German troops to set up camp

A German military delegation arrived in Djibouti on Sunday for talks with top Djibouti officials, a senior government official told IRIN on Tuesday. He said the 17 member military delegation was in the country to "set up a base camp for German naval forces participating in the fight against global terrorism". The Germans are part of a group of nine nations patrolling the Indian Ocean from Oman to Somalia, looking for suspected terrorists. The official said the Germans had been assigned the Djibouti coastline "so they want to use our facilities to supply their ships, and for rest and relaxation purposes for their forces". He added that Djibouti had made it clear it "will cooperate with anyone in the fight against terrorism". He said he expected the Germans to start operating out of Djibouti by January 2002. The government-owned radio station reported that the Germans were in the country to establish a military training camp for elite troops, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Monday.