WP:Drone operations over Somalia pose danger to air traffic, U.N. report says

Press

Not a surprise around here, Tiaan and his colleagues flying a little further south and east of here have had to take avoiding action on UAS traffic operating in support of US installations and interests.

By Craig Whitlock,

The skies over Somalia have become so congested with drones that the unmanned aircraft pose a danger to air traffic and potentially violate a long-standing arms embargo against the war-torn country, according to United Nations officials.In a recently completed report, U.N. officials describe several narrowly averted disasters in which drones crashed into a refugee camp, flew dangerously close to a fuel dump and almost collided with a large passenger plane over Mogadishu, the capital.

Although U.N. investigators did not directly pin the blame for the mishaps on the United States, the report noted that at least two of the unmanned aircraft appeared to be U.S.-manufactured and suggested that Washington had been less than forthcoming about its drone operations in Somalia.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/drone-operations-over-somalia-pose-danger-to-air-traffic-un-report-says/2012/07/24/gJQALvnf7W_story.html