Nearly every day, and sometimes twice daily, an unarmed American drone soars skyward from a secluded military airfield in Niger, starting a surveillance mission of 10 hours or more to track militants in neighboring Mali. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/world/africa/drones-in-niger-reflect-new-us-approach-in-terror-fight.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world The two MQ-9 Reapers that are based here stream live video and data from other sensors to American analysts working with French commanders. The drone base, established in February and staffed by about 120 members of the Air Force, is the latest indication of the priority Africa has become for the United States at a time when it is winding down its presence in Afghanistan and President Obama has set a goal of moving from a global war toward a more targeted effort.
On a continent as large as Africa, where a shortage of resources is chronic and regional partners are weak. And the introduction of drones, even unarmed ones, runs the risk of creating the kind of backlash that has undermined American efforts in Pakistan and provoked anger in many parts of the world.
“We need in Africa — not just in Senegal but the whole of Africa — to have the military capacity to solve this problem, but we need training, we need materials, we need intelligence,”
Michael R. Shurkin, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who is now at the RAND Corporation says “Effective responses, moreover, require excellent knowledge about local populations and their politics, the sort of understanding that too often eludes the U.S. government and military.”
The United States acknowledged the drone deployment here in February — initially sending a single Predator aircraft and later faster, more capable Reapers — but since then it has released virtually no information about their missions.
Pentagon officials say the drone missions will continue even as France reduces its force in Mali to about 1,000 troops by year’s end, from 3,500 now, “because we see a continued need for intelligence collection in that region,”
