British liaison staff are embedded with US forces in the Horn of Africa, the Ministry of Defence has revealed, as concern grows about redeployment of the UK squadron of 10 armed Reaper drones.Although three British officers are based at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti – the US base from which unmanned strikes are launched against al-Qaida groups in Yemen – the MoD denies they are involved in co-ordinating such attacks.
Both the human rights organisation Reprieve and the Labour former defence minister Tom Watson have expressed anxiety over British involvement in covert drone operations beyond Afghanistan.
The MoD is thought to be reluctant to bring home its squadron of Reapers, controlled remotely by satellite from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, once operations in Afghanistan end later this year. Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), as the RAF prefers to describe them, cannot fly freely in UK airspace due to Civil Aviation Authority restrictions.
The presence of British officers in Djibouti will heighten expectations that the ground is being prepared for redeployment of UK drones elsewhere overseas.Ben Emmerson QC, the UN rapporteur on counter-terrorism monitoring operations by unmanned aircraft, has said that sources close to the MoD have told him the Reapers could be sent to Africa or the Middle East for future operations.
The presence of British troops in Camp Lemonnier was confirmed in a written parliamentary answer to Watson by the defence minister Mark Francois. He said: "[The three officers] work within the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) and are responsible for planning and supporting US military operations in the region. As embedded military personnel within a US headquarters they come under the command and control of the US armed forces, but remain subject to UK law, policy and military jurisdiction."Watson, chair of the all-party parliamentary group on drones, has now written to Emmerson asking him to make sure the UK government "engages in informed debate on the imperative legal questions governing use of armed drones that you have identified" and responds to the rapporteur's latest report.
Watson's letter also warns that "parliamentary scrutiny of future basing options for UK armed drones may be avoided on the basis that use of remotely operated systems do not necessarily require physical deployment of UK troops because they can be operated from the UK".
It adds: "UK experts, including Professor Michael Clarke, director of the Royal United Services Club (RUSI) have indicated … that future basing options for UK Reapers include Africa and the Middle East from where US drone strikes in Yemen are launched … UK personnel are embedded at the base … it may be considered a small step to base or share assets with the US at Djibouti and therefore become party to the US covert drone war in Yemen."
Tom Watson told the Guardian: "The government is failing to engage on the core principles governing use of UK armed drones. This is worrying, given disclosures that UK personnel embedded at Camp Lemonnier are supporting US military operations and that UK Reapers won't be brought back to the UK.
"Our [all-party parliamentary group] complaint seeks the intervention of the UN special rapporteur to get to the bottom of this. We are entitled to know how the MOD proposes to use UK armed drones in the run-up to withdrawal from Afghanistan.'
A Human Rights Watch report has also reported that the Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur, referred to the existence of a "joint operations room" including the US, the UK, Yemen, and Nato which "identifies in advance" the individuals who are "going to be targeted" [by US drone strikes].
http://yemenonline.info/news-4093.html
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