Rumsfeld visits Horn of Africa

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- The United States is committed to a long-term partnership fighting terrorism in the Horn of Africa, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. Leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea pledged support but struck no new deals on U.S. access.

Rumsfeld said he did not come to this region to negotiate the use of military bases for U.S. forces but left open the possibility the United States would expand its presence.

The sea lanes in this region, where the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden meet, are increasingly important because they are used for commercial shipping and to move U.S. war materiel to the Persian Gulf.

Today, Rumsfeld was flying to the desert hinterland of Djibouti, which borders Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia near the Gulf of Aden, to visit American troops stationed at Camp Le Monier.