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U.S. AFRICOM Denies Base to Be Located in Morocco

By The Media Line Staff

The newly established United States African Command's (AFRICOM) main base will not be established in Morocco, despite weekend reports in Moroccan news outlets, The Media Line has revealed. Recent reports from Morocco indicated that work had already begun on the establishment of a military base in southern Morocco, in the port city Tantan, opposite Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands.

According to the reports, negotiations between the U.S. and Moroccan governments began last year, although the latter denied it. The Moroccan news outlets further revealed that by 2011 the Tantan port would be used by American fleets, in addition to being a transit station for U.S. forces on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq.

"I have seen this press report and it is incorrect," Vince Crawley, a spokesman with AFRICOM, told The Media Line.

As of now, AFRICOM has not asked any government other than the government of Germany to base its headquarters, Crawley added. AFRICOM is a new U.S. military headquarters devoted solely to Africa. It is one of the Defense Department's six regional headquarters, and is currently located in Stuttgart, Germany, while the U.S. explores several alternatives in the African continent.

In February 2007 U.S. President George W. Bush announced the U.S. Army's intention to create a new military command for Africa by the end of September 2008. The decision to set up AFRICOM came as the U.S. grew increasingly concerned with the rise of radical Islamic movements in Africa. Among them were Somalia's Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) and the Algerian-based Al-Qa'ida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (QOIM).

"Our primary mission is to work with the nations of Africa and their organizations to assist them in increasing their capacity to provide for their own security," Gen. William E. Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters during the inauguration ceremony of AFRICOM. "There won't be dramatic shifts. The U.S. policy does not change and the U.S. military commitment to Africa does not change. What we want to do is make a much stronger partnership [with African nations] over time," said Crawley.

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