Bush to upgrade base in Qatar

The United States and Qatar signed a pact yesterday to upgrade Qatari military bases which the US could use in any conflict with Iraq.

US secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, and Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad al-Thani, signed the agreement, which Mr Rumsfeld said was an indication of the importance of their defence cooperation.

Mr Rumsfeld, yesterday led the diplomatic offensive in the region during a tour of Ethiopia and Eritrea before stopping for talks in Djibouti on his way to Qatar to view US military exercises.

Mr Rumsfeld said he was pleased with offers of overflight rights, access to bases, intelligence and maritime security and hinted that the US might expand its presence in the Horn of Africa, the volatile region across the Red Sea from Yemen.

Speaking as a separate US delegation visited Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, Mr Rumsfeld said he came not to make specific requests but to strengthen ties "in the global war on terrorism".

"I'm not here to engage in transactions. I'm not here to put pressure on anybody. I'm here to demonstrate that the United States values what these countries are doing."

The defence secretary changed from an air force C-32 jet to a C-17 cargo plane following a state department warning of a possible terrorist attack in the Horn of Africa in the wake of last month's attacks in Mombasa.

The Pentagon chose the former French colony of Djibouti to base 1,000 US troops - mostly special forces and marines - at Camp Lemonier, a former French foreign legion base. USS Mount Whitney, a floating command post, is stationed off the coast.

Indicating that the base will stay for several years, Mr Rumsfeld said: "We need to be where the action is. [There are] a number of terrorists across the water in Yemen and in the southern part of Saudi Arabia."

Washington opened its diplomatic offensive last week, when President George Bush had talks in the White House with Ethiopia's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, and Kenya's President Daniel arap Moi.

When Mr Rumsfeld visited Addis Ababa, Mr Zenawi promised cooperation to combat increased terrorist activity, which he blamed on the an Islamist organisation, Al-Ittihad, based in Ethiopia's rival, Somalia.

The assistant secretary of state, William Burns, led a separate US delegation this week to shore up north African support. After talks in Morocco and Algeria, which was reportedly promised equipment to fight Islamist guerrillas, he was due to meet Tunisia's president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Later this month, Washington is expected to host peace talks between's Sudan's warring factions in a further engagement with a region which came into America's focus after September 11.