arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

US targets Somalia in hunt for al-Qaeda

Ed Vulliamy in New York, Jason Burke in Peshawar and Paul Harris
Sunday December 9, 2001
The Observer

American forces have already flown surveillance flights over Somalia looking for al-Qaeda forces to target in the next stage of the global war on terror, The Observer has learnt.
Navy pilots have flown waves of missions to map two al-Qaeda camps near the Kenyan border with a view to launching air strikes, Pentagon sources said. US warships have positioned themselves off the coast near the capital, Mogadishu, to stop Osama bin Laden from hiding there, and to prepare for an attack if necessary.
Sensitivity over the killing of 18 Army Rangers in Somalia in 1993 is being overcome by the new, emboldened Pentagon which wants to 'exorcise that ghost', said a source.
The flights have intensified over the past few days. Relief workers in Somalia are reported by the State Department to be bracing for action, and the Kenyan government has said it fears a flood of refugees.
Walter Kansteiner, the US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, has warned that Somalia's lack of central government could attract terrorists. He said the US had 'strong suspicions' of connections to al-Qaeda among individuals in Mogadishustruggling to establish some kind of authority. The US has named Somalia's al-Itihaad Islamic group on its list of targeted terrorist organisations.
The Somalia move is the most forthright action in a steady widening of the war on terror. The hunt for fresh targets in pursuing the al-Qaeda terrorist network and its leader, Osama bin Laden, has now spread to Africa, South America and the Balkans.
In Sudan, where bin Laden lived from 1991 to 1996, America is putting additional pressure on the regime to share information on al-Qaeda's potential bases there.
Pentagon and White House officials are also at work in Yemen, threatening the government that it must destroy al-Qaeda camps believed to remain in the northern mountains. The pressure has intensified after revelations that the Yemeni regime detained one of the bombers of the USS Cole, only to release him 17 months before the attack. The US has sent teams to Yemen for an assault on al-Qaeda's bases.
The CIA and military intelligence is also sending missions into Paraguay and Uruguay to combat what it believes are active al-Qaeda cells. Some of these are concentrated, say officials, at the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet near the Foz do Iguaçu waterfall.
Another dispatch has been sent to Bosnia, where al-Qaeda bases are said to be established in the otherwise secular Muslim community. The Muslim component of the fractured Sarajevo government has been warned that the Nato peacekeeping force in the country could be turned on al-Qaeda at any moment.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's new leader, Hamid Karzai, has called upon Afghans to help hunt down bin Laden and Taleban leader Mullah Mohamed Omar, both of whose whereabouts are still shrouded in mystery.
Speculation has intensified over the location of the pair after a cave complex believed to be bin Laden's main base was seized and Mullah Omar's stronghold of Kandahar fell on Friday. A contingent of 1,000 more US Marines is poised to join the hunt for bin Laden, according to reports reaching The Observer.
It emerged yesterday that British troops could lead a peacekeeping force for Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said. Speaking during a visit to Central Asia, Powell said the international force would go into Afghanistan soon after the interim government takes office on 22 December. Powell is expected to visit Britain on Tuesday for discussions that will finalise details. A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed Britain was ready to make 'a significant contribution' to any force.
The Observer can reveal that dozens of senior al-Qaeda and Taliban officials have escaped Afghanistan and are living in Pakistani tribal areas near the border.Some of the exiled Taliban figures have already called for assistance in continuing a jihad against America. Last week the brother of a Pakistani al-Qaeda commander addressed tribesmen in Pakistan's remote Tirah valley.
The exiles include Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister, who has moved into a house in Peshawar. Others include the hardline head of the supreme court, Maulvi Mohamed Saqib, Information Minister Qadratullah Jamal, Deputy Foreign Minister Abdul Rahman Zahed, and Hamdullah Nomani, the Mayor of Kabul.

Tussen haakjes, de VS heeft twee weken geleden de enigste internetprovider en telefoonoperator in Somalie gesloten waardoor men bijna geen contact meer heeft met het buitenland. Ook hun grootste bank werd lamgelegd, dit alles onder het mom van de stijd tegen terrorisme en linken naar El Queda, het netwerk van Ben Laden.

Dit staat in het Cia world fact book over de grondstoffen in Somalie.

Natural resources: uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt.

Diplomatic representation in the US: Somalia does not have an embassy in the US (ceased operations on 8 May 1991)
Diplomatic representation from the US: the US does not have an embassy in Somalia; US interests are represented by the US Embassy in Nairobi at Moi Avenue and Haile Selassie Avenue; mail address: P. O. Box 30137, Unit 64100, Nairobi; APO AE 09831; telephone: [254] (2) 334141; FAX [254] (2) 340838

Economy - overview: One of the world's poorest and least developed countries, Somalia has few resources. Moreover, much of the economy has been devastated by the civil war. Agriculture is the most important sector, with livestock accounting for about 40% of GDP and about 65% of export earnings. Nomads and semi-nomads, who are dependent upon livestock for their livelihood, make up a large portion of the population. Livestock and bananas are the principal exports; sugar, sorghum, corn, fish, and qat are products for the domestic market. The small industrial sector, based on the processing of agricultural products, accounts for 10% of GDP; most facilities have been shut down because of the civil strife. Moreover, ongoing civil disturbances in Mogadishu and outlying areas have interfered with any substantial economic advance and with international aid arrangements. Due to the civil strife, economic data is susceptible to an exceptionally wide margin of error.

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