For five years now, a mind-boggling report about a United States base in Botswana has been hiding in plain sight.
If nothing else, the report, which was obtained by The Intercept, a hard-hitting investigative journalism publication in the US, conclusively disproves denials by both countries about the presence of such base. “Conclusively” because the source of the information is none other than the US’ own Department of Defence – commonly known as the Pentagon.
In 2018 and after a successful Freedom of Information Act application by The Intercept, the Pentagon declassified what until then, had been a highly classified map that shows 12 sites in Africa at which the US army has bases. Botswana is one of those sites and the only one in SADC. What the US has built in Botswana has been variously described as a “base”, “air base” and “facility.” However, there is a more precise term that the US government has used in its official documents.
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