Mutual decision’: US shuts down drone base at Ethiopia’s ‘request’

US Air Force drone operations from Ethiopia are “not required at this time” and have been ceased at the request of Addis Ababa, Washington officials have confirmed, insisting that the unexpected base shutdown was a “mutual decision.”
The news of the base closure in Arba Minch, 450 kilometers (280 miles) south of Addis Ababa, has been confirmed by US diplomats who said the cessation of US surveillance activities from the base was a “mutual decision.”

“This was done upon request by the Ethiopian government,” government spokesman Getachew Reda told Reuters on Wednesday. “In the first place, this was a project with a limited timespan and both governments had long prepared themselves for this eventuality,” he added without elaborating on details.
The US Air Force had been secretly flying armed Reaper drones on counterterrorism missions from southern Ethiopia as part of the US war against an Al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa. Since 2011,Washington invested millions of dollars to upgrade an airfield in Arba Minch to house a fleet of drones equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The US drones were also used to provide intelligence.

American Reapers flew missions focusing on neighboring Somalia, where the United States has been targeting Al-Shabaab insurgents. Al-Shabaab is an Islamist group connected to Al-Qaeda. However, in September, the operation ceased its activity.

“US military personnel are no longer in Arba Minch,” said David Kennedy, Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa. “As we work with our African partners, our mutual needs change over time, and a determination was made that our use of the facilities in Arba Minch is no longer necessary,” he told Reuters in an emailed response.
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