Posted on 11/15/2006 6:59:27 PM PST by blam
Visitor puts Pacific nation on terrorism alert
Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 1:40am GMT 16/11/2006
An unlikely new front has opened up on the war on terrorism — the scattered South Pacific archipelago of Kiribati, one of the world's smallest nations.
United States authorities are alarmed over a plan by a German citizen, linked to the September 11 terrorist attacks, to build a flying school on one of the former British colony's outlying islands.
Wolfgang Bohringer has been linked to Mohammed Atta, the mastermind of the attacks on America in 2001. Mr Bohringer arrived in Kiribati (pronounced "Kiribas") a year ago with plans to build a flight school, but has since left, his whereabouts unknown and his intention a mystery.
Speaking about the issue for the first time, President Anote Tong of Kiribati said he was suspicious of Mr Bohringer's plan.
"We received information that maybe there was a little more to the proposal than there might appear to be," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr Bohringer had set his sights on Fanning Island which, even by the standards of far-flung Kiribati, is remote. Although only 13 square miles in size and home to 600 people, Fanning has the advantage of being one of the nearest territories to Hawaii, 1,200 miles away.
It is also close to a string of obscure American possessions. However, none of them hosts a military base and several are little-visited wildlife refuges.
President Tong said FBI agents told him they were suspicious of Mr Bohringer and warned him that nations as small as Kiribati, which comprises 33 atolls over 1.4 million square miles of ocean, could be exploited by terrorists. "It demonstrates how vulnerable small countries can be," he said. "It's made us a lot more alert."
Bill Paupe, who runs an aviation business in Honolulu and is Kiribati's consul in the United States, said: "A rationale for setting up a private training school in such a location would be to get beyond the reach of regulatory agencies."
Interesting find, bud...............FRegards
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