Angola
Posted on 11/14/2003 8:54:23 AM PST by joyful1
Al-Qaida 'bought uranium' in Congo
Friday 14 November 2003, 19:18 Makka Time, 16:18 GMT
Bin Ladin's network alleged to have 'dirty bomb' capability
Related: Al-Qaida threatens more attacks Saudi regime v al-Qaida: Only one survives
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An al-Qaida representative bought enriched uranium capable of being used in a so-called dirty bomb from the Congolese opposition in 2000, according to a French newspaper report.
In sworn testimony an unnamed former soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has told investigators looking into the murders of two Congolese opposition figures in France in December 2000 that he attended a meeting earlier that year at which the uranium was sold, the Lyon-based Le Progres reported.
The man "described a meeting which took place on 3 March in (the German city of) Hamburg between some Congolese men and an Egyptian by the name of Ibrahim Abd," the newspaper said.
It quoted the man as saying, "I realised it was al-Qaida."
According to Le Progres, the Egyptian was able to acquire two bars of enriched uranium 138.
Dirty bomb
Only highly enriched uranium can be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb, but anti-terrorist experts take more seriously the threat of a "dirty bomb", in which radioactive material is disseminated via a conventional explosive.
The unnamed source spoke of the purchase in December 2002 in an affidavit to German police, who passed it to their French counterparts. The evidence is part of the dossier compiled by the team looking into the deaths of the two Congolese opposition figures.
Coup money
According to Le Progres, the man is himself close to Congolese opposition circles and told the German investigators that the money paid for the uranium was needed to finance a putsch against late DRC president Laurent-Desire Kabila.
The man has been interviewed by the American and French security services, but could give no information on the source of the uranium, the paper said.
The burned bodies of Philemon Naluhwindza and Aime Atenbina were found not far from Lyon in December 2000. An official close to the investigation confirmed to AFP that they had been seeking funds for a coup attempt against Kabila.
AFP
Angola
US warns of Sudan terror plots
From correspondents in Washington
November 15, 2003
THE United States renewed its existing travel warning for Sudan today, alerting US citizens for the first time to terrorist plots on Western interests there less than a week after temporarily closing its embassy in Khartoum due to an unspecified threat.
"The US government has received indications of terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in Sudan," the State Department said in the warning, which advised US citizens against all travel to the country.
"Terrorist actions may include suicide operations, bombings, or kidnappings," it said without elaborating.
Today's alert replaced an existing March 26 travel warning which noted the ongoing civil war in Sudan and anti-Western and American sentiment, but made no mention of "terrorist threats".
The warning was issued just four days after the US embassy in the Sudanese capital announced it was suspending normal operation for a week citing "a credible and specific threat to US interests in Khartoum".
Neither it nor the State Department in Washington would expand on Monday's brief embassy statement, which also advised US citizens in Sudan to be cautious and avoid gatherings of foreigners.
Although the embassy expressed appreciation for "strategic support" from Sudanese authorities "in confronting the present threat", officials in Khartoum insisted on Tuesday that the country remained safe for foreigners and said they had heard of no threat against Americans.
"There is no threat to the American interests in Sudan," Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Mutref Siddeiq was quoted as saying in the official Al Anbaa newspaper.
He added, however, that the security services "are vigilant in protecting foreigners in Sudan" and at least six police officers, instead of the usual one or two, were seen guarding the heavily fortified US embassy compound in western Khartoum.
The Khartoum embassy closure followed last Friday's shutting of US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia, just a day before a deadly car bomb attack on a housing compound in Riyadh.
The US embassy in Riyadh said it and the US consulates in Jeddah and Dharhran were to reopen tomorrow. The Riyadh attack was blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network. Bin Laden lived for a time in Sudan.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir's government has been trying to shed its Islamic militant image and improve relations with Washington, which since 1993 has maintained Khartoum on a list of states alleged to support terrorism.
FOX NEWS.com (AP): "LOST RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL RAISES DIRTY BOMB FEARS" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON - Federal investigators have documented 1,300 cases of lost, stolen or abandoned radioactive material inside the United States over the past five years and have concluded there is a significant risk that terrorists could cobble enough together for a dirty bomb.) (November 10, 2003) (Read More...)
BBC NEWS: "PHILIPPINES 'BIO-TERROR' FEAR" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The materials were discovered when security forces raided a building in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato on Sunday. They were searching for members of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) - a group of militant Muslims in South East Asia thought to have connections with al-Qaeda. No arrests were made, but up to eight people are thought to have fled before police arrived. Several canisters of unidentified chemicals were retrieved from the building, along with bomb making materials.") (October 20, 2003) (Read More...)
CBS NEWS.com: "IS AL QAEDA MAKING ANTHRAX?" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "According to the interrogation documents, Hambali told his U.S. interrogators he had been "working on an Al Qaeda Anthrax program in Kandahar," Afghanistan. There he worked with a man named Yazid Sufaat, a fellow member of the al Qaeda affiliated terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. Sufaat had received a degree in chemistry and laboratory science from California State University in Sacramento. But in October 2001, when things became too hot during the U.S. bombing campaign of Afghanistan, Hambali and Sufaat fled to safety in neighboring Pakistan. There again according to the interrogation reports, the two men discussed "continuing the anthrax program in Indonesia." In fact the men did return to the Far East and Yazid Sufaat was arrested as he tried to enter his native Malaysia.") (October 9, 2003) (Read More...)TAJIKISTAN ONLINE FORUM: "ANALYSIS: THE CLERGY'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM" by Roozbeh Farahanipour -"Posted by SadeghSaleh on September 28, 2003" (Read More) (Url down)
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