The US Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) is poised to expand its armed drone programme in Africa against Al-Qaeda and Islamic State insurgents after President Donald Trump’s administration approved the increased use of force that was scaled back under Barack Obama.
The New York Times reports that a secret military base in the Nigerien town of Dirkou, about 250km south of the Libyan border, will soon begin deploying armed drones targeting the Islamist fighters.
Under President Obama, the use of drones for attacks was scaled back following a backlash over civilian deaths.
The move was intended, in part, to bring greater transparency to attacks in which the US often refused to acknowledge its role.
Now however, the C.I.A. is broadening its drone operations, moving aircrafts to northeastern Niger to hunt Islamist militants in southern Libya. The expansion adds to the agency’s limited covert missions in eastern Afghanistan for strikes in Pakistan, and in southern Saudi Arabia for attacks in Yemen.
The US views the use of drones as a cost-efficient way to counter armed groups, though the programme has received heavy criticism for many of its operations in non-battlefield settings such as Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.
