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2005-07-26 Britain
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Search for bombers centres on East Africa connection
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IMMIGRATION officials are urgently checking the records of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers from East Africa in their search for the bombers. | Bombing, it's not just for Pakistanis |
Police believe the men have been living in Britain for some time and were not smuggled into the country just ahead of their attempted suicide attacks. They are believed to have family here as well as links with the the substantial Somali, Kenyan and Ethiopian communities living around London. Appeals have been made to East African community leaders in the capital to help police in Britainâs biggest manhunt.
Until now Islamic militants from East Africa have not been heavily involved in terror cells in Western capitals. | North Africans, however... |
Intelligence agencies have, however, long suspected that âsleeper cellsâ from the region could be in Britain awaiting their orders.
Scotland Yard is anxious not to antagonise the law-abiding communities but point out that the men could have taken advantage of the regular humanitarian crises and conflicts from their home countries like Somalia and Ethiopia to claim refugee status in the West. Home Office figures show that 45,815 Somalians â minus dependents â applied for asylum in Britain between 1993 and 2004. Of these, 30,875 were given asylum or allowed to stay on humanitarian grounds.
Immigration authorities say 4,635 Ethiopians applied for refugee status of whom 690 were given asylum. Failed asylum-seekers are not sent back to the two countries because of the violence and upheaval there. The Home Office says 6,010 Kenyans applied for asylum, of whom 440 were given asylum or allowed to stay. There are no figures for how many of those refused asylum have been returned home.
Western intelligence agencies have given warning of a new generation of terror camps being set up by Islamic militant groups in the region. The FBI describe the porous borders of East Africa as âthe weakest linkâ in their war on terror. US agents say they have new evidence that militant groups with links to al-Qaeda have set up bases in lawless pockets of Somalia and Ethiopia, and smuggled their trained recruits in an out of Kenya. Islamic militants have been responsible for a succession of attacks in Africa, including the bombing of tourist hotels and embassies. One group, who are still on the run, almost shot down an Israeli charter jet in a rocket attack in Mombasa in 2002. | They have been too quiet, I've been expecting a boom from them for some time. |
A team of United Nations investigators, monitoring an arms embargo on Sudan in March, obtained photographic evidence of what they called 17 âmobile training centresâ found in Kenya. They were set up by two militant groups â al-Ittihad al-Islam and al-Takfir Wâal Hijra, which both have close links with some of al-Qaedaâs organisers in this region. The organisers of the new camps are said to be veterans of training camps in Afghanistan.
The UN investigators said that the groups had set up their camps along the Kenyan coastal strip and North Eastern province. Supporters of Osama bin Laden have long used the region as a sanctuary. Terror groups sponsored by al-Qaeda set up bases in 1996 in Lamu and Ras Kiamboni, along the Kenya-Somalia border. They were closed down and the groups moved on after al-Qaeda staged its first major synchronised attack in 1998 when suicide truck bombers drove into the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people. The attacks were directly sanctioned by Osama bin Laden, who allegedly ordered his emissaries in London to announce the attacks. The al-Qaeda leader established his base in Sudan in 1991 and financed terror camps in Somalia for attacks on US servicemen stationed there.
In 2002 a gang of Islamic militants attacked an Israeli hotel in Mombasa, killing 15 people. Hours later members of the same group attempted to blow up the Israeli holiday jet flying tourists home from that same hotel. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, born in the Comores off the African coast, is accused of organising both embassy attacks and the 2002 bombings, but is still a fugitive. Seven Kenyan suspects arrested after the hotel attack were acquitted last month. Airlines, including British Airways, have cancelled flights from Kenya after fears that terror groups would attempt another missile strike against a passenger jet. The US commander of the Combined Joint Task Force, a counter-terrorism force based in Djibouti, gave warning in May that Somalia was a safe haven for East African terrorist cells. The International Crisis Group echoed this is a report two weeks ago. | "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." |
It said a new cell with links to al-Qaeda had gained a foothold in the capital, Mogadishu. Intelligence officials say that terror groups also have bases in Somalia at Puntland, Kismayu and Bossassu, while in Ethiopia they operate from Ogadiena and Gedo.
GUIDE TO THE TROUBLE SPOTS
SOMALIA
The East African country, which borders Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti, has been riven with violence since it was created from British and Italian colonies in 1960. The country, dominated by Sunni Muslims, is governed by two rival administrations that arm and fund warlords blamed for terrorising local people. Many Somalian asylum-seekers claim to have come from the south of the country that has been a lawless warzone for many years
KENYA
Kenya has remained remarkably stable since independence from Britain in 1963. In December 2002 Kenyans held democratic elections, judged free and fair. However, some Islamist groups have complained that Muslims, who make up 10 per cent of the population, have been unfairly treated by the Kenyan Government
ETHIOPIA
Africaâs oldest independent country, colonised by the Italian fascists between 1936 and 1941, is also one of its poorest. Opposition parties have continually complained of political oppression, widespread corruption and fixed elections since independence. In May allegations of fraud from opposition leaders caused demonstrations in the capital and at least 36 people were killed by the police. The Government continues to dispute its borders with the Eritrean Government, a dispute that sparked a war in 1998
ERITREA
After securing its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, the Eritrean Government announced that it would move towards a parliamentary democracy. Instead, it has become a one-party state, according to political observers. In May 2004 Amnesty International called on the Government to stop torture and free all political prisoners and described the oppression of political opponents as âappallingâ. The Human Rights Watch World Report described the country as a âhighly repressive stateâ 
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Posted by Steve 2005-07-26 08:53||
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Posted by BigEd 2005-07-26 15:18||
2005-07-26 15:18||
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