DefenceTalkChina, according to a top US general, has signed a deal to establish its first military base in Africa. It would underscore Beijing’s growing global ambitions and raise the stakes for both cooperation and competition. The head of the US Africa Command, General David Rodriguez, told defense reporters recently that China had signed a ten-year […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-set-to-open-first-military-outpost-in-africa-65923/

DefenceTalkA top Chinese military officer visited Djibouti at the weekend, official media reported, prompting a state-run newspaper Tuesday to downplay concerns Beijing is planning to establish a base in the strategically vital African entrepot. The chief of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general staff, General Fang Fenghui met Djibouti’s president at the weekend, the official […]https://www.defencetalk.com/top-chinese-general-visits-djibouti-amid-base-speculation-65821/

DefenceTalkUnited Nations: The United Nations is sending hundreds of extra peacekeepers and its first drones to the Central African Republic to bolster security ahead of elections next month, a UN official said Tuesday. The December 27 elections are shaping up as a test of the country’s progress in its political transition after the bloodletting that […]https://www.defencetalk.com/un-sends-more-peacekeepers-drones-to-central-africa-65818/

DefenceTalkMorocco and Russia are close to reaching a deal on the delivery of a Russian-made Amur-1650 (project 677E) submarine which would be the kingdom’s first submarine, World Tribune reported. The contract is expected to be signed during King Mohammed VI’s trip to Moscow later this year. The two countries have been in talks on the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/morocco-to-buy-russian-amur-1650-super-quiet-submarine-65154/

DefenceTalkThe Chinese military is about to give its American counterpart the boot in the tiny country of Djibouti – the strategically critical entrance from the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea located in the Horn of Africa. The United States is about to lose one of its military installations in the Republic of Djibouti, America’s […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chinese-military-giving-us-troops-the-boot-in-djibouti-65075/

DefenceTalkBetween March and October 2011, a coalition of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states and several partner nations waged a war against Muammar Qaddafi’s Libyan regime that stemmed and then reversed the tide of Libya’s civil war, preventing Qaddafi from crushing the nascent rebel movement seeking to overthrow his dictatorship and going on to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/precision-and-purpose-airpower-in-the-libyan-civil-war-64864/

DefenceTalkU.S. and Spanish officials yesterday signed an amendment to the nations’ defense agreement that will change the deployment of the U.S. crisis response force at Moron Air Base from temporary to permanent, defense officials said today. In the State Department’s Treaty Room, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Spanish Deputy Foreign Minister Ignacio […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-crisis-force-spain-permanent-64572/

DefenceTalkFor Malian troops making their first forays into the country’s north since jihadists took control, French military support provides reassurance at a time when they are strangers in their own back yard. Islamist militias linked to Al-Qaeda — some foreign fighters but most homegrown jihadists — seized the vast expanse of desert in 2012, effectively […]https://www.defencetalk.com/mali-troops-get-reacquainted-with-lost-north-64465/

DefenceTalkChina is ready to make a greater contribution to peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, Beijing said Monday after Djibouti’s president told AFP negotiations over a Chinese military base were under way. “Maintenance of peace and stability in the region is in line with the interests of related countries,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua […]https://www.defencetalk.com/china-willing-to-do-more-in-horn-of-africa-64138/

DefenceTalkChina’s rapidly increasing involvement in Africa has fed fears of renewed geopolitical competition with the United States, but the reality is more complicated and nuanced, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Activities by China in Africa have increased dramatically in the last decade. Of the more than 5 million Chinese living abroad, approximately 1 […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chinas-expanding-african-relations-implications-for-us-national-security-63962/