The commander-in-chief of the US Central Command in East and Central Africa, General Tommy Franks, arrived in Asmara on Monday on a three-day working visit to Eritrea. During his stay in Asmara he will hold talks with President Isayas Afewerki and Eritrean Defence Minister General Ephrem Sebhat, according to a report on official Eritrean radio monitored by the BBC. The start of Frank’s visit, the second this year, coincided with the return home of General Sebhat from Florida, where he attended a symposium organised by the US Central Command with a theme of joint cooperation and unity, the report said.
The US Central Command is located at MacDill Air Force base in Tampa, Florida and is the unified command responsible for US security interests in 25 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Arabian Gulf region into Central Asia. Activated in 1983, it is the successor to the US Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force.
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