Al Qaeda ‘planning Africa expansion’

THERE is mounting evidence that the African continent will become the next Al Qaeda hotbed as the militant group seeks to expand its global operations, a senior expert on terrorism said.

“Al Qaeda would logically look for Africa,” Peter Pham, director of the Virginia-based think-tank the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs, told Reuters.

Speaking on Wednesday night at a security conference in Johannesburg, Pham cited Africa’s weak governments, large Muslim communities, rampant poverty and proximity to the Middle East as factors that could make the continent a target.

“It’s a natural base of (Al Qaeda) operation,” Pham said.

The two-day conference on “Combating and Preventing Terrorism in Africa” was held as senior defence officials in Washington said the Pentagon was considering the creation of a new military command responsible for Africa.

They said the idea was being considered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld but no decision had been made.

Responsibility for Africa is divided among three US military regions: European Command, Central Command and Pacific Command.

A Pentagon official said a separate Africa command would not mean putting US troops in Africa but would “streamline the focus and give appropriate undivided attention to the continent.”

Africa has witnessed a number of attacks, notably the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people, and the 2002 suicide attack on a tourist hotel in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa that killed 16. Al Qaeda was suspected in both cases.

The African Union set up the African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism in Algeria last year, acknowledging that international terrorism had come to constitute a serious threat to peace in Africa.

Beyond the immediate goals of dealing with active terror groups, there were calls at the conference for more aid for economic growth and democracy.

Counter-terrorism efforts in Africa have been criticised in the past by domestic opponents who say repressive governments have taken advantage of US President George Bush’s “War on Terror” to solicit western aid and clamp down on freedoms.