The United States seeks to establish bases for drones in Africa

The United States is seeking to deploy military drones along the West African coast urgently to stop the spread of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the region, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and African officials.

The newspaper said Washington was studying the possibility of deploying its military drones in several African countries on the Atlantic coast. According to the Wall Street Journal, Washington is in preliminary talks to use airports in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin.

The drones will help the United States track the movements of militants and provide “tactical advice to local forces during combat operations.”

The three relatively stable and prosperous coastal states, along with Togo, now find themselves threatened by Islamist militants pouring south from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, three blockading countries in the Sahel, the sub-Saharan sub-Saharan strip.