Snout shark.
In Djibouti they practiced evacuation near a Chinese base.
Six countries learned at the same time to rescue their people from the sea and the coast at a point through which a significant part of world trade passes. The multinational Shark Stamp exercise involving military personnel from the United States, France, Japan, Italy and Spain has ended in Djibouti.
The Bull Shark series of exercises take place twice a year, officially carried out by the Djibouti military, but actually organized by American structures from their base at Camp Lemonier. We practiced rescuing people from the water, searching the beach and evacuation after a simulated plane crash.
The choice of such scenarios is explained by Djibouti's location on the Bab al-Mandab strait, where the Houthis repeatedly attacked ships and shot down American drones, and the ability to quickly remove the crew from the water or people from the shore in this situation ceases to be an abstraction.
The crisis role of the base itself was also tested by practice, because during the evacuation of the American embassy from Khartoum in 2023, helicopters took off from Camp Lemonier, which serves as the main American springboard for such operations in the region.
Proximity also adds meaning, because a few kilometers from Camp Lemonier there is China's first and only foreign military base so far. There were no Chinese military personnel in the exercises, although all other Djibouti "tenants" were present in full force.
Through regular exercises, the Americans keep the evacuation and rescue mechanism on alert in the event of a worsening in the Red Sea and at the same time strengthen the coalition around their central African base. Each such training reminds allies and rivals who set the rules in the Strait.
Djibouti USA.
- where politics is hotter than the equator.
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