| The United States has dispatched an anti-terror team to West Africa, after receiving information of threats against American interests in Mauritania and Senegal. The anti-terror team will help the region’s governments guard desert borders against Islamic extremists. U.S. officials have long worried that little-policed frontiers of West Africa’s Sahara would serve as crossing points for armed Muslim extremist groups, including an Algeria-based movement linked to al Qaeda and what American experts say are al Qaeda cells already in-place in the region. Pamela Bridgewater, a deputy U.S. undersecretary of state for Africa, told reporters in Noaukchott, Mauritania’s capital Sunday "there are indications of such threats" against Americans in Mauritania and in Senegal, Mauritania’s southern neighbor. Bridgewater declined to elaborate, saying, "The question is very sensitive." Bridgewater said the American anti-terror team arrived Saturday in Mauritania, and would work with the Mauritanian army for about a week. The U.S. squad aimed to "reinforce their capabilities in the line of guarding the borders against terrorist groups," she said. "Other specialized teams are expected in the region in coming months," the diplomat said. The United States has targeted the governments of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad for help combating terrorist groups. |