Camp Le Monier / Lemonier
Camp Le Monier is the location from which US forces are operating from in the Horn of Africa. This facility is an ex-French military barracks, reportedly located near the Djibouti airport and that the Djiboutian government is allowing the United States to use for demining, humanitarian, and counter-terrorism efforts. The agreement for this arrangement was reached in February 2001.
The facility has not been used in a number of years and was reported to be in some disrepair. Buildings had reportedly been stripped of pipes and wiring while the roofing of several structures had collapsed. Goats roamed the property and birds had taken to roost in several of the abandoned structures.
Renovations on the facility began sometime in mid-2001 following an evaluation by CENTCOM personnel. Work on the facility are expected to be completed by November or December 2002. This involved building new concrete pads, maintenance facilities and living areas.
The Central Intelligence Agency is also reportedly using Camp Lemonier as a staging ground for unmanned "Predator" drone aircraft used to track and attack al-Qaida terrorists.
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) began moving all headquarters personnel and equipment from its flagship, USS Mount Whitney in the Gulf of Aden, into facilities at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti on May 6, 2003 in a move expected to take about one week, with completion of the move scheduled for mid-May.
The newly renovated 88-acre camp, a former French Foreign Legion post owned by the Djiboutian government, serves as CJTF-HOA's expeditionary headquarters. CJTF-HOA presence in Djibouti and the duration of operations across the region are tied to accomplishment of the counter-terrorism mission, not a fixed period of time.
Djiboutian workers were instrumental in preparing Camp Lemonier for movement of the CJTF headquarters ashore. More than 300 local construction personnel currently work aboard the camp each day and nearly 300 day-workers are employed in other camp support operations.
The new communications network at Camp Lemonier, the backbone of information flow for the operation, has three times the bandwidth capability as the USS Mount Whitney. In practical terms, CJTF-HOA can now connect to more coalition partners and agencies and move more information faster than at any previous point in the operation.
As of mid-2005, Camp Lemonier offered an AFFES PX; a Dining Facility, named the "Bob Hope Dining Facility"; a Chapel; and a fully-equipped fitness with a swimming pool. Living Quarters consisted of air-conditioned tents which, depending on rank, housed between 4 to 12 personnel.
