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| Africa: Horn |
| ICG sez 2 al-Qaeda leaders based in Somalia |
| 2005-07-28 |
| The media spotlight may be firmly focused on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, but the West should start paying more attention to Somalia because this East African country, torn apart by rival warlords and tribal gangs, provides a logistic centre for al-Qaeda, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned. The ICG recently published a research report entitled "Counter-terrorism in Somalia. Are we loosing hearts and minds?", edited by Suliman Baldo, the ICG's Africa programme director. "Away from the spotlight, a quiet, dirty conflict is being waged in Somalia." writes Baldo in the introduction. "In the rubble-strewn streets of the ruined capital of this state without a government, Mogadishu, al-Qaeda operatives, jihad extremists, Ethiopian security services and Western-backed counter-terrorism networks are engaged in a shadowy and complex contest waged by intimidation, abduction and assassination." The United States "has had some success but now risks evoking a backlash." It is not surprising: after the huge failure of the international peace efforts carried out between 1992-1995, Somalia still finds itself in total chaos, despite an October 2004 agreement reached to establish a transitional federal government. On the contrary, according to the ICG report, with the transitional government's formation "the dirty war between terrorism and counter-terrorist operatives in Mogadishu appears to have entered a new and more vicious stage that threatens to push the country further towards jihadism and extremist violence." In this context the role of al-Qaeda is increasing since it is in and from Somalia that two of the terror network's alleged masterminds are operating: Fazul Abdullah Mohamed - from the Comoros Islands and with a Kenyan passport - and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan - also with a Kenyan passport and believed to be the leader of the al-Qaeda "Mombasa Network" operating in East Africa. The pair are suspected of being behind the 1998 terrorist attacks against the US embassies in Nairobi and in Dar-es-Salaam, which killed 225 people and wounded 4,000. Fazul Abdullah Mohamed and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan have also been linked in the 2002 attacks in Nairobi against Israelian targets. Eighty people died in a suicide attack involving a car belonging to Nabhan, which was crashed packed with explosives into a Mombasa hotel. The terrorists also managed to launch two Strela missiles against an airplane filled with Israeli tourists, but missed their target. "The Somali [al-Qaeda] cell is still considered a security threat," says the the ICG report, adding "the Americans consider that al-Qaeda members in Kenya and Somalia have been highly active ever since the 2002 attacks". In May 2003 intelligence reports, including reported sightings of Fazul in Mombasa, set off alarm bells, prompting British Airways to halt their flights to Kenya. In a 2004, another intelligence report, said evidence existed "that the [East Africa-based] network is determined to conduct other terrorist attacks." "Fazul is believed to be the most dangerous since he is a disguise wizard, an expert in document counterfeiting and a master in building bombs," the ICG report says, citing intelligence reports from Somalia. In addition according to the reports, Nabhan, who is married to a Somali woman, is still in Mogadishu, together with other suspected al-Qaeda members: Ali Swedhan, Issa Osman Issa, Samir Said Salim Ba'amir and Mohammed Mwakuuza Kuza. Intelligence services suspect that these al-Qaeda militants have links with the local extremist militias, in particular with the mysterious "Ayro," who is believed to be the leader of a local network responsible for the profanation of the Italian cemetery in January 2005. As the ICG report's title suggests, Western counter-terrorism activities are seen by the Somali population, which does not believe that the al-Qaeda terrorists are in the country, as an attack on Islam. The issue is critical, since, as Baldo explains - "without help from the local population, even the most sophisticated anti-terrorism efforts are bound to fail." The consequences are serious, since the terrorist are still at large thanks to the protection given to them by ordinary Somalis, the ICG, report concludes. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 I'd be disappointed in them if they weren't based in Somalia... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-07-28 11:06 |
| #1 If only we withdrew from Iraq, everything would be groovy. After all, we withdrew from Somalia in '93 and just look at it: warlordism is dead, representative democracy is in full swing, terrorists can find no shelter, the economy is booming and the citizenry live quiet spiritual lives in peace and harmony with their neighbors. Well done, Bill. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2005-07-28 11:05 |