats travelling north to Europe through the Suez Canal and south through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, have to stop at the Port of Djibouti to take on supplies and refuel.
As for much of the world, the Gulf of Aden is important for China as much of its energy resources and trade comes from the Middle East and Europe and a base in Djibouti would help to secure the country’s shipping routes in the region. Control of the Red Sea would add to China’s ability to ensure the security of shipping routes in parallel with the access to Pakistan given by the Strait of Malacca.
China’s Belt and Road initiative is also aimed at creating a trade community comprising Eurasia and Africa, and Djibouti makes up the Western route of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road part of the initiative.
The US and Japan both maintain military bases in Djibouti and China is also unwilling to be subject to pressure from these countries in terms of control of shipping routes.
