U.S. Marines training in Djibouti
From Catherine Bond (CNN)
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U.S. military personnel were photographed in Djibouti on Friday.
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DJIBOUTI, Djibouti (CNN) -- A U.S. Marine expeditionary unit is training in the small Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, President Ismail Omar Guelleh told CNN on Saturday.
Guelleh said the U.S. military asked last May to use Djibouti to train and acclimate Marines. About 500 Marines arrived during the summer and plan to stay five to six months -- based in the country and offshore, he said.
Guelleh disputed published reports that U.S. Special Forces were planning to use his country as a launching pad to snatch al Qaeda suspects from Yemen, across the narrow mouth of the Red Sea from Djibouti.
Special Forces are already in Yemen, and do not need Djibouti for such a role, he said.
The U.S. Embassy in Djibouti said it could not comment on the U.S. military presence.
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These American military copters were photographed Friday in Djibouti.
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CNN and other international journalists have observed U.S. military personnel constructing facilities in a corner of Djibouti's main international airport, next to a Djiboutian military camp the government has lent them.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would not confirm that U.S. troops are in Djibouti.
"I just don't get into details," he told CNN Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre on Saturday.
