Chinese and US militaries on Covid-19 alert in Djibouti as rivals face common threat
- Both countries act to pre-empt any outbreaks at strategically important bases in the African nation
- Measures imposed at China’s only overseas base and the US’ largest African installation
Military installations housing US forces in Djibouti were placed under “precautionary” public health emergency measures on Thursday, while China is also stepping up precautions against any emergency in its first overseas military base.
China started operating its Djibouti base – which it calls a logistics support hub – in 2017.
“Health declarations are now required for personnel in Djibouti,” a source close to the Chinese military said, adding that the base had ventilators.
Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military affairs commentator, said the pandemic control efforts applied in Djibouti would be the same as those adopted at military bases inside China.
“In some circumstances, the requirements will be stricter – for example, the entry and exit controls at the Djibouti base are more stringent,” he said. “There are medical personnel in the base who are also trained to take care of and test for Covid-19 [the disease caused by the coronavirus], and there are facilities for that.
“One of the key missions for the base in Djibouti is to provide backup to the People’s Liberation Army’s peacekeeping force in Africa, and provide assistance to pandemic control measures in other African nations. Outbreak control measures inside the base are very important.”
A busy shipping hub strategically located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, Djibouti has reported 985 cases of coronavirus, up more than 400 from a week ago.
US Army Major General Michael Turello, commander of the US’ combined Horn of Africa joint task force, declared a public health emergency on Thursday for American forces under his command spread across the Djibouti base cluster.
He said in a statement that the “precautionary measure” gives him more powers to deal with any outbreak of Covid-19.
“Combating Covid-19 is my top priority,” Turello said. “Declaring a public health emergency keeps our forces, and those of our host nation partner, as healthy and as safe as possible.”
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The public health emergency applies to defence personnel, contractors and US troops spread across Camp Lemonnier Djibouti, Chabelley Airfield and the port of Djibouti.
Camp Lemonnier is the largest US installation in Africa, housing about 3,000 American troops. There are about 6,000 US troops across the US Africa Command’s area of responsibility, according to a report by the inspector general released in February.
The announcement of the public health emergency raises questions about the readiness of forward-deployed US forces in the Africa Command theatre of operation, given that Djibouti has the largest concentration of American troops in the region, according to US-based news portal Military Times.
But Major Karl Wiest, a spokesman for the Africa Command, said it had discovered only one case of Covid-19 in Djibouti, and that was a contractor.
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Wiest said the measures were “strictly precautionary to increase our ability to control the appropriate movement of all personnel at the right time to the right places”.
As of Thursday, the US Department of Defence had reported 5,901 coronavirus cases worldwide among military and civilian personnel and their families, with 25 deaths.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
