The Unpublished Army in Africa

Posted by Christopher Eger Jun 7, 2007

Since September 11, 2001 the Global War on Terrorism has been the main event for military enthusiasts. Afghanistan and Iraq are on the news all day every day. Reports come from the Philippines and Indonesia, from Saudi Arabia, Spain and Australia of local terror plots and attacks broken up. But what about the unsung sideshow conflict being fought by CJTF-HOA?

What is CJTF-HOA?

Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is responsible for military operations in the middle east flash points of Yemen (home of the USS Cole attack) Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Seychelles (which has had more coup attempts than almost any country in the world), Sudan (ever heard of Darfur?), Ethiopia, and the holy grail of modern pirates and Mad Max remakes: Somalia.

CJTF-HOA was established at Camp Lejeune North Carolina on Oct. 19, 2002. They sailed on the old Vietnam era command ship Mount Whitney to the Horn of Africa and established the first US base in Africa since Mogadishu or before that the Air Force left Wheelus Air Base near Tripoli in 1970 and Colonel Gaddafi turned it over to the Soviet Air Force. The new base in Djibouti, dubbed Camp Lemonier, was an 88-acre site that housed the French Foreign Legion until 1979 and had been abandoned since then. CJTF-HOA has been very busy in the past five years. They helped train the Ethiopian Army which recently invaded Somalia on Christmas day 2006 and attempted to pacify that super heavyweight champion of anarchy. They have responded to 11 humanitarian relief incidents in an effort to 'win hearts and minds' in the region.

And the kicker is, the task force is made up of only 1,500 personnel.

Thomas P.M. Barnett's excellent feature article in the June 2007 Esquire magazine looks into CJTF-HOA's activities and operations in fine detail