US Builds Drone Base in Niger, Crossroads of Extremism Fight

In its bid to combat the growing extremist threat in Africa’s vast Sahel belt, the US Air Force is building a base for armed drones, according to an AP report on Monday.

The base, which will be built on the scorching edge of the Sahara Desert, will the newest front in America’s anti-terrorism battle.

Three hangars and the first layers of a runway command a sandy, barren field. Niger Air Base 201 is expected to be functional ea rly next year. The base, a few miles outside Agadez and built at the request of Niger’s government, will eventually house fighter jets and MQ-9 drones transferred from the capital Niamey. The drones, with surveillance and added striking capabilities, will have a range enabling them to reach a number of West and North African countries.

Few knew of the American military’s presence in Niger until October, when an ambush by Islamic State group-linked extremists killed four US soldiers and five Nigeriens.

The $110 million project is the largest troop labour construction project in US history, AP reported Air Force officials as sayin. It will cost $15 million annually to operate.

Citing security reasons, no official will say how many drones will be housed at the base or whether more US personnel will be brought to the region. Already the U.S. military presence here is the second largest in Africa behind the sole permanent US base on the continent, in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.

The drones at the base are expected to target several different al-Qaida and Islamic State groupaffiliated fighters in countries throughout the Sahel, a sprawling region just south of the Sahara, including the area around Lake Chad, where the Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency has spread.

As the U.S. puts drones at the forefront of the fight against extremists, some worry that civilians will be mistaken for fighters.