EUCOM Deputy: Al Qaeda 'Has An Interest In North Africa'

Al Qaeda operatives flushed out of Afghanistan and other locales have likely cast their eyes on the continent of Africa as a source for new recruits and funding, a senior U.S. military officer said March 8.

"There has, without a doubt, been some al Qaeda presence in portions of North Africa," Air Force Gen. Charles F. Wald told reporters during a roundtable discussion at the State Department's Foreign Press Center here.

Wald, the deputy commander for U.S. European Command, noted to reporters he'd recently returned from an 11-nation trip to Africa. EUCOM's area of responsibility extends from the North Cape of Norway, through the waters of the Baltic and Mediterranean seas, most of Europe, parts of the Middle East, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Wald pointed to Algeria as a potential terrorist hot spot, noting that that nation has been fighting terrorist insurgents for years.

For example, he related that an Algerian terrorist group had announced about four months ago that it was associated with al Qaeda. "Now, whether al Qaeda has agreed to that or not, we don't know," Wald remarked. But, he pointed out, the Algerian group "made the statement they want to be associated with al Qaeda."

Successful U.S.-coalition military, financial and other campaigns waged against al Qaeda have taken their toll, Wald pointed out, noting the terrorist network "has been disrupted quite a bit."

"They're not gone. We know that," the four-star general acknowledged. "But," he added, "it's been more difficult for them to operate."

Having been kicked out of previous havens like Afghanistan, Wald said al Qaeda is probably marketing itself to disaffected elements in the world community – to include those in Africa.

"They're out franchising different organizations" to help them bolster their numbers, Wald pointed out.

Al Qaeda, Wald said, also has an interest in other parts of Africa. Some West African nations, he pointed out, have limited ability to govern isolated areas, or to monitor and stop gun-running and drug and people trafficking. Profits derived from those illicit activities, he noted, can be used to fund terrorist organizations. The terror organization also has been interested in African diamond smuggling "as a funding source," the general noted.

Wald said Al Qaeda is simply looking "for other places that are conducive for them to operate in." North Africa is a huge area that's very difficult to control militarily, he pointed out, noting the United States -- in partnership with its African allies -- can "help with that."

They are also still looking at SE Asia

Asia faces new threat from JI splinter groups
New groups are more violent, favouring attacks on Christian, Western or govt targets

JAKARTA - Malaysian and Indonesian security agencies have foiled a planned suicide bomb attack on Indonesia's national police headquarters and uncovered new Islamic militant groups linked to the Jemaah Islamiah (JI), South-east Asia's main terrorist network.

The breakthrough came in December, when Malaysian marine police intercepted a small boat off Sabah and detained eight suspected militants, Asia-based intelligence officials told the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Under interrogation last month, one of them, an Indonesian named Ahmad Said Maulana, said he was involved in a plot to drive an explosives-laden vehicle into the national police headquarters in Jakarta, said officials.

The attack was planned for early July to coincide with Indonesia's national police day celebrations, the Journal reported.

Ahmad, now in custody in Malaysia, told his interrogators that he was a member of a previously unknown radical group called Republik Persatuan Islam Indonesia.

According to investigators, he said he had just completed training in bomb-making techniques at a clandestine camp in Mindanao, the site of a long-running Muslim rebellion in the southern Philippines.

The episode indicates that the Al-Qaeda-linked JI is breaking into smaller independent - and perhaps more bellicose - splinter groups.

'If this guy wasn't caught, the attack would have taken place and we would have quickly jumped to the conclusion that it was Jemaah Islamiah,' said a senior Asian intelligence official familiar with the investigation.

This new dimension of South-east Asia's terrorist threat was highlighted last month in a report by Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) on recent clashes between Muslims and Christians in remote areas of Indonesia.

While the creation of an Islamic state uniting Muslim South-east Asia remains an ultimate goal for the region's militant groups, JI and the smaller Indonesia-based splinter groups differ in strategy.

The ICG suggested that most JI members favour the long-term strategy of building a mass base through the widespread preaching of Islamic militancy.

But the newer, smaller groups are more inclined to favour violent attacks on Christian, Western or government targets as prescribed by Al-Qaeda's 1998 fatwa, or religious decree, encouraging attacks on Western targets.

Apart from Republik Persatuan Islam Indonesia, Indonesian security agencies are also monitoring the activities of another JI offshoot called Batalion Abu Bakar.

'Our initial findings show that these two groups are more dangerous than Jemaah Islamiah, so the likelihood of scattered attacks in Indonesia is there,' said a senior Indonesian intelligence official.

Officials said members of the splinter organisations receive their training and arms from Philippine Muslim rebel groups in Mindanao.

Several of the suspected terrorists detained in December said they trained in a camp in Maguindanao, a rugged region on the west coast of Mindanao.

The camp, they said, was operated by militants linked to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is seeking Mindanao's independence from the Philippines.

The MILF is currently engaged in Malaysia-brokered peace talks with the Philippine government, which has stressed that such talks would fail if the group refuses to support its anti-terror drive.

Yesterday, the Philippines also said it will send police teams to Malaysia and Indonesia to interrogate detained JI members about allegations that they trained with Filipino guerillas.

'We are banking on its (the MILF's) commitment to help the government in the anti-terrorism drive, which both sides consider indispensable to the pursuit of long-lasting peace,' AFP quoted presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye as saying.

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