The author is Ronald Sandee, a senior counter-terrorism analyst for the Dutch Ministry of Defense who is not speaking on behalf of the Dutch government. I was present when he spoke and helped to do some of the research that went into the broader presentation on Sudan in general post-9/11 and Darfur in particular and I hope that my fellow Rantburgers will find it useful. Heavily EFL.
After the US led coalition attacked and defeated the Taliban regime and al-Qa'ida forces in Afghanistan at the end of 2001, the 'solid base' that AQ had there was gone. A part of the AQ leadership and a certain number of fighters remained in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan and in the eastern part of Afghanistan. Others traveled (with their families) through Pakistan and through Iran to return to their home countries. Another part stayed in Pakistan. A large group went to Yemen. What was remarkable was that many of the students within AQ were asked by their teachers to come with them to Mauritania (most of the members of AQ's Religious Committee are Mauritanian Ulema). Others ended up in the Sudan.
The Mauritanian contingent, of course, was involved in the attempted coup there in 2003.
Also soon after 9/11 and the start of the campaign to oust the Taliban in Afghanistan, information arose that large quantities of gold and gemstones were transferred from Afghanistan through Pakistan, Iran, and the UAE to the Sudan. This gold and gemstones belonged to the Taliban and AQ and were brought by ship and plane to the Sudan to be put in safe places. Probably, they were deposited in Islamic banks in Khartoum.
| Sudan, recall, had made a surprising turnaround when we threw the Talibs out of Afghanistan, since Bashir was smart enough to have visions of the same sort of operation being carried out in his country. Times passes, perceptions dull, the U.S. is going through its incomprehensible domestic political convolutions, and the aftermath of Afghanistan and Iraq look enough like what the Russers went through in Afghanistan to raise the belief that the turbans can look forward to some sort of victory in the long run. The butter's on the other side of the slice now... |
By now we can say that Sudan has again assumed a role as one of the training centers for AQ and Mujahedin fighters. Like in the first half of the 1990s Sudan contains an ample number of training camps where Muslim extremists and jihadists are taught the techniques of guerilla warfare. They come from Europe, Central-Asia, the Middle Eastern countries, and Sub-Sahara Africa. After being trained they are facilitated by an organization that is still in place and is able to deliver high quality false documents, means of communication and organize travel arrangements. The newly trained fighters turn up in southern Sahara countries, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, where they fight against coalition forces. We also see Sudanese who were trained in (PDF) camps turning up at the border with Israel. It is interesting to note that during the latest prisoner swap between Israel and Hizballah, in January 2004, three Sudanese citizens were included.
| So it looks like Omar's back in the business. I think we pretty much guessed that by now, though. He's just not sticking his head up too far yet... |
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