Inside America’s solely navy base in Africa, because it tries to forestall the rise of a brand new bin Laden, or “somebody worse”

Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti — Whereas the eyes of the world are on Ukraine, the U.S. can be preserving centered on hidden conflicts in opposition to jihadists in Africa, the place at the least 18 totally different terrorist organizations are working. 1000’s of Individuals are stationed at Camp Lemonnier within the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.

CBS News correspondent Debora Patta visited the sprawling camp, which is the one everlasting U.S. navy base in all of Africa and as she studies, it is near a few of the continent’s most harmful bother spots.

As troops dropped one after the other out of U.S. navy transport airplane, Patta stated whereas it was only a routine coaching train, the Particular Operations air fight forces know they’ve to remain combating match. Their job is to rescue American troops that get trapped behind enemy strains.

Within the air, on land or at sea, the 4,500-strong American contingent at Camp Lemonnier is tasked with combatting the deadliest al Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated teams on the earth.  

Standing on the deck of a U.S. Navy patrol vessel simply off Djibouti’s coast, Patta stated it was clear to see why the placement is of such strategic significance: Yemen, the place a grueling civil battle has allowed al-Qaeda within the Arabian Peninsula to flourish, is just about 70 miles to the north. 

In Somalia, simply 20 miles to the south, the al-Shabaab group — which additionally has suspected hyperlinks to al-Qaeda — acts with impunity, and violent assaults have elevated there.

ISIS-linked teams are on the ascendancy throughout Africa, too. Throw conflict-ravaged Ethiopia and a shaky Sudan, rocked by current coups, into the combo and there is no doubt that this is without doubt one of the most risky areas on the continent.

However regardless of these circumstances, Patta says there was a rebranding of America’s “battle on terror” for the reason that nation’s chaotic departure from Afghanistan.

The Trump administration withdrew troops from Somalia greater than a 12 months in the past. The Biden administration says it’s now combating terrorism from “over the horizon.” That has included unmanned drone strikes, periodic special-ops raids, and coaching African forces.

That technique is being put to the take a look at at Camp Lemonnier. As an alternative of getting American “boots on the bottom” in hotspots like Somalia, the battle is being fought from a distance. However the method has did not cease the expansion of terrorist teams throughout the continent.

U.S. Air Drive Col. Matt Bartlett, the commander answerable for America’s air energy in East Africa, informed Patta that al-Shabaab is now one of the vital well-resourced extremist group’s on the earth.

The chance, he informed CBS News, is that “al-Shabaab has a secure area, because it had been, to develop [its] capability and functionality.”

U.S. Army Main Common William Zana is the general Commander Common for the mixed American forces within the Horn of Africa, and he was much more candid.

Patta requested him if he was involved that Somalia is perhaps harboring the following Osama bin Laden.

“Certain,” Zana replied. “Or one thing and somebody worse than Osama bin Laden.”

He believes Camp Lemonnier is a modest insurance coverage coverage that may assist forestall one other September 11.  

“Teams like al-Shabaab’s capabilities are solely rising,” he informed Patta. “From my perspective, it is solely a matter of time earlier than… their said intent, their want, is to strike the U.S. homeland.”

President Biden is predicted to decide quickly on whether or not to ship U.S. troops again into Somalia.

Till then, the very last thing America’s navy leaders on the bottom need is an emboldened al-Shabaab that believes all it must do is wait it out and put on America down, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.