{"id":120650,"date":"2026-01-31T23:53:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/?p=120650"},"modified":"2026-02-01T00:45:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:45:29","slug":"120650","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/2026\/01\/120650\/","title":{"rendered":"The United States said it is stepping up counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa."},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States has begun a $70 million expansion project at a military base in Kenya, near the Somali border. The project aims to strengthen counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n

The Manda Bay Air Base, under the Kenya Defence Forces in Lamu County, is a base used by US forces and has long been a strategic hub in the fight against the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militant group.<\/p>\n

In 2024, former US President Joe Biden announced a plan to make Kenya the US\u2019s first major non-NATO ally in sub-Saharan Africa, strengthening military and diplomatic ties, although there is no formal security agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must show those who would attack us that we are committed to defending ourselves,\u201d said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The base represents \u201ca very visible commitment to mutual defense between the United States and Kenya,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sends a very strong message to our potential adversaries,\u201d Landau said during a three-day visit.<\/p>\n

In 2020, three American citizens were killed after al-Shabaab breached the tight security of Camp Simba, part of the Manda Bay air base, destroying aircraft and military vehicles.<\/p>\n

In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were simultaneously targeted in attacks by al-Qaeda. The attacks killed more than 200 people, including 12 Americans, and injured thousands more.<\/p>\n

Landau also praised Kenya\u2019s role in \u201cinternational stability\u201d in Haiti.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Comments 0<\/span>0 Comments in moderation<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States has begun a $70 million expansion project at a military base in Kenya, near the Somali border. The project aims to strengthen counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa. The Manda Bay Air Base, under the Kenya Defence Forces in Lamu County, is a base used by US forces and has long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":120648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dhacdoyinka-caalamka","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120650"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120664,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120650\/revisions\/120664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warsom.com\/wararka\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}