Somalis Very Concerned at Reports of US-UK Strike Plans Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [Apparently the Brits are the shock troops in this war. When the Special Forces ran into a mess in their first made-for-TV raid, the US Army went running to the Brits asking for "all" their SAS forces. The US military has very bad memories of its recent encounters in Somalia, so the Brits are being asked to prepare the next targets.] source - "Marpessa Kupendua" UK Telegraph - Dec 2, 2001 Britain asked to prepare strikes against terror bases in Somalia By Robert Fox and Jessica Berry BRITAIN has been asked by America to help prepare military strikes against Somalia in the next phase of the global campaign against Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network. President Bush indicated last week that Somalia, Yemen and Sudan were likely to be the next targets in the war on terrorism because of their links to al-Qa'eda. A team of senior British military officers who visited US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, last week was asked to prepare the strategy for attacks on sites in Somalia. They have returned to London to discuss the plan with MoD ministers. The request was made as it emerged that Saddam Hussein is funding a number of terrorist training camps in Somalia used by a militant Islamic group with close ties to al-Qa'eda. According to Iraqi dissident groups based in London, Saddam has agreed to provide funding, training and equipment to the Somali Islamic group al-Itihaad al-Islamiya in return for assistance from the Somali authorities in avoiding United Nations sanctions. Mr Bush placed al-Itihaad on his list of outlawed terrorist groups after the September 11 incident. Bin Laden's network is known to have several training camps in southern Somalia and it has been rumoured that he would seek sanctuary in Somalia if forced to flee Afghanistan. Western intelligence agencies have said that members of al-Itihaad have been trained at al-Qa'eda camps and are suspected of involvement in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Pentagon officials have confirmed that American naval ships have been stationed just off the Somali coast to prevent bin Laden from trying to enter by sea. (c) Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2001. * originally from soa1@juno.com BBC - 4 December 2001 Somalis worried at reports of US strikes By the BBC's Africa Analyst Elizabeth Blunt The United States has said that its war against terrorism would not end in Afghanistan but will be pursued against its enemies wherever they are. This has raised alarm in Somalia where the US has frozen the funds of the main remittance bank for suspected links with al-Qaeda and where people fear they may be the next on the American hit list. Somalia may still be a patchwork of feuding factions, but when a BBC team visited Mogadishu last week it found everyone united in asserting that there were no terrorist training camps in the country and that any American attack would be a great mistake. Osman Ali Atto, one of the warlords holding part of the capital, said: "I don't believe the Americans would be so irresponsible. Where is the terrorist? You show me one. If there are, they are very few, not anything that can scare the Americans off." But the fear is real. Discreet departure Reports from Mogadishu talk about people leaving town - anyone who has ever had anything to do with al-Qaeda or associated groups is discreetly arranging to be elsewhere. Some contacts undoubtedly exist. Like-minded Islamic radical groups - the one most frequently mentioned is al-Ittihad - are believed to have received financial support from outside. Various projects in Somalia have benefited from Islamic charities, some of whom have links with al-Qaeda. But al-Ittihad has fragmented and is no longer the force it was. The most worrying accusation is that al-Qaeda runs training camps in Somalia, perhaps in the very disturbed area near the Kenyan border where it is difficult for most Somalis, and impossible for foreigners, to know what is going on. Dubious claims One of the outsiders best placed to assess the truth of the allegations is David Stephen, the UN secretary general's special representative for Somalia - and he is dubious. "Somalia has been off the political map of the world for some time. Very few diplomats have visited Somalia, very few governments have up to date reports, and in this vacuum a lot of rumours can get around," he says. Mr Stephen adds: "I can't comment on the specific rumours - all I will say is that there is a lot of speculation. No one has come up with evidence which I have found convincing that there are, for example, terrorist camps in Somalia." He warns that Somalis are so poor and so frustrated that American intervention could provoke the kind of militant action the United States is fighting. This is an idea which also haunts Somalia's interim president, Dr Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. Counter-productive "It will be a mistake of great proportions. Of course the reaction will be negative. It will be a breeding ground for all sorts of terrorists, who may pretend to defend the state and come to Somalia after that intervention." "They are not present right now, but they may say that they are coming to help their brothers in Somalia," Mr Stephen says. President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan is a worried man, whose control of Somali territory is already fragile, and who now faces the worrying prospect of becoming America's next target. * HEAR SOMALIS IN BOSTON SPEAK OUT on DRUMBEAT with Brother Minister Ahmad on WRBB 104.9 FM in BOSTON, MA USA SUNDAY DECEMBER 9, 2001 10 AM EST USA on line at: http://www.wrbb.neu.edu (limited capacity - tune in early) [In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. 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