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East/Subsaharan Africa
U.N. Panel: Terrorists Use Somalia As Hub
2003-04-03
Somalia has served as a transit point for international terrorists but its local militant groups appear to be less of a terrorist threat than feared, a U.N. panel said. The panel pointed to recent findings that material and explosives used in the November 2002 terrorist bombing in the Kenyan port of Mombasa were shipped through Somalia — and that terrorists were "easily able to transit through Somali territory on the way to their intended target." Foreign terrorists apparently also used Somalia to get themselves and their weapons across the border into Kenya and then to Tanzania to bomb the U.S. embassies in both countries in 1998, they said. "The continuing lawlessness in Somalia, particularly where it prevails in the coastal areas, is a threat not only to Somalis but also to the international community," the panel said in a 62-page report released this week. However, fears after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that Somalia could become a haven for international terrorists because of its lack of an effective central government "at present ... appear unfounded," the panel said.
Huh? You mean because they just stay overnight and don't have a local address there's no problem?
The report focused on violations of a 1992 U.N. arms embargo in the lawless Horn of Africa nation, but also addressed possible links to terrorism. Somalia's U.N. ambassador scheduled a press conference Friday to respond to the findings.
That would be "Muggsy"...
Bulgaria's U.N. Ambassador Stefan Tavrov, who chairs the U.N. committee monitoring the sanctions against Somalia, said Wednesday the report was the first attempt to identify issues related to the flow of arms into the country. It cited the ready availability of weapons and ammunition at arms markets in Somalia as well as supplies sent to warlords and groups in the country from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen. After Sept. 11, President Bush put the country's largest company, Al-Barakat, and a Somali Islamic group, al-Ittihad al-Islami, on a list of groups believed to have links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. Israeli and U.S. officials suspect al-Ittihad was involved in the Nov. 28 attack on a hotel frequented by Israelis in Mombasa that killed 11 Kenyans and three Israelis. But the panel said it found no such link.
"The only evidence was provided by the United States and their Zionist partners, so it can't be true."
"While the panel has found ample evidence that al-Ittihad al-Islami continues to operate in Somalia, it appears to have few formal links with al-Qaida, and has a largely local agenda, which includes unification with other Somali-majority areas in neighboring states," the report said.
Excuse me? Wanting unification with other Somali-majority areas in neighboring states sounds like they plan on taking those areas over and creating a Greater Islamic Somalia. And you think that's a local issue?
The panel said al-Ittihad abandoned its camps after Sept. 11 and "is now seeking power by political and economic means." The group is also reportedly exercising considerable influence within courts using Islamic Shariah law, it said.
Within the UN as well, it appears.
Posted by:Steve

#4  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: g wiz   2003-04-03 13:58:27  

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Posted by: tu3031   2003-04-03 13:03:24  

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Posted by: Steve White   2003-04-03 12:50:42  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2003-04-03 12:49:01  

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