The United States must bolster intelligence assets in Africa and prevent Saudi financing to the continent, deemed a major arena for al-Qaida and related groups, asserts a new report, according to Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said Africa, home to more than 300 million Muslims, represents a major terrorist challenge to the United States. | I see they've be reading Rantburg. |
In a report, the center said the U.S. intelligence community must increase its human assets and monitor such trends as the financing of al-Qaida as well as the smuggling of man-portable surface-to-air missiles. "Specifically, the administration should increase pressure on the Saudi government to regulate financial flows by Saudi charities to Madrassas in Africa at the same time that the United States demonstrates the seriousness of its commitment to expand educational opportunities," stated the report, "Rising U.S. Stakes in Africa." The center also said the United States must increase its diplomatic presence in Africa and "dramatically expand human intelligence and language training."
A key goal is to tighten controls over Islamic insurgency financing through the diamond trade. On Sept. 9, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the U.S. and Comoros branches of the Saudi-based Al Haramain Foundation as financiers and facilitators of terrorism, including the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa. So far, more than a dozen branches of the state-sponsored Al Haramain, including the director of the organization, have been listed as facilitators of terrorism.
The report said any African initiative by the United States must include Sudan. In the 1990s, Sudan harbored al-Qaida, and Khartoum has remained a base for a range of Palestinian insurgency groups, including Hamas. | Now there's a boil that needs to be lanced. |
"The administration should advance cooperation on counterterrorism with Sudan, with or without a peace settlement," the report said. Khartoum, which seeks its removal from the U.S. list of terrorist sponsors, remains vulnerable in any effort to achieve a peace settlement with rebel groups. The report recommended that the administration reaffirm a timeline to remove Sudan from the terror list as well as separate the counterterrorism track from other dimensions of U.S. engagement with Sudan. | No, first they stop, then we'll think about it. |
In addition, the center recommended a reorganization of the Defense Department to facilitate an effective U.S. military presence in Africa. The administration is also urged to organize what the report termed an antiterrorism task force that would cover North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. | I don't think they've been paying attention, the DoD has been there for some time. I guess they don't read us after all. |
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