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Mogadishu Warlords Help Americans Hunt for Terrorists
Sounds like weâve gotten rid of that "canât work with scumbags" notion. EFL:In lawless Mogadishu, where U.S. officials fear al-Qaida members are plotting their next attack, the word is out: catch a terrorist, collect rewards as high as $5 million. At least four al-Qaida terrorist suspects are in Somalia, Kenyan officials and U.N. experts say, and Americans are trying to capture them in a country without an effective central government for more than a decade, officials and gunmen told The Associated Press. So far, those efforts are known to have netted at least one al-Qaida suspect - Suleiman Abdalla Salim Hemed, whoâs accused of playing a role in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa - but rumors abound of gunmen kidnapping Arabs and turning them over to U.S. agents. A Somali warlord, Mohammed Dheere, coordinated the capture of Hemed at the behest of U.S. officials, gunmen familiar with the Hemed operation told AP, speaking privately for fear of reprisals. Most Somalis believe Dheere was generously rewarded. Kenyaâs national security minister, Chris Murungaru, claimed credit for Hemedâs capture and said he was turned over to U.S. authorities, who have refused to comment. But the gunmen said U.S. agents regularly visit Dheere at his Mogadishu home and an AP reporter saw two of the alleged agents, dressed in regular clothing, moving through Mogadishu using a team of bodyguards belonging to Bashir Rageh, a wealthy businessman closely associated with Dheere. After Hemedâs capture, Dheere questioned Hemedâs friends for hours, asking about other suspected terrorists. When shown photos from the FBIâs Most Wanted Terrorists Web site, Hemedâs friends said Dheere used the same photos when he questioned them. They said they didnât recognize any of the men in the photos. One of the most-wanted al-Qaida suspects, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, is thought to be hiding in Somalia, a senior Kenyan security official told AP on Wednesday. Somalia, a semiarid country, offers an attractive location for covert operations, but the country is nothing like Afghanistan, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Ladenâs Islamic militants were welcomed and worked unhindered, establishing large training camps. Somaliaâs clan-based society is deeply Islamic, but the vast majority of Somalis follow Sufism, which is vehemently opposed to al-Qaidaâs militant, politically infused interpretation of Islam. The Sunnis and the Shiites both hate the Sufiâs. As a result, the warlords who run the country, drawing support and gunmen from their clans, are decidedly secular in their politics. "Itâs nothing personal, Abdulla. Just business." While German reconnaissance planes and German and U.S. warships patrol the coastline, U.S. officials have tried to get a presence on the ground by capitalizing on the warlordsâ lack of religious zeal and need for cash. Money talks, and we have the money. And while most Somalis reject Islamic extremism, there are militants in Somalia. Al-Ittihad al-Islami, listed by the United States as a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida, does openly operate as a religious organization, though its members publicly renounce violence. Yeah, I know. R.O.P. Abdiqasim Hassan Salad, who led a failed transitional government and is attempting to form a new one, said small numbers of terrorists may be in Somalia. "That doesnât mean that Somalia canât become a terrorist playground," he said. "We need the help of the United States of America." "No checks. Cash or gold bars, please." Posted by: Steve 2003-11-05 |
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