Military

DATE=11/27/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AFGHAN/INTERCEPT/SOMALIA (L-Update)

NUMBER=2-283597

BYLINE=ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE=PENTAGON

CONTENT=

/// EDS: Recasts and updates CR 2-283583 ///

INTRO: U-S defense officials say new attention is being focused on Somalia as a possible destination for al-Qaida terrorists fleeing Afghanistan. More from V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida.

TEXT: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld does not mince his words when it comes to linking the al-Qaida terrorist network to Somalia.

/// RUMSFELD ACTUALITY ///

Somalia has been a place that has harbored al-Qaida, and to my knowledge still is.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Other Pentagon officials say terrorist training camps still exist in Somalia, and they express fears al-Qaida terrorist leaders may try to flee there from Afghanistan.

There are reports U-S and allied ships as well as reconnaissance aircraft have been patrolling the seas and skies over Somalia in recent days.

The Pentagon will not comment on the reports. But one senior defense official tells V-O-A that, because of Somalia's terrorist links, it would be, in the official's words, "prudent for us to watch closely."

Army four-star General Tommy Franks is the commander of the U-S Central Command and the man in charge of the military operation now under way in Afghanistan. He voices confidence any al-Qaida leaders who manage to get out of Afghanistan will ultimately be tracked down, whether in Somalia or elsewhere.

/// FRANKS ACTUALITY ///

There is no place to go. There is no place to hide. If this leadership does come from Afghanistan, it's simply a matter of continuing [the search] wherever they go until we find them, which we surely will.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

Somalia's links to terrorism date back to the U-S and United Nations humanitarian intervention there in the early 1990's.

At that time, Mohamed Atef, a top al-Qaida official believed killed in a recent U-S bomb attack in Afghanistan, is suspected of having provided training and military assistance to Somali gunmen opposed to the intervention.

More recently, Somali businessmen and firms have been suspected of funneling assets to al-Qaida.

Somalia has been without a fully-functioning national government for a decade.

/// REST OPTIONAL ///

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials say an undisclosed number of vessels suspected of transporting fleeing al-Qaida terrorists have been intercepted off the coast of Pakistan in recent days and queried about their ports of origin, destinations and cargoes.

But so far, the officials tell V-O-A, none of the vessels has been boarded, and all were allowed to continue their journeys --- apparently because coalition authorities determined there was no valid reason to stop the ships for detailed searches. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/TW