Cornell University statement on Nick E. Berg
All members of the Cornell University community are shocked and saddened by the devastating news of the death of Nick Evan Berg, who was a student here for two and a half years.
Nick enrolled as a freshman student in the College of Engineering at Cornell in the Fall of 1996. He spent the Spring 1998 semester in Uganda through Cornell's Study Abroad Program. He took a voluntary leave of absence from the university after completing the Fall 1998 semester.
Nick Berg is remembered by his professors and classmates at Cornell as an excellent student who made the Dean's List every semester that he studied here. His adventuresome nature took him to Uganda, where he studied development issues. He was a serious, caring individual who expressed the desire to help people and have a positive influence in the world.
We extend our deepest condolences to the Berg family and to Nick's many friends and colleagues during these difficult days.
- "Can Uganda Handle Terrorism?," OPINION, by Joshua Kato, Kampala, New Vision (Kampala), May 22, 2003 ,Posted to the web May 23, 2003
1996 : (UGANDA : FORMATION OF ADF) [snip] The formation of the Allied Democratic Forces [* My note : this group is allied with Iraq] in 1996 gave the al-Qaeda a better ally. Several ADF commanders were taken for training in the Sudan and Afghanistan, while several junior ones were trained in the Nairobi cell. This group included Jamil Mukulu, the de facto leader of ADF and one Rashid Kawaawa, currently on remand. "We have information that most of the bombers were trained in al-Qaeda cells in Afghanistan, the Sudan and even Iraq.
We have information that these people planned to kill as many people as possible and try and create a cell here in Uganda," Mayombo says. Documents recovered from Iraq and Afghanistan after both wars qualify Mayombo's statements. The "martyrs", as they are known, were supposed to come back and cause serious havoc in the country. They were supposed to organise and develop the local al-Quaeda. But because they lacked the zeal of their Arab mentors and trainers, Rashid Kawaawa and his group turned to using small time bombs, rather than blow themselves up in suicide attacks. None of them was willing to commit "martyrdom" as their Arab mentors do.
Worthy noting however is that the funding of the operations was guaranteed from al-Quaeda and supporting nations like Iraq and the Taliban of Afghanistan. To them, the ADF was an organisation fighting for the right to Islam.
A few Arabs tried to come to Uganda to reinforce members of the local cells, but did not succeed mainly because Uganda was in a state of war and intelligence was very vigilant. Secondly, since Uganda has a very small Arab population, people bent on causing havoc could easily be identified and arrested. Actually, the Ugandan cell, led by the likes of Rashid Kawaawa was supposed to co-ordinate ADF rebels to stage an attack similar to the one in Nairobi and Tanzania in 1998.
However, intelligence got wind of these moves. Rather than coming, getting arrested and exposed, they chose to back off and wait for some future openings. Otherwise, August 1998 would have been a disastrous month.
Intelligence believes that the various bomb attacks around the country, were carried out just for accountability purposes to the Arab masters, after big hits on Western installations in Kampala had failed.
After the arrest of most of the group leaders, plans for a cell went dormant. It is not clear whether the terrorists are trying to reactivate the old cell, or are using new people. "We have identified several people and we are following them up," he said. He does not give any names. The increased threat is a result of intelligence reports that a wanted terrorist was seen in the region. The terrorist, Fazul Abdalla was recently seem in Somalia, a country that has got one of the largest cells in the horn of Africa. Fazul is accused of master minding the attacks on the two embassies in Nairobi and Tanzania in 1998.
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