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US central command chief on official visit

    NAIROBI

    Following a three-day visit to Eritrea last week, the commander-in-chief of the US Central Command, General Tommy R. Franks, arrived in Djibouti for talks with President Ismael Omar Guelleh and Defence Minister Ougoureh Kifleh Ahmed, AFP reported Monday.

    Strategically located near the meeting point of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, where it opens to the Indian Ocean, Djibouti continues to host a French military base. Amid concerns that fighting could spill over into Djibouti territory when Ethiopian and Eritrea went to war over their common border in 1998, the French government suspended plans to further decrease the size of its garrison in the country, a local source told IRIN.

    Responsible for US security interests in 25 countries spread across Central Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, Franks is due to travel on to Kenya, AFP said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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