Djibouti City (Somalia Today) – Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh has sharply criticised United States air strikes in Somalia, warning that military operations launched without regional consultation risk harming civilians and undermining the fight against jihadists.
In a rare public rebuke of a key military ally, Guelleh took aim at Washington’s heavy reliance on drone strikes against Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State group.
Speaking in an interview with the pan-African magazine Jeune Afrique, the veteran leader accused the US of relying on flawed intelligence and making decisions from outside the region.
He said American forces depend on paid informants who “say what they want to hear” rather than consulting regional governments with on-the-ground expertise.
“The Americans do not understand that proceeding with strikes without consulting or informing the Somali government and the neighbouring countries concerned, like Djibouti, is useless,” Guelleh said, according to excerpts from the interview.
Collateral victims
The Djiboutian head of state expressed deep concern over the human toll of the accelerated US air campaign.
Firing missiles “practically blindly without caring about collateral civilian victims is not a solution,” Guelleh told the magazine.
His comments put Djibouti at odds with Washington’s public messaging. The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM) routinely says it conducts operations “in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.”
In a January press release detailing strikes against Al-Shabaab, AFRICOM reiterated this position, saying the operations aimed to degrade the Al-Qaeda-linked group’s ability to threaten Somali and US interests.
AFRICOM’s published 2025 log showed a sustained tempo, listing more than 150 strikes against militant targets over the year.
Mogadishu has also often presented these operations as cooperative. In February 2026, Somali officials announced that joint Somali-US strikes had killed Al-Shabaab fighters and destroyed a weapons shipment.
Strategic partner
Guelleh’s criticism is politically sensitive given Djibouti’s dual role as a regional security actor and a vital Western military partner.
The strategically located nation at the mouth of the Red Sea hosts Camp Lemonnier. The US Navy describes the sprawling facility as the only enduring US military site in Africa and a critical hub supporting operations across the region.
Djibouti is also deeply integrated into regional peacekeeping. It contributes troops to the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), which officially replaced the ATMIS mission on January 1.
Despite Guelleh’s assertion that regional forces “know the terrain” better than the US, military analysts note an operational paradox in Djibouti’s posture.
The Djiboutian military has operated Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 armed drones since 2022.
While Djibouti has deployed these systems domestically—reportedly affecting ethnic Afar civilians during internal operations in the north—it has refrained from launching its own targeted aerial strikes against Al-Shabaab across the border.
Neither AFRICOM nor the Somali federal government issued an immediate public response to Guelleh’s interview remarks.
However, the unusually direct tone from the Djiboutian leader signals a willingness to challenge a key partner.
It highlights Djibouti’s ongoing effort to balance its lucrative Western military alliances with its ambition to project an independent, authoritative voice on the future of Somali security.
