17.02.2008
The United States has landed troops and arms at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport in Mauritius to give cover to President Bush as he visits Tanzania, Benin, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. In the same week as the setting up of the US Africa Command, US troops have set up a No Man's Land on the runway of the airport. A specially equipped Boeing 747 according to Week-End and Le Mauricien newspapers has landed 80 rapid intervention troops, as well as arms of various sorts. A C-17 is expected with telecommunications hardware. Some kind of security clearance described as "blanket clearance" in the Mauritian press, has been given, so that neither Immigration nor Customs controls are necessary for this entire military action. This shows the degree of collusion of the Mauritian Government with US imperialism.
As it is, Mauritian island, Diego Garcia, is illegally occupied by the UK and US and will probably be headquarters for the Africa Command. Successive Mauritian Governments refuse to take the case to the UN International Court of Justice at the Hague for an advisory opinion, after getting Un General Assembly support