** SITREPS **
Rizla Ranger UK
The ex-wife of former South African President FW de Klerk has been brutally
murdered in her luxury Cape Town flat.
Marike de Klerk, 64, was stabbed and strangled, the police said after an autopsy
on Wednesday.
Her body was found on Tuesday after she failed to keep a hairdresser's
appointment.
At the time, police refused to speculate on the cause of death.
Mrs de Klerk becomes the latest high-profile victim of the country's high crime
wave.
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 4, 2001
Although the army said it could not yet give an accurate casualty figure in its
drive to flush out rebels from a forest near the capital, Bujumbura, news
organisations have reported at least 100 rebels and 30 government troops killed
since the operation began nine days ago.
The numbers of wounded soldiers has overwhelmed local hospitals, Associated
Press reported on Monday. However, army spokesman Col. Augustin Nzabampema told
IRIN on Tuesday that the government would only give the casualty figures at the
end of the army operation against the Front national de liberation (FNL)
fighters holding up in the Tenga Forest, some 20 km north of the capital.
"We will finish [the job] soon," he said.
There are no civilians in the area of operation, he added, which started on 26
November. Troops have frequently dislodged FNL fighters from Tenga but have not
occupied the zone, AFP reported. The Hutu rebels have been fighting the
predominantly Tutsi army since the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye
in 1993. However, the FNL has stepped up its attacks since the inauguration of a
power-sharing deal on 1 November between equal numbers of Tutsis and Hutus.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 4, 2001
Badru D. Mulumba
The tensions between Uganda and Rwanda could lead to confusion in the D.R. Congo
rebel movements, RCD-Kisangani leader, Mbusa Nyamwisi told The Monitor on
Sunday.
Nyamwisi said the rebels have pleaded with both governments to solve the
conflict, which has demoralised many in the rebel ranks.
"And we want our brothers here to help us end that confusion. We have been
talking to them; we do it every day," he said. "We have so many problems in the
Great Lakes region. Our duty is to help cool down tensions because at the end of
day all of us would lose and become a shame to Africa."
Uganda backs two rebel factions; that of RCD-Kisangani, led by Mbusa Nyamwisi
who overthrew Prof. Ernest Wamba dia Wamba on Nov.22 and Jean Pierre Bemba's
Congolese Liberation Movement (CLM), while Rwanda backs RCD-Goma faction.
Differences were last week reported between Uganda supported RCD-Kisangani and
the Congolese Liberation Movement (CLM), which had been cooperating with each
other for some time now.
This was after violent clashes resulted between RCD-Kisangani and the Mai Mai
militia, which reportedly displaced thousands and left at least 80 dead by mid
last week.
The Mai Mai reportedly wanted to chase Mbusa's forces from Butembo and Beni.
Mbusa also described the information that he had been assassinated in DR-Congo
as the work of his opponents, although he conceded that there was confusion
arising from the ambush and assassination of his Chief of Staff, one Baptiste
Mbutsi. Mbutsi was reportedly gunned down in Kirumba, 20 km from Kanyabayongo.
"As you know I am alive. I [even] have no malaria, but on Nov. 27 one of our big
commanders entered into an ambush of the Interahamwe. It is Col. Mbutsi and we
buried him on Friday in Benni."
He blamed the clashes on the Mai Mai militia.
"We are trying to clean our area because we don't want our area to become their
[Interahamwe] residence. We want them to go to the UN and discuss with their
Rwandan counterparts," he said.
"The Interahamwe is a factor in these clashes. Negative forces are there; we as
Congolese, we want our country to become peaceful and we will fight for that,"
he said.
"We want our country to progress. For that we are ready to pay the price because
if chaos remains, you too (Uganda) and Rwanda would get problems," he added.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 4, 2001
Xavier Koluo
A drunken soldier shot dead three Local Defence Unit men and injured four others
at Malera detach in Kumi district last week.
The commanding officer of X-Ray Battalion in Malera, Major Juma Bukenya
confirmed the incident at the burial of the three fallen combatants in a message
read for him by the battalion political commissioner, Lt. Mugisha Naboth.
Mugisha said Joseph Okedi, James Okiria and Stephen Opolot were killed by
Justine Esikeit who sprayed 30 bullets on a group of soldiers.
Esideit was arrested and taken to Mbale Military Police Barracks pending court
martial. Mugisha assured mourners the law will take its course.
The culprit is reportedly a deserter of the Uganda People's Defence Forces based
in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
+ + + +
allAfrica.com
December 4, 2001
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Accra, Ghana
Three days of violent tribal clashes in northeastern Ghana, which erupted on
Sunday, have left an unconfirmed number of people dead and dozens injured. A
night-time curfew is in force in the town of Bawku, in the Upper East region of
northern Ghana, where the violence flared.
Earlier, the government reported that 18 people had been killed, but local
journalists predicted that the true figure would be considerably higher, between
40 and 50.
Security reinforcements and armoured vehicles were dispatched to Bawku, although
police said, Tuesday, the situation was now under control. Others reported an
uneasy, but volatile calm, with sporadic clashes in villages outside Bawku; many
fear more violence.
Up to 150 people were injured in the renewed clashes between members of the
Kusasi and the Mamprusi communities in the Bawku area. There is no love lost
between the two northern tribes. Rivalry between them is legendary and
longstanding, including many instances of armed violence.
As well as lives being lost, buildings and vehicles were destroyed. Witnesses
reported that armed youths, from both ethnic groups, rampaged through town,
mounting barricades and road blocks and setting fire to cars, stores and homes.
Up to five thousand people were forced to flee from Bawku. It is thought that
some of those trying to escape were caught in the crossfire and killed.
Echoing a trend in other ethnic disputes in northern Ghana, a disagreement
between a young Kusasi and a Mamprusi is reported to have led to an argument.
After the row, a kiosk belonging to a Mamprusi was burnt down and then, in
retaliation, a carpentry shop belonging to a Kusasi was torched, triggering the
current escalation of violence.
A police spokesperson said the original argument occurred over lottery sales,
and described the subsequent attacks as "indiscriminate".
Police arrested a number of people who they said had "fired gunshots, extorted
money, vandalised and assaulted people mercilessly."
Another version of events said the two men had disagreed over Osama bin Laden,
the Saudi dissident suspected of terrorism by the United States.
Ghana state radio reported that the violence intensified after a group of
Mamprusi ambushed some Kusasi youths, killing four, which led to a reprisal
attack.
A year ago, during the presidential and parliamentary elections that led to a
new political era in Ghana, at least 30 people were killed in Bawku in clashes
between the two rival tribes.
The Mamprusi are known to support the New Patriotic Party of President John
Agyekum Kufuor, who won the December 2000 poll. The Kusasi generally favour the
National Democratic Congress party of the former president, Jerry Rawlings.
Rawlings bowed out of national leadership in January after two decades in power.
Bawku has a population of 100,000 and is 880km north of the Ghanaian capital,
Accra.
+ + + +
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
December 4, 2001
Bethwel Kaino
Irate youths in Marakwet District on Sunday evening broke into a boarding
primary school and ejected girls who were camping there after fleeing forced
circumcision.
The youths who were armed with machetes, knives, sticks and stones destroyed a
fence belonging to Chugor Primary School and entered the compound to beat the
girls. They broke all the dining hall window panes before entering the hall.
Two pastors and an assistant chief were seriously injured and were admitted to
Chesongoch and Chugor health centres.
Twenty-two other church faithful sustained minor injuries as the girls jumped
through the windows and fled to Mogil Police Station, about eight kilometres
away.
The more than 80 girls had earlier pleaded with the provincial administration to
bar their parents from forcing them to undergo circumcision.
Leaders in the area led by Councillor Richard Sulii asked the Government to take
stern action against the youths.
+ + + +
The Geography of a woman:
Between the ages of 15 - 18 a woman is like China or
Iran. Developing at a sizzling rate with a lot of potential but as
yet still not free or open.
Between the ages of 18 - 21 a woman is like
Africa or Australia. She is half discovered, half wild
and naturally beautiful with bushland around
the fertile deltas.
Between the ages of 21 - 30 a woman is like America or Japan.
Completely discovered, very well developed and open to trade
especially with countries with cash or cars.
Between the ages of 30 - 35, she is like India or
Spain. Very hot, relaxed and convinced of its own
beauty.
Between the ages of 35 - 40 a woman is like France or Argentina.
She may have been half destroyed during the war but can still be a
warm and desirable place to visit.
Between the ages of 40 - 50 she is like Yugoslavia or Iraq. She
lost the war and is haunted by past mistakes. Massive reconstruction
is now necessary.
Between the ages of 50 - 60 she is like Russia or
Canada. Very wide, quiet and the borders are
practically unpatrolled but the frigid climate keeps people away.
Between the ages of 60 - 70 a woman is like England or Mongolia.
With a glorious and all conquering past but alas no future.
After 70, they become like Afghanistan. Everyone knows where it
is, but there's no fookin' way you're going to go there.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
The defence ministry in Nepal has confirmed that some 200 Maoist rebels were
killed in last week's clashes with the security forces in the north-eastern hill
district of Solkhumbu.
A BBC correspondent in Nepal says there had been some confusion about the rebel
casualties in the incident.
About 40 members of the security forces and the local administration were also
killed.
There has been no word from the rebels.
In the capital, Kathmandu, three people have been arrested in connection with a
bomb explosion on Monday, which killed two people.
No group has admitted carrying out the attack; but police suspect it's the work
of Maoist rebels.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
AN INTRIGUING new book, just published in France, details the curiously amicable
relationship between the regime of U.S. President George W. Bush and
Afghanistan's Taliban, a relationship that turned hostile only after the terror
attacks of Sept. 11.
Ben Laden: La Verité Interdite (Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth) is written by
former French spook Jean-Charles Brisard and journalist Guillaume Dasquie. Both
are said to be plugged into the murky world of intelligence. During his time
with French intelligence, Brisard was regarded as something of an expert on bin
Laden's finances.
The nub of their argument is that the Bush regime's attitude toward the Taliban
- and even to bin Laden - was driven by the new president's fixation on energy.
A stable regime in Afghanistan would allow construction of an oil and gas
pipeline from the former Soviet republics in Central Asia to Pakistan and the
sea. And initially, Washington's best bet for a stable regime in Afghanistan was
the Taliban.
From February, when the Taliban first offered to extradite bin Laden in exchange
for U.S. recognition, until August when negotiations stalled, the Bush
administration and the government it later labelled a terrorist regime got along
just fine.
Indeed, the book quotes John O'Neill, a former director of anti-terrorism for
the Federal Bureau of Investigation as complaining that American and Saudi oil
interests acting through the U.S. State Department kept interfering with efforts
to track down bin Laden.
In particular, the authors say, O'Neill was irked after the State Department
refused to let his FBI team return to Yemen to investigate the terrorist bombing
of the USS Cole there last year. Frustrated, he quit to take a private sector
job. Unfortunately for him, that job was as head of security in New York's World
Trade Center. O'Neill was killed on Sept. 11.
Skeptics might argue that his death proved convenient for the authors. Now there
is no one to dispute their account of what he said. Certainly, Bin Laden: The
Forbidden Truth has the whiff of an old-fashioned conspiracy theory starring the
usual panoply of villains.
Still, the details that Brisard and Dasquie provide (including the fact that the
Taliban hired the niece of former CIA director Richard Helms to orchestrate
their publicity) do not contradict what was already known about the relationship
between Washington and its soon-to-be arch-enemy. In fact, they support it.
Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid's well-regarded book Taliban: Islam, Oil And
The New Great Game in Central Asia outlines how oil politics has affected U.S.
policy in Afghanistan. The Taliban's unprecedented offer to extradite bin Laden
to a third country, well before the Sept. 11 attacks, was reported by the Times
of London in February. In September, this newspaper reported on the often cozy
relationship between Washington and the Taliban.
Last month, the Washington Post reported that Sudan had offered in 1996 to
extradite bin Laden, who was wanted at that time for attacks on U.S. servicemen
in Saudi Arabia.
However, the U.S. declined that offer. Instead, it agreed with Sudan's decision
to deport bin Laden and his entourage to a place where he couldn't do any damage
- Afghanistan. The official reason for U.S. reluctance was that it wasn't sure a
case against him could stand up in court. Saudi Arabia, the other extradition
destination proposed by the Sudanese, refused to take him
But there is a pattern. Earlier this month, the Guardian, a U.K. newspaper,
reported that FBI agents had been told by the Bush administration to back off
investigating members of the bin Laden clan living in the U.S. In September, the
Wall Street Journal documented the lucrative business connections between the
bin Laden family and senior U.S. Republicans, including the president's father,
George Bush Sr.
What are we to make of all of this? One possible conclusion is that the bin
Laden terror problem was allowed to get out of hand because bin Laden, himself,
had powerful protectors in both Washington and Saudi Arabia. If that's true, no
wonder the Bush administration prefers that he be killed rather than allowed to
testify in open court.
The other conclusions - questions really - have to do with the justification for
the war on Afghanistan. If the Taliban unilaterally offered in February to
extradite bin Laden (an offer they repeated after Sept. 11), were they just
kidding? If not, was the war necessary?
This question will become particularly important if the U.S. fails to find the
terrorist it says started this war, the man it allowed to go to Afghanistan in
the first place.
This weekend, Spain announced it would not extradite suspected Al Qaeda
terrorists to the U.S. as long as Bush plans to try such people in military
tribunals. We should recall that the Taliban imposed conditions on their
extradition offer, too, conditions the U.S. deemed unacceptable. Will Madrid be
the anti-terror coalition's next target?
Toronto Star
+ + + +
Internet Samizdat Releases Suppressed Voices, History
by Jeff Cohen
Days after their son Greg died in the World Trade Center terror, Phyllis and
Orlando Rodriguez wrote a letter to the New York Times that counseled against
“violent revenge, with the prospect of sons, daughters, parents, friends in
distant lands dying, suffering, and nursing further grievances against us. It is
not the way to go. It will not avenge our son’s death. Not in our son’s name.
Our son died a victim of an inhuman ideology…. Let us not as a nation add to the
inhumanity of our times.”
The New York Times didn’t publish the letter: It is just one of the crucial
items of information that have been distributed since Sept. 11 to vast numbers
of people using the Internet. Grassroots networks have used email to breach the
barricades erected by U.S. mainstream media -- much like underground samizdat
literature was passed from hand to hand in the old Soviet Union. Post-Sept. 11
samizdat ranges from interviews with Noam Chomsky to essays by Indian novelist
Arundhati Roy to frontline dispatches by Robert Fisk of the London Independent.
One of the most fascinating items of Internet samizdat is a 1998 interview with
Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor,
conducted by the French publication Le Nouvel Observateur. In the interview --
translated by author and CIA critic William Blum -- Brzezinski boasts that the
CIA was supporting guerilla activities inside Afghanistan six months before the
Soviet intervention, taking steps to “induce” the Soviets to intervene:
BRZEZINSKI: According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the
Mujaheddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded
Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is
completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed
the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in
Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained
to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military
intervention.
LNO: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps
you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
BRZEZINSKI: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene, but
we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
LNO: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they
intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in
Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of truth.
You don't regret anything today?
BRZEZINSKI: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the
effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret
it? The day the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President
Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.…
LNO: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism,
having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
BRZEZINSKI: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or
the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Muslims or the liberation of
Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Interviewed in Oct. 2001 by columnist David Corn, Brzezinski said he still had
no regrets about launching the Afghan covert operation, knowing it would likely
induce the Cold War foe to fall into a trap.
The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was indeed Vietnam-like in its brutality,
killing more than a million Afghans and helping to tear apart a country that in
1979 had relatively little religious fanaticism and was making advances in the
status of women.
In the upheaval, Afghanistan became a base for terrorists. Yet mainstream U.S.
journalists refuse to mention the Nouvel Observateur interview and fail to ask
Brzezinski obvious questions about how his Afghan policy may have helped us get
into the current crisis. Instead, mainstream media repeatedly present Brzezinski
and other former US foreign policymakers as omniscient seers whose wise counsel
can get us out of the crisis.
Network TV doesn’t ask tough questions of George Shultz, recently introduced by
a CNN anchor as “one of the most respected public servants to ever serve this
nation.” Shultz was the secretary of state in 1986 when the CIA expanded its
covert operation -- in alliance with Osama bin Laden -- recruiting and training
Islamist militants from around the world to fight in Afghanistan. In 1986, the
Gorbachev-led Soviet Union was seeking an exit from Afghanistan while the U.S.
government intensified its arming of “stirred-up Muslims.”
Clinton foreign policy chieftains Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger are
frequently served up by U.S. mass media as sages on how to respond to the Sept.
11 terror. They are obligingly not asked why they ignored their own intelligence
analysts who questioned the targeting of the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in
Sudan, which was leveled in 1998 by U.S. cruise missiles in “retaliation against
terrorism.” The plant produced much of the medicine for an impoverished country;
the U.S. struck without credible evidence that Al Shifa was linked to bin Laden
or to chemical weapons, and later blocked a United Nations probe into the
attack.
Nor has Albright been asked whether she still feels that even if sanctions
against Iraq have led to the deaths of half a million children, “the price is
worth it” -- as she said in a quote from a 1996 “60 Minutes” interview that
circulates widely on the Net. Although issues like Al Shifa and the plight of
Iraqi kids loom large in Islamic countries, they are virtually off-limits when
U.S. journalists interview policy makers, past or present.
The Internet is abuzz with reports on how U.S. coziness with the Taliban regime
in the mid-1990s was heavily influenced by the Unocal company’s plan to build a
$4.5 billion pipeline project through Afghanistan, with Taliban blessings. The
lobbyists and consultants hired by Unocal to promote closer U.S.-Taliban
relations haven’t been publicly questioned about their Unocal work by mainstream
media. They include Henry Kissinger, former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Robert
Oakley and Zalmay Khalilzad, now George W. Bush’s National Security Council
expert on Afghanistan.
A free press would be debating the issue of Washington’s relations with Islamist
extremists in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and whether such movements are bred by
U.S. policy committed to suppressing secular reformers and leftists in Islamic
countries. When the CIA funded the Afghan Mujaheddin in 1979 before the Soviet
occupation, it hoped to destabilize a secular, Soviet-friendly government
(initially led by Nur Mohammed Taraki and Hafizullah Amin), which supported land
reform and rights for women.
As a U.S. State Department memo stated at the time: “The United States’ larger
interest would be served by the demise of the Taraki-Amin regime, despite
whatever setbacks this might mean for future social and economic reforms in
Afghanistan.”
Jeff Cohen is the founder of the media watch group FAIR and a panelist on the
Fox News Channel's "News Watch" program.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
so just after we (the West) recover from the WTC attack,
'we' should really be hauling ass and puckering up in
Nova Scotia or somewhere, waiting for the inevitable
'comebacks' from the Russians when they realise that
the joke was on them, re: the last 'Afghan Trap '...
Maybe they already know something and they're
playing the joke, in reverse LMAO!
>sigh!<
+ + + +
BRZEZINSKI: It isn't quite that. We didn't push the Russians to intervene,
but
we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
LNO: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they
intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in
Afghanistan, people didn't believe them. However, there was a basis of
truth.
You don't regret anything today?
BRZEZINSKI: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had
the
effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to
regret
it? The day the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President
Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.…
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
company which runs the security protocols in all of the
UKs nuclear power stations
LOL!
stop it, you're hurting me!
This joke is sooo complex!
totally 'Tora Bora', dude!
So deep an' complex!
LOL!
+ + + +
Clinton foreign policy chieftains Madeleine Albright and Sandy Berger are
frequently served up by U.S. mass media as sages on how to respond to the
Sept.
11 terror. They are obligingly not asked why they ignored their own
intelligence
analysts who questioned the targeting of the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory
in
Sudan, which was leveled in 1998 by U.S. cruise missiles in “retaliation
against
terrorism.” The plant produced much of the medicine for an impoverished
country;
the U.S. struck without credible evidence that Al Shifa was linked to bin
Laden
or to chemical weapons, and later blocked a United Nations probe into the
attack.
+ + + +
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote in
message news:3c0e9e86$0$232$cc9e...@news.dial.pipex.com...
>
> + + + +
>
>
The really funny thing is the Russians thought they had worked out how to
win by studieing the AMericans in Nam.
:p
oh yes
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger UK
An estimated 3,000 people have fled fighting in the Nairobi slum of Kibera after
two days of clashes over rent leave at least seven dead.
The BBC's Muliro Telewa said that they were now stranded at the Kibera District
Officer's compound - the only place where they felt safe.
There was more isolated fighting on Wednesday and police spokesman Peter
Kimanthi said there had been no new casualties.
Violence flared between landlords - mainly ethnic Nubians who originate from
Sudan - and the tenants, most of whom belong to the Luo community.
Several people were hacked to death and a number of houses were torched before
police intervened with live ammunition and tear-gas to break up the
disturbances.
Reports of the number of people killed range from seven to 11. Residents blamed
most of the deaths on the Nubians.
Thirty-three people were wounded and 57 arrested, said Mr Kimanthi.
Our correspondent says that tensions between tenants and landlords were fuelled
by President Daniel arap Moi in October.
He told the tenants that they were paying too much rent because the landlords
did not own the land.
Tension rose further on Monday when the local MP, Raila Odinga, an ethnic Luo
visited the area.
"The government is the true landlord, the landlords are the tenants and tenants
are the subtenants ... the government will tell the landlords to lower the
rent," he told the thousands who had gathered to hear him.
The Nubians were settled in the Nairobi region during the colonial era but have
never been given title deeds to the land.
"We built these houses to make a living, to help us earn money,» said Adbullah
Ali, an unemployed 32-year-old Nubian. "Now we are just protecting out
properties... the government cannot come here and tell us to stop earning
money."
Some 500,000 people are estimated to live in the sprawling slum where there is
little running water and poor sanitary facilities.
Irene Ochanda, an ethnic Luo whose Nubian-owned lodgings were burnt down by a
gang of Luos on Tuesday agreed with Mr Odinga.
"This place is a slum, why should anyone pay to live here," she said.
+ + + +
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
December 5, 2001
Ivy Benson
The unpleasant and unfortunate tribal conflict that erupted at Bawku in the
Upper East Region had so far led to the arrest and detention of a total number
of 66 peoples involved in the violent act by a joint Military and Police
personnel deplored to calm down the tribal violence in the region.
At least eighteen people arrested and detained at Bolgatanga last Sunday whiles
Forty-eight people arrested and detained in Bawku the following day.
Those detained at Bolgatanga numbering 18 people were arrested on last Sunday
whiles 48 people detained in Bawku were arrest the following day when the
violence intensified.
The violence, which erupted last Friday in which 18 people were feared dead, and
21 people wounded resulted in the destruction of properties worth millions of
cedis.
The properties destroyed include a number of kiosks and stores and over thirty
houses.
Presenting a statement in Parliament on the conflict situation yesterday, the
Minister for Interior, Hon. Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu asserted that, the
immediate cause of the fighting in the Bawku area was due to a kiosk, situated
near the Blue-Cross Guest House on the Bawku-Missiga Road belonging to a
Mamprussi allegedly burnt down by some Kussasis.
Subsequently, the Minister said the suspect was arrested but later released on
bail.
On a retaliatory action allegedly staged by some Mamprussis, the Interior
Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Yendi said, another kiosk located at
Sabon Geri on the same road as the first kiosk belonging to a Kussaai was also
burnt down by some Mamprusis on the third day.
According to Hon. Malik Yakubu, these counter actions of violence perpetrated by
the tribes resulted into a tensed situation in the Bawku Township leading to the
windscreen of a Nissan Pick-Up being smashed by some unidentified persons.
Continuing he said, a group of young men aged between 14 and 27 years mounted a
barrier near Missiga on the Bawku-Pusiga Road of which 18 of them were arrested
and placed into police custody.
In view of the intense violence eruption last Sunday, security personnel on the
ground were able to bring down the situation under control and further
intensified vigilance in the Bawku Township.
Meanwhile, Chronicle learnt at press time that Madam Hawa Yakubu, MP for Bawku
Central had cut short a visit to Nigeria to return home to see how best she
could help end the bloodbath.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 6, 2001
Muriithi Muriuki
Thousands of men, women and children were streaming out of Kibera yesterday, as
the violence continued unabated in the sprawling Nairobi slum.
Most went looking for a temporary home with family and friends in other parts of
the capital, but many sought safety by spending a miserable second day camping
with their few belongings at the DO's office.
For the third day running the slum became a no-go zone as riot police and
officers from the General Service Unit patrolled the near-deserted alleyways and
roads.
Those who were left behind told of rape, looting and merciless beatings by the
police.
They said the police attacked anyone they found outside their homes, and broke
down doors and chased out anyone seeking refuge.
Two more people were reported killed in the renewed fighting, while a Jehova's
Witness hall in Kambi Muruu was burnt down, as warring gangs continued to dodge
the police patrols.
At Kisumu Ndogo, people could be seen trying to salvage goods from the
smouldering ruins of their homes.
An aerial tour over the slum, organised by Nairobi police boss Geoffrey Muathe,
showed the streets nearly empty save for streams of people fleeing in droves.
Some carried their belongings in handcarts, lorries and cars, while others
carried whatever they owned in their arms or on their heads.
Six more houses were torched during the night, increasing the fears of residents
huddled at the DO's office for protection. They claimed they had nowhere to go,
and vowed to camp there until calm is restored.
Women there appealed for food from well wishers, claiming they had gone without
any for two days.
With the number of people rising by the hour, there are fears of outbreaks of
diseases unless the Government moves fast to bring the situation back to normal.
The compound has no toilets or washrooms, except those used by the DO and his
staff.
Scores of workers returning home in the evening, joined forces to guard their
homes against looters.
Others were still trying to trace their families, hoping that they had survived
the violence of the day.
Said Ms Jael Mutiso, a single mother of three children: "They burnt down my
house at night, with all my belongings. I cannot go back, and have nowhere to
go."
She appealed to President Moi to visit the area, saying only he could quell the
violence, which began after he visited Kibera and ordered the Provincial
Administration to ensure rents were lowered.
Following a meeting with landlords at which rent cuts were agreed, PC Cyrus
Maina was stoned at a baraza he held to announce the rent reductions.
Since then some tenants have refused to pay any rent until the row was settled.
Fresh violence broke out again on Tuesday, leaving ten people feared dead and
dozens seriously injured.
Ms Mutiso added: "Moi ametuuza. Kwa nini alianzisha moto halafu anatoroka? (Moi
has sold us. Why did he light the fire and then leave us?)"
Ms Shumi Ismael, aged 23, who has two children. broke down as she accused Mr
Raila Odinga, the National Development Party leader, of fuelling the violence.
"I now have nowhere to go, while politicians who incited their tribesmen not to
pay rent sleep comfortably with their wives and children," she said.
Ms Ismael, who has lived in Kibera for eight years, accused the President and Mr
Odinga of having provoked the fighting.
"We the poor are left suffering. Our houses have been burnt, our mosque was
tear-gassed . . . if they can do this to us who can help us? We leave it to God
because He will surely punish them," she said.
Unable to salvage anything, she spent the night huddling among other displaced
people at the DO's compound.
Ms Amina Subira, 54, wept uncontrollably as she recited verses from the Koran. A
grandmother of seven, Ms Subira said her mud-walled home was set ablaze early
yesterday.
"We were all asleep at night, when we heard some commotion outside. As we
struggled to wake up, the house was torched from outside by a gang of men. They
were screaming and there was a lot of commotion. By the time we got out the
house was on fire and all we could was watch it burn to the ground."
Ms Subira, who had lived in her three rooms at Makina for more than a decade,
said she became separated from her daughter as they ran to safety. "What shall l
do with all these children? Where is my daughter? Who will help us?" she asked.
Some women claimed they had been raped.
Ms Joyce Chebet said police stole from her and then tried to rape her. She said
she was saved by some relatives who screamed an alarm.
"I feel traumatised by the incident; the police should protect us and not harass
us," she said.
A broadcast journalist with Nation Media Group, Ms Alice Kararu, was injured
when charged by a group of youths armed with pangas and clubs. She was rescued
when police fired in the air to disperse the mob.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
ANALYSIS
December 5, 2001
He was once called a terrorist. Today, Mau Mau guerilla leader Dedan Kimathi is
heralded as a freedom fighter who helped liberate Kenya. Now, a move is afoot to
give Kimathi - who was hanged in 1958 - a hero's burial. Trouble is, nobody
knows the whereabouts of his body. Or do they? John Kamau digs into a grave
issue.
Thirty-eight years after independence the Kenyan government is under pressure to
give a man the British colonial government hanged in 1958 for terrorism a state
burial.
'Field Marshal' Dedan Kimathi was leader of the Mau Mau, the guerilla movement
that fought against the British colonial government. The Mau Mau operated from
forest bases in this East African nation in the 1950s before it was crushed in
1959.
Kenya won its independence four years later.
"We want the government to recognise the role played by Kimathi," says Adolf
Muchiri, a Kenyan legislator who is pushing the matter in Parliament. "Time has
come for us to recognise the role played by Kimathi in liberating this country."
But the Kenyan government under President Daniel arap Moi has said that Kimathi
- dubbed a terrorist by the British although he remains a hero to ex-freedom
fighters - will not be granted a state burial and his family will not be handed
over his body.
His remains are in an unmarked grave somewhere inside Kamiti Maximum Prison,
some 21 kilometres northeast of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"The law clearly prohibits the exhumation of a prisoner's body for reburial
outside the prison premises and unless that law is changed Kimathi's body will
remain in Kamiti prison," says Wycliff Osundwa, an assistant minister in the
president's office.
Kimathi's family has reacted with fury.
"It is unbelievable," says Mukami Kimathi, wife of the late freedom fighter.
"This is not a fight for the bones, but about national pride."
Mwaniki Nyamu of the Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi Foundation, a lobby group that
first sparked the debate in the early '90s, warns that the government should not
ignore the latest demands.
"Kenyans want to get the body of Kimathi now and give him a decent burial,"
declared Nyamu, who is also a city lawyer. "We are not going to sit back when
Kimathi's body continues to lie alongside rapists and petty criminals."
But there's another problem - nobody knows where the grave is.
For four years now, pressure has been mounting on the British government to
indicate where they buried Kimathi, but still no official word has been
received.
Two years ago a Free Kimathi lobby group was formed in Nairobi to pressure the
British to release details of the exact burial spot after prison authorities
said they did not have colonial records on Kimathi's grave.
However, the group clashed with government forces after it erected a billboard
opposite the grave of Kenya's first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, with the
inscription: "This is where we shall bury Kimathi."
"The war is not yet over," says Wafula Buke, secretary of the Free Kimathi
Committee. "We will not tire until we get Kimathi's remains."
The British High Commission in Nairobi insists it does not know where Kimathi
was buried and it does not have any records.
"At the moment we have no details," says Thomas Fletcher, head of the High
Commission's political section.
But Kenyan historians maintain that the British carried away all the documents
relating to the Mau Mau war after independence.
"They know where the grave is, they are just playing poker with us," says Kenyan
Mau Mau researcher Maina wa Kinyatti, a history professor at the State
University of New Jersey in the United States.
Some four years ago, the then commissioner of prisons Edward Lokopoiyot told a
Kenyan daily newspaper that the prison department's attempts to trace Kimathi's
grave were compounded by inadequate information "because the colonial government
kept the records about Mau Mau".
"The records at Kamiti Prison shed very little light on the burial site," the
prison's boss said. "In 1995 the prison department made a last-ditch attempt to
solve the long-running mystery by tracking down Africans who worked at Kamiti at
that time.
"The closest we came was a prison officer named Mukuria, but we found out he
passed away in 1994."
Activists do not want to hear this story anymore.
"The removal of Kimathi's remains from Kamiti Prison is no longer negotiable,"
says Mwaniki Nyamu of Kimathi Foundation. "The issue is not whether but when it
will happen."
Kenyan papers have now picked up the issue and written editorials in support of
the lobby group.
The Daily Nation, East Africa's largest circulating newspaper, asked: "Is there
any good reason why the government has not acted on this issue nearly 38 years
since we attained independence from Britain?
"The story of Dedan Kimathi is one shameful commentary on how badly we treat our
heroes," the paper said.
The opposition-leaning People Daily also editorialised on the issue: "If Cubans
struggled for years to get the remains of [guerrilla leader] Che Guevara from a
Bolivian jungle, why are we not doing anything to retrieve Kimathi's remains
from the prison ground?"
A statement from the Kimathi family in November urges the government to act
quickly: "Kimathi's body should have been lifted out of the prison grave as the
Union Jack was lowered and our independence flag hoisted.
"We are still waiting to give our father a decent funeral."
But the government insists that this cannot be done, triggering a torrent of
abuse from the opposition.
"We should not be trapped into this colonial mentality that Kimathi was a
terrorist," says Shem Ochuodho, a Kenyan legislator. "That would be stooping so
low. Kimathi remains a national icon and the faster we give him a state burial
the better."
Fellow legislator James Omingo Magara agrees: "We are talking about a person who
went to the forest to liberate this country when others were at the comfort of
their homes.
"This is a person we should honour."
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 6, 2001
Wahome Thuku
The conservation of an endangered rhino population faces new threats following
reports of fresh killings in Kenya's Tsavo National Park.
At least four rhinos have been killed by poachers in the past few weeks, the
Kenya Wildlife Service reported.
KWS officials said following the discoveries made late last month, additional
security personnel had been deployed in all the protection areas countrywide.
This was the first case of poaching of the endangered animals in protected areas
in eight years. Rangers found the carcasses stripped of their horns in the park
in southeastern Kenya.
"A full investigation is underway and security has been tightened in all rhino
areas," Mr Joe Kioko, the acting KWS director, said in a statement.
The KWS said there had been isolated incidents of poachers killing rhinos
outside Kenya's national parks.
The rhino is among the most endangered wildlife species in the world and its
population in Kenya has fallen to only 460 from an estimated 20,000 in 1970,
mainly due to poaching. Authorities have managed to control poaching more
recently by concentrating the rhinos in smaller areas, making it easier to
protect them.
The KWS said that in the last two decades Africa's black rhino numbers have
fallen by 90 per cent, and the animals are now only found in reasonable numbers
in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.
The organisation's communications manager, Ms Connie Maina, said: "This
indicates that the black market for rhino horns still exists in the country and
our investigations will establish the loophole."
A concerted war on poaching of the rare animal led to the establishment of the
Save the Rhino project in 1984, which received a donation of 20 rhinos from
South Africa in 1994. President Moi accorded the black rhino special protection
status.
Tsavo National Park has been the hardest hit by poaching, where elephants have
been the main target. At least 45 elephants were killed in 1998 in the park and
57 the following year.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
ANALYSIS
December 6, 2001
John Mbaria
Anywhere but Kibera: A small girl leaves the slum with her family's possessions.
Located south-west of the city centre, Kibera was in pre-colonial times part of
Maasai grazing ground. The colonial government took it before the outbreak of
World War I as a military reserve.
They used it mainly to train the newly formed King's African Rifles (KAR), the
squad of indigenous men who formed much of the British army's rearguard and
served mainly as a carrier corps.
The abbreviation KAR and the phrase "carrier corps" have given us, respectively,
the surname "Keya" and the place-name "Kariakor", both common in Kenya.
Prominent in the KAR were members of the Nubian community - a Nilotic group
originating in the Sudan. And so, during the war and up to 1928, Kibera was
allocated for temporary residence to Nubian soldiers who had served for 12
years.
It was probably at that time that the jungle acquired the name "Kibera", a
corruption of the Nubian kibra, which means just that, a jungle.
Initially, the permits allowed farming. But, in case colonial government needed
the land for other purposes, it soon required that only semi-permanent housing
units be put up and not closer than 500 yards (about 500 metres) to Ngong Road.
The government retained ownership and impressed it on residents to always be
prepared to move abruptly.
It was only in 1928 that the land was transferred to the Nairobi municipal civic
authorities, leading to cancellation of the existing permits.
To get residency permits, newcomers were then required to prove their
consanguinity with the Nubian soldier-settlers.
In 1933, following recommendations by the Carter Land Commission, many
unauthorised housing units were destroyed and occupants evicted, with only
partial compensation. The express purpose was to stunt the population growth.
In the same year, the first of several government studies seems to have made
proposals on the future. Although few were implemented, concern was growing over
the area's rapid deterioration into a slum, its population spiral and the need
to find urgent solutions.
In the 1950s, the Nubians were allowed to remain in Kibera and a development
plan was presented to the Council of Ministers for approval.
It officially allocated 500 acres to settle about 15,000 African residents. It
also recommended sewage and water connections to the slum.
The plan was the basis of the initial permanent developments that took place in
the north-western areas of the slum. More recently, highrise middle-income
housing was put up on the eastern side
The hope was that the residents would be able buy and occupy them. The hope was
dashed because the locals could not afford the units and they ended up being
occupied by outsiders.
There has been a lot of uncertainty among non-Nubian residents who have wormed
their way into the area over the years. They have continued to stream in, making
it among Africa's biggest slums.
Today, it is divided into 10 villages - Kisumu Ndogo ("small Kisumu"), Laini
Saba, Gatuikira, Makina, Mashimoni, Lindi, Shilanga, Kambi Muru, Kianda and
Gatekera.
Apart from the ethnic composition, Kibera has two resident sub-classes with
conflicting interests. There are temporary residents, most of them tenants who
expect to move out should their economic situation improve.
Their participation in the slum's communal activities is limited to protecting
their investments.
In the early 1990s, the cost of putting up a one-room unit was between Sh4,500
and Sh5,400, depending on the materials used. Most landlords own between 50 and
200 rooms. It is said that rental rooms are a quite lucrative investment,
although lack of tenure has discouraged landlords from improving the facilities.
They have the nagging fear that they will lose their investment through
demolition.
Based on NGO Support to Informal Settlements: A Case Study of Kibera, Nairobi.
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 5, 2001
New York
United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima has expressed alarm at
the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Liberia's northwestern Gbarpolu
county following attacks by alleged dissidents that have put thousands of
civilians at risk.
"The displacement of 1,413 people by these attacks has nearly doubled the
population of the Bopolu IDP camp, strained its already inadequate resources,
and created serious security and health risks for all those seeking refuge
there." Oshima said in a statement.
Oshima condemned the attacks and joined other humanitarian organizations in
calling on the Liberian Government to take measures to ensure the protection of
civilians and relief workers. He added that humanitarian agencies operating in
Liberia lacked sufficient resources and may have to cease operations at the end
of the year and called on donors to fund the 2002 inter-agency humanitarian
appeal for Liberia.
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
December 5, 2001
Mohamed Issa & Abdul Kposowa
Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID, Superintendent
F.U.K Daboh has said at police headquarters, that he will stop at nothing in
arresting the RUF boss, General Issa Sesay, if he is found culpable in a diamond
matter currently being investigation at the CID headquarters in Freetown.
Dabor confirmed having in police custody four suspects for their alleged
involvement in a 50-carat diamond deal which RUF Issa Sesay had earlier claimed
ownership of. According to police sources, the four, Momodu Munu, Abu Bakarr
Munu, Amadu Kabbie and Foday Kabbie, having got hold of the diamond, secretly
left their Kono mining spot for their Mathobia village in the Tonkolili
district.
One source close to Makeni say when Gen. Issa Sesay got wind of the diamond he
sent four of his bodyguards to arrest the four suspects in their village and
retrieve the diamond. Issa's men are said to have met stiff resistance from the
four suspects and the village people. This resulted in the intervention of
police personnel deployed in the area.
Police maintain that the matter is fresh and under investigation.
When questioned as what will happen if General Issa Sesay is found in possession
of the diamond, FUK Daboh said, "We'll arrest whoever is connected with the
deal, be he the owner or suspect.
RUF Issa on his part maintained that the caratage of the diamond was 50 and that
the four suspects, all relatives, have already sent the diamond to another
relative in Freetown who has an SLPP connection.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 5, 2001
Ssemujju I. Nganda & Fiona Luyiga
Police were yesterday forced to rescue minister of State for Luwero Triangle
from angry Luwero war veterans who charged at him while he was addressing them.
The veterans had been angered by minister Tim Lwanga and kept surging towards
him before policemen at Parliament gate intervened.
The minister had gone to the green park between Parliament Building, Police
Criminal Investigations (CID) and International Conference Centre to address
about 200 veterans who have camped here for the last five days.
The veterans are demanding compensation for loss of their belongings during
President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army bush war.
They met Museveni recently and were allegedly advised to come back on Nov. 30,
to have their matter finalised.
Lwanga told the veterans that investigations would be made to establish genuine
claimants because some of them were making false claims.
He said a circular announcing the completion of investigations would be pinned
on the notice boards of several counties in Luwero.
Lwanga's address was interrupted with murmurs from the crowd who attempted to
bring to his attention one of their colleagues who collapsed due to alleged
hunger.
A visibly perturbed Lwanga told reporters at Parliament that many of such
veterans were making false claims. He wondered how boys of 18 years of age had
contributed towards the war, which began about 20 years ago.
But the chairman of the veterans Kezekia Rwanjerire said that President Museveni
had confirmed that all claimants would be "fully compensated on Nov 30."
+ + + +
al-haqq dotorg
Taliban Kill 93 US Commandos and Capture Six
"Severe damage has been done to the Americans but the media keeps it in the
dark," says Taliban Interior Minister
QUETTA (Islam News): The Interior Minister of Afghanistan says that it is
absolutely ridiculous and baseless that the Americans, resting in a desert, 220
miles away from Kandahar claim to have captured the city of Kandahar. Similarly,
the Pashtun claim to have captured Kadahar is based on false reports. He further
said that the local and the international media reveal only one side of the
picture, but the truth is that heavy damage has been done to the Americans in
Afghanistan. In recent operations, Taliban troops killed 93 Americans and
captured six. Dozens of soldiers were killed in and around Takhta Pul.
Furthermore, an Amercian helicopter was also destroyed in this battle, but the
media continues to keep such news in the dark. The Minister informed about World
about the wellbeing of the Kandahar Taliban Corps Commander, Mulla Akhtar
Uthmani and Taliban Air Force Commander, Akhtar Mansoor. According to him, the
Taliban have total control over Spin Boldak and the news about the retreat of
the (local) Taliban commander in Spin Boldak is incorrect.
Dalbandin and Jacobabad Stink Due to the Smell of Rotting American and British
Troops
JACOBABAD (KPI): There has been a marked shortage of chemicals in Jacobabad and
Dalbandin, which serve to preserve the dead bodies of the American and British
soldiers reaching these two cities. As a result of this, the atmosphere around
the airbases in these towns is giving off a foul stench due to the rotting of
these corpses. According to the latest news from the information office at Swat,
the British and Americans are very much disturbed because they do not want to
send these bodies to their countries, thus creating panic and uncertainty in
their people. Therefore they are trying all possible means to preserve these
bodies, but obviously all these means will prove to be shortlived. It has also
been reported that numerous coffins have been sent to these areas. On the one
hand, the Americans are making every possible effort not to disclose the deaths
of their soldiers in Afghanistan, while on the other hand their families are
busy preparing for the celebrations of Christmas back home.
"Jihad Will Continue Even if Usama is Martyred" Al-Qaeda
KUWAIT (Al-Watan): Al-Qaeda has once again expressed its firm determination that
the Jihad will not come to a stop, not even if Usama Bin Laden is martyred.
Another Usama will appear to impart the teachings of Jihad and the rebirth of
Usama will continue each time the former Usama is martyred. Sulaiman Abu Ghaith,
Al-Qaeda spokesman, said in an interview to Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Watan, that he
condemned the Government of Kuwait for the cancellation of his citizenship. He
further expressed his firm determination for striving for the noble cause of
Jihad in future, for the sake of Allah and Islam. Earlier, Al-Qabaas News
(Kuwait) issued a news report about Sulaiman Abu Ghaith being injured or
martyred by the American attacks, but Al-Watan News (Kuwait) confirmed his
wellbeing from the Taliban.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW OF 'DAILY ISLAM' WITH TALIBAN COMMANDER IN KUNDUZ, MULLAH
DADULLAH
KANDAHAR: Mullah Dadullah, the senior guerrilla commander of the Taliban arrived
in Kandahar from Kunduz last week. He is a warrior of great courage, firm
determination and par excellence. He is believed to be the biggest threat and
enemy to the Northern Alliance who declared him as one of their most wanted men.
His narrow escape from the clutches of the Northern Alliance in Kunduz is an
amazing miracle in itself and indeed a blessing of Allah.
DAILY ISLAM: Don't you think the retreat of the Taliban has increased the morale
of the Americans?
MULLAH DADULLAH: No, this is not the case. The Americans are very well aware of
the courage and determination of the Taliban fighters, and with the strength
with which they all withstood the American attacks over Mazar-i- Sharif for a
whole month. We heard a Northern Alliance commander say to another on the
wireless radio that an American said to him that ever since they have started
their war against the Taliban, they have realised how courageous and brave these
people (Taliban) are, and if they continue to fight with the same valour, we
will never be able to win the war against them.
DAILY ISLAM: Weren't you a part of the treaty between the Taliban under the
leadership of Mullah Fazal and the Northern Alliance (to vacate Kunduz)?
MULLAH DADULLAH: To tell you the truth, I do not trust the Northern Alliance at
all. To avoid any disputes, I told Mullah Fazal that may Allah reward you for
your pure intentions, grant me the permission to fight the enemies of Allah. In
case of survival, I'll be a warrior (Mujahid), otherwise a martyr, and indeed
martyrdom is my intense desire. The aim of Mullah Fazal was to defend and
safeguard the fellow troops because he has great fondness and love for the
Mujahideen. I pray to Allah to spare him and his colleagues from the seizure by
the enemy so that he rises once again against the enemies of Islam.
DAILY ISLAM: What do you say about the battles in and around Mazar-i- Sharif?
MULLAH DADULLAH: We have fought many fierce battles at Mazar-i-Sharif and most
of these battles were historical. In the recent days I had only 500 guerrillas
(Mujahideen) and 400 amongst them got martyred. In addition to this, 300 of the
Mujahideen who were with Mullah Naafiz's platoon got Shaheed. Inspite all of
this, we continued to fight with the same spirit and valour, and the fact is
that the tree of Islam cannot be nourished and flourished EXCEPT with the blood
of the martyrs.
DAILY ISLAM: Why did the Taliban retreat from Mazar-i-Sharif? Was it due to
heavy bombardment and fierce attacks?
MULLAH DADULLAH: No, this wasn't the reason. The reason was that some of the
local commanders came under pressure of US threats and they sold themselves in
exchange of few dollars. Therefore in these circumstances we didn't have any
option other than leaving Mazar-i-Sharif. Ameer-ul-Mumineen ordered us to leave
the North, but we made some decisions ourselves due to which our brothers were
made captives. Had we acted on the orders of Mullah Umar, this wouldn't have
been the case.
DAILY ISLAM: How is Mullah Umar and the rest of the leaders?
MULLAH DADULLAH:I met Mulla Umar and the others upon my arrival in Kandahar and
it gave me a lot of pleasure and contentment of heart. I gave a detailed account
of the conditions in Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif to Ameer-ul- Mumineen. We have
had some important discussions with some senior ministers about the guerrilla
war against the Americans.
The great Taliban commander concluded the meeting by saying that a Muslim's life
is incomplete without Jihad and that we have been blessed with the opportunity
to fight in the Path of Allah. (http://www.azzam.co.uk)
American save Taliban time and effort in killing Us troops
Two US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan today and 20 injured when an American
B-52 bomber missed its target during a raid north of Kandahar, the Pentagon
said.
An unknown number of opposition fighters also died in the "friendly fire"
incident, according to Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Lapan.
Anti-Taliban forces have been fighting with the aid of US and British special
forces - and more recently US marines - trying to overthrow Kandahar, which is
the last stronghold of the Taliban.
The US troops were hit when a B-52 flying a bombing raid in support of the
anti-Taliban forces dropped a bomb near them, Mr Lapan said. The casualties were
being evacuated to an undisclosed location.
Hamas leader under house arrest
Palestinian security officials said on Wednesday the founder of the Islamic
movement Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was placed under house arrest following
pressure on the Palestinian Authority to rein in militants.
``Palestinian police have informed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin that he has been put
under house arrest and that he is barred from outside contacts,'' a security
official told Reuters.
Security guards were said to be stationed outside the home of the ailing Yassin,
65, in Gaza City, the main hub of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas took responsibility for a wave of suicide bombings inside Israel at the
weekend that killed 25 people and jeopardized efforts to end more than 14 months
of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Yassin was the most prominent militant leader to be put under sanctions by the
Palestinian Authority since the start of a roundup of more than 100 militants.
+ + + +
more L8R
meanwhile in other news,
contract negotions continue
Rizla Ranger UK
SAS in battle at Tora Bora
by Sam Kiley, in Bamuchill, overlooking Tora Bora
British Special Air Service soldiers and American Green Berets are today playing
a key role in the battle for control of al Qaeda's cave complex at Tora Bora.
It is thought possible that Osama Bin Laden himself is hiding in the mountain
complex.
Anti Taliban forces this morning said they had smashed through the defences
around the caves deep in the Tora Bora mountains over-running one of the last
terrorist lairs and setting off a frantic manhunt for the al Qaeda leader.
SAS and Green Berets troops were among the Afghan fighters who earlier charged
through the alpine woodland in search of Bin Laden and other terrorist leaders.
Haji Ayoub, the commander of tanks laying down covering fire for infantry in the
heavily forested slopes of Tora Bora, said: "We've taken most of the caves and
captured six pick-up trucks. Inside the caves there is a lot of ammunition but
the al Qaeda have fled and are now fighting us face to face outside the cave
complex."
Ayoub was in direct radio contact with infantry on the frontline as they raced
through the cave complex looking for Bin Laden and his henchmen.
He said that fighting was so ferocious outside the cave complex that it had not
been possible to conduct a full search but he was convinced they had captured
Bin Laden's underground headquarters.
"It is a very extensive complex and it is under our control. It was their centre
of operations, they had electricity and ventilation and the Arabs are now on the
run from them," said Commander Ayoub. Afghan commanders fighting al Qaeda and
the Taliban as well as American officials including Vice President Dick Cheney
have said for the past week that they believed it was a strong possibility that
Bin Laden was hiding in the Tora Bora cave complex close to the border with
Pakistan.
If the claims of the anti-Taliban fighters are true, the loss of his cave
complex has stripped al Qaeda of what had been believed to be an impregnable
hiding place.
Under heavy bombardment from Ayoub's tanks and B52 carpet bombing which have
turned the lower reaches of Tora Bora black with smoke Bin Laden's forces have
only high-altitude smugglers' routes for escape into Pakistan.
Small teams from the Hereford-based SAS regiment arrived in Jalalabad over the
last three days, intelligence sources said.
The soldiers came to advise anti-Taliban commanders and improve the accuracy of
air strikes after three US servicemen were killed by their own side yesterday.
Five Afghans fighting the Taliban were also killed by the stray bomb in
Kandahar.
Hamid Karzai, appointed yesterday to head an interim Afghan administration, was
among those lightly wounded when the 2,000lb "smart" bomb went astray during a
battle on the outskirts of the Taliban stronghold. US rear admiral John
Stufflebeem said the special forces soldiers in Tora Bora "are trying to
determine locations of al Qaeda, and specifically al Qaeda leadership and
remaining Taliban that might be in the area.
"The reports are that many of these forces have taken up refuge in caves and
tunnels. So we are working to determine where these bad guys are and then to
bring [air] strikes on them. They are supporting opposition groups, they are not
leading opposition groups."
The SAS and Green Berets have their work cut out. Although they are travelling
with some of the best local fighters - from the bodyguard of Hazrat Ali, the
Jalalabad commander in charge of 3,000 men attacking Tora Bora - they have faced
combat under appalling conditions. Battle-hardened Chechens, Pakistanis and Arab
al Qaeda forces have kept a low profile during daylight hours as B52 attacks
with 2,000lb bombs threw flames hundreds of yards into the air and the
concussion waves knock the breath out of people a mile away.
But at dusk the terrorists creep out of the lairs that have saved them from the
US bombs and pounding by 14 anti-Taliban tanks which blast at them from the
Bamuchill ridge, and use the cover of the pine forests to launch counter
attacks.
Yesterday one anti-Taliban fighter was killed and three wounded when they were
ambushed in the twilight close to Bamuchill just as SAS soldiers were arriving
in the combat zone. The dead man had been part of a team fighting uphill through
smoking woods towards the Tora Bora complex that was attacked by al Qaeda.
Machinegun fire rattled through the pines in short bursts followed by terrifying
silences as the al Qaeda terrorists and Hazrat Ali's men fought for control of
the forest below Tora Bora, creeping from cave to cave.
Trees set alight by the bombing and tank shells smouldered, laying down a
blanket of smoke over the skirmishes and almost blinding soldiers trying to
flush small groups of al Qaeda guerrillas out of the woods before nightfall.
Last night several rounds from al Qaeda guns screamed down the river valley
which leads to their underground complex, doing little damage but terrifying
innocent people who have been leaving the area after an estimated 100 to 130
civilians were killed by a B52 bomber at the weekend.
This morning Hazrat Ali's men appeared determined to make good on their
commander's boast to clear al Qaeda out and capture Bin Laden, within two weeks.
His elite bodyguards, distinguished by having full uniforms and each draped in
enough fire power for a platoon, lead SAS soldiers into the hills in a small
convoy laden with tank shells and other ammunition.
However, just a three-hour climb from the border with Pakistan, Bin Laden has an
easy escape route which would take him into the lawless North West Frontier
Province of Pakistan where tens of thousands of fundamentalist supporters could
hide him indefinitely.
+ + + +
DiMethylTryptamine
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
which is even fookin easier today
onthe internet. Apparently, UK/US
Forces are working closely alongside
"the bodyguard of Hazrat Ali, the Jalalabad
commander in charge of 3,000 men attacking Tora Bora"
note, attacking. Or leading them into one huge
fookin AMBUSH? So confident, they even invite
the Al-Jazeera crew, tip them the wink so to speak....
Ya get me?
So, why do I think this?
Check the biog
Full Name: Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib
Birthplace: Mazar-i-Sharif, The shrine of Hazrat Ali.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/inst/courtauld/Pages/herat_detail18.html
November 4, 2001, (Rajab 13th) is Hazrat Ali's birthday anniversary.
This day is celebrated throughout the Muslim world with great veneration.
Mowlana Sultan Mahomed Shah's birthday is November 5, in 2001, and so
we have two good reasons to celebrate and count our blessings.
Rank: Son in Law and Cousin of the Prophet Muhammad
Catchphrase: "There is No God but God,
Muhammad is His prophet,
Ali is the commander of Believers"
The Sayings of Imam Ali (and therefore Unit Motto and Cadence?)
1. During civil disturbance adopt such an attitude that people do not attach
any importance to you - they neither burden you with complicated affairs,
nor try to derive any advantage out of you.
4. Submission to Allah's Will is the best companion; wisdom is the noblest
heritage; theoretical and practical knowledge are the best signs of
distinction; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every
problem.
9. Live amongst people in such a manner that if you die they weep over you
and if you are alive they crave for your company.
24. O son of Adam, when you see that your Lord, the Glorified, bestows His
Favors on you while you disobey Him, you should fear Him (take warning that
His Wrath may not turn those very blessings into misfortunes).
30. When Imam Ali was asked about Faith in Religion, he replied that the
structure of faith is supported by four pillars endurance, conviction,
justice and jihad.
Jihad is divided into four branches: to persuade people to be obedient to
Allah; to prohibit them from sin and vice; to struggle (in the cause of
Allah) sincerely and firmly on all occasions and to detest the vicious.
Whoever persuades people to obey the orders of Allah provides strength to
the believers; whoever dissuades them from vices and sins humiliates the
unbelievers; whoever struggles on all occasions discharges all his
obligations and whoever detests the vicious only for the sake of Allah, then
Allah will take revenge on his enemies and will be pleased with Him on the
Day of Judgment.
74. Every breath you take is a step towards death.
76. If matters get mixed up then scrutinize the cause and you will know what
the effects will be.
83. A man hypocritically started praising Imam Ali, though he had no faith
in him and Imam Ali hearing these praises from him said "I am less than what
you tell about me but more than what you think about me".
84. Those who have come alive out of a blood-bath live longer and have more
children.
85. One who imagines himself to be all-knowing will surely suffer on account
of his ignorance.
86. I appreciate an old man's cautious opinion more than the valor of a
young man.
98. Whenever a tradition of the Holy Prophet is related to you, scrutinize
it, do not be satisfied with mere verbatim repetition of the same because
there are many people who repeat the words containing knowledge but only few
ponder over them and try to fully grasp the meaning they convey.
Read the rest of 'em!
http://www.al-islam.org/masoom/sayings/saying5.html
more here
http://www.amaana.org/ali/hazratali.htm
Is it only me? Either the news report is inaccurate (what
a surprise) OR there is a possibility that in the CONFUSION,
Fog of War, ever changing Alliances and tribal back up has
allowed the US/UK Forces to be infiltrated by the Taliban
version of a battle hardened Waffen SS unit of WW2...
incognito, but chuckling behind their beards.
And I guess, either no one in the Special Forces or
their INTEL providers etc understands the Holy Koran
and how it works for these Talib guys!
What's funnier, is that all the evidence for caution is
available right there on the internet. I have never read
the Holy Koran.... but the paranoid man has all angles
covered LOL!
Respec'!
Riz :)
---
Islam is particularly rich in spiritual practice and discourse.
Many of the Sufi schools, now gaining popularity in the West,
trace their origins to Ali. These particular documents describe
the sacred process of creation. While some non-Muslims may
have a hard time understanding this work, those who are well
versed in their own mystical/spiritual tradition should find
Imam Ali'swords enriching.
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
I never do
"DiMethylTryptamine" wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
Attacking forces get ambushed within a well fortified
cave/tunnel complex. Home advantage, anyone?
Hazrat Ali is at the plate ...
Tora Bora means Black Widow or some such.....
It's like the Q33 thing on the Wingdings that first
appeared after Sept11... Might sound like a conspiracy,
but ya ever stopped to wonder whether that wingdings
thing was a bin Laden proganda joke? Like, he got the
idea for the attack anyway, WTC was a 'shrine to capitalism'
which equates to oppression yadda yadda... He tried to topple
WTC before, in 93....
Pretty soon after the wingdings thing, most people realised
that Q33 was not the flight number - and so they said "awww
it was just a joke, I guess some kinda freaky coincidence.. what
with the NYC part of the wingding"
But, as I said at the time, Q33 is a passage from the Holy Koran.
And it was a pretty graphic sentiment of what happened on Sept11
(when you look at Sept11 as a 'religious' act, by interpreting that
religion)
I tell ya, these Al-Quaeda guys are HD/CR to the bone. They
know the Holy Koran so well that they can laugh at you in your
face with Scripture and you, the Unbeliever, still can't see it -
Taliban are direct followers of Hazrat Ali. They are Students
in the way that Hazrat Ali was the premier student of Muhammad.
Deviout! Pious to the death! Which Apostle in Christianity was that?
Hazmat Ali is part of the Shi'a 'faction' of Islamic Religion
...... same 'faction' as Sadaam Hussein ....... hehehehehe
the best laid plans are laid very
very V E R Y much in advance...
Swarve, remember when we chatted about
the strategically placed suitcase nukes?
The Ambush at Tora Bora!!
The Christians In Action et al are proved notoriously wrong
and out of touch time and time again with Islamic issues...
Hehehehehehe, maybe the World
has just entered a minefield
Interesting, eh?
Enough evidence to raise a doubt
and advocate extreme caution?
Even more extreme than the caution
being currently advised/employed?
and the hits just keep on comin'!
133. A friend cannot be considered a friend unless he is tested on three
occasions: in time of need, behind your back and after your death.
147. A man can be valued through his sayings.
152. One, who adopts patience, will never be deprived of success though it
may take a long time to reach him.
161. One, who guards his secrets has complete control over his affairs.
180. Deficiency will result in shame and sorrow but caution and foresight
will bring peace and security.
181. To keep silent when you can say something wise and useful is as bad as
keeping on propagating foolish and unwise thoughts.
182. If two opposite theories are propagated one will be wrong.
183. When truth was revealed to me I never doubted it.
184.I never lied and the things revealed to me were not false I never misled
anybody nor was I misled.
185. One, who starts tyranny, will repent soon.
186. Death is never very far.
187. One who forsakes truth earns eternal damnation.
188. One who cannot benefit by patience will die in grief.
Jean Claude Gawd Darn!
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
one hundred horses equals one jet liner?
"The clearest example is that of Usman who was one of the wealthiest people
in Arabia. At the time when the Prophet called on his companions to donate
generously for the mobilization of an army to fight Byzantine Empire, Usman
came up with a donation which pleased the Prophet immensely. The Prophet was
speaking on the pulpit when Usman offered one hundred horses with all the
equipment necessary for a horseman to have on such a campaign. The Prophet
accepted and prayed for Usman. As the Prophet went one step down, Usman told
him that he was donating another one hundred equipped horses. The Prophet
again prayed for him and went another step down. At this point, Usman
increased his donation to three hundred horses. The Prophet stopped and
signed with his finger to the right and left and prayed for Usman and said
his famous statement : "Nothing that Usman may do in future will harm him."
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
:]
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
relation to an understanding of the Holy Koran...
Interestingly, it's the first page
listed on the google search
hehehehe!
Swarvegorilla
more
> children.
>
:-)
heh heh
no shit..... as opposed to those who come out of a blood bath dead?
Swarvegorilla
Swarvegorilla
> very V E R Y much in advance...
>
> Swarve, remember when we chatted about
> the strategically placed suitcase nukes?
>
> The Ambush at Tora Bora!!
Hmmm....... explosion trapped by mountains.......
yep I can see it being a great suicide.
1) not in my country
2) would leave the world believing the big bad Osama is dead
3) kill the cream of the allied armies
4) kill a shitload of NA
5) maybe even get a few planes
No if only we could be sure to see tv footage of it, it'd be the perfect
ending to a movie like war........
>
>
> The Christians In Action et al are proved notoriously wrong
> and out of touch time and time again with Islamic issues...
>
> Hehehehehehe, maybe the World
> has just entered a minefield
>
> Interesting, eh?
>
> Enough evidence to raise a doubt
> and advocate extreme caution?
> Even more extreme than the caution
> being currently advised/employed?
good luck to all the allied grunts on the ground...........
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger UK
people may have died in fighting between left-wing guerrillas and right-wing
paramilitaries over the weekend.
The mayor of Riosucio, Ricardo Azael Victoria, said many bodies had been found
floating in the town's river, but he did not say whether they were civilians,
paramilitaries or guerrillas.
Mr Victoria's statement could not be confirmed by the local army or the Red
Cross.
+ + + +
The Namibian (Windhoek)
December 6, 2001
Oswald Shivute
Oshakati
Two members of the Angolan police were shot dead by a Special Field Force member
at Epinga in the Ohangwena Region on Saturday evening.
The Police Regional Commander in the region, Tuweefeni M'lukeni, confirmed the
incident to The Namibian yesterday.
Deputy Commissioner M'lukeni said a group of Special Field Forces members and a
group of the Angolan Police, who both patrol the border, met at a cuca shop in
the Epinga area and started drinking.
A quarrel erupted between the two groups and one of the Namibian SFF members
opened fire at the Angolan Police and shot two of them. Both men died on the
spot.
Deputy Commissioner M'lukeni said he did not know what had led to the dispute.
It is believed that the bodies of the two Angolan policemen have already been
handed over to the Angolan government for burial.
M'lukeni said that the names of the two dead men could only be provided today.
He said the SFF member was being investigated but he could not say when he would
appear in court.
A source told The Namibian that an argument arose after SFF members questioned
why the Angolan police were always crossing into Namibia to drink at cuca shops.
When The Namibian visited the area in September, villagers at Epinga complained
that Angolan police and Civil Defence Units were often to be seen drinking on
the Namibian side of the border at Epinga, Onaimbungu, Eenghwiyu, Ohauwanga,
Odila and Emanya.
They claimed that some Angolan policemen became drunk and harassed Namibian
women. In addition villagers alleged that some security force members from
Angola stole their cattle.
+ + + +
BBC's Abraham Odeke in Iganga
Police in Uganda say 31 people have been burnt to death and 79 others injured
when they tried to collect fuel spilled from a broken-down fuel tanker in the
eastern Ugandan district of Iganga, according to police.
The incident occurred in Busesa, a densely populated village, 100 kilometres (62
miles) east of Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
The eyewitnesses I spoke to said the Kenyan-registered fuel-tanker heading for
Kampala burst a tyre and lost control before falling by the side of the busy
road at about 3pm local time on Thursday.
The eye-witnesses added that within a very short time, scores of villagers
arrived at the scene of the accident armed with big plastic containers to scoop
up the spilled fuel.
The police say they are investigating reports that the fire was deliberately
started by the driver of the tanker after the villagers defied his order not to
get close to his vehicle.
It is not yet known whether the driver and crew on the fuel tanker are among the
victims.
Among those killed are passengers of a minibus whose driver reportedly attempted
to drive through the flames.
The Police Commander in Iganga District, Elisam Mugisha, who was at the scene of
the accident, told me that he feared as many as 50 people may have died on the
spot.
More people in critical condition were rushed to nearby hospitals.
The deaths could have been avoided if the villagers had stayed away from the
spilled fuel, said the police chief.
When I arrived at the scene of the accident, 45 minutes after it had happened,
thick black smoke had engulfed the entire village.
Just a few meters away from several burnt bodies, I saw the remains of
motorbikes and plastic containers.
The police said some of the villagers and businessmen in Busesa trading centre
had attempted to ferry the fuel on motorbikes before the tanker suddenly
exploded.
Women and children in the village near the accident scene could be heard
wailing.
The accident has caused the temporary closure of the road; by late Thursday
afternoon, buses arriving in Busesa from Nairobi and Kampala were still stranded
at the scene of the incident.
+ + + +
Women's groups in Kenya have urged the government to take action on claims that
hundreds of women and children were raped during this week's clashes in the
Nairobi slum of Kibera.
They accused both police and rioters of raping women during the fighting between
mostly ethnic Nubian landlords and their Luo tenants which started on Tuesday.
+ + + +
The Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Gabon have both been hit by
mystery viruses which, it is feared, could prove to be Ebola.
Seventeen people have died in DR Congo, according to the United Nations, while
Gabon's health minister says that six people have died in the north of the
country.
Epidemiologists from the World Health Organisation, the Ministry of Health and
international agencies left the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Thursday to
establish whether it is indeed Ebola.
There is no known cure for Ebola and 70% of its victims bleed to death within
days.
The BBC's Mark Dummett in Kinshasa says the UN-led team has gone to the town of
Ilebo in Kasai Occidental province more than 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of
the capital Kinshasa.
He says 30 cases of haemorrhagic fever have been confirmed in the past two weeks
in that province.
They will also establish how many other people have been affected.
Those people who have died so far, have done so between 24 and 36 hours after
contracting the fever, though a UN spokesman added that others had responded
well to treatment.
In Gabon, troops have accompanied a medical team to the village of Mekambo, in
the region where 66 people were killed by Ebola in 1996.
"There are at least six dead and the situation is getting worse," Health
Minister Faustin Boukoubi told Reuters news agency.
He did not say whether or not it was Ebola and the team in Mekambo has not yet
issued its findings.
Ebola killed 170 people in northern Uganda last year.
In 1995, 265 died in the Congolese town of Kikwit, also in Kasai Occidental
province.
The disease was discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in the DR Congo.
+ + + +
Anti-Taleban forces are reported to have seized the main base of Osama Bin Laden
in the Tora Bora area of eastern Afghanistan during intensive fighting
overnight.
A spokesman for the Northern Alliance, Mohammed Habeel, told the Reuters news
agency that troops led by commander Hazrat Ali were now in control of most of
the main caves in the complex.
Several hundred members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network were thought to
have been based there.
Mr Habeel said Arabs, including women, had been captured, along with weapons and
vehicles, but that they had not found Bin Laden himself.
"Osama was not in Tora Bora during the past days of fighting and if he had been,
he has probably slipped into Pakistan," Mr Habeel said.
The BBC's Rahimullah Yusufzai in Peshawar says two local anti-Taleban commanders
seem to be competing as to who will either capture or kill Bin Laden and claim a
reward offered by the US Government.
There are reports that many of Bin Laden's Arab fighters have moved up the hills
from where they would easily be able to escape to other parts of Afghanistan, or
into Pakistan.
The cave complex, about 56 kilometres (35 miles) south-west of Jalalabad, was
used by mujahideen forces fighting Soviet troops during the 1979-89 war.
The underground base was built with covert assistance from Washington.
+ + + +
The Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso has ordered an all-out effort
to find the killers of Sir Peter Blake, one of the world's leading yachtsmen.
Sir Peter was murdered on Wednesday by a gang of pirates who boarded his ship as
it was moored at the mouth of the Amazon.
Sir Peter was best known for leading the yacht Team New Zealand to victory in
1995 and 2000 in the America's Cup, yachting's most prestigious team
competition.
+ + + +
Friday, 7, December 2001
Message from Mullah Omar to the Muslim Ummah
O Muslims, is it too much to ask you to re-distribute our news everywhere, over
the Internet and on paper in your mosques and noticeboards? Can you not even
support the Mujahideen in this way?
«Do not abandon us with your duas and your wealth».
From Muhammad Omar Mujahid to his Muslim brothers in all the extremities of the
earth:
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu
O Muslims, know that Allah's tradition in the history of humankind is that
whenever Truth meets Falsehood in a decisive confrontation, He gives victory to
His soldiers and His friends. Allah (SWT) gave victory to His Messenger, Musa
(AS) and his oppressed people over the tyrant Firoun. He helped the Messenger,
Muhammad (SAWS) over the disbelievers of Quraish, in the Battle of Badr and the
Battle of Ahzab (Battle of the Ditch). He helped the sincere Muslims with the
leadership of Muzaffar Qutz over the rebellious Mongols in the Battle of
Ain-Jalut. And here we are today in our decisive confrontation with all the
powers of the World, who have gathered together all their disbelieving and
hypocrite allies. We are living testing days that will conclude with a clear
victory for Islam and its people insha-Allah.
Indeed we announce to the whole World that insha-Allah we will never surrender
nor soften, but we will stand firm with Allah's Permission until one of two good
things come to pass: either victory or martyrdom. So rejoice O People of Islam
and know that the shimmers of victory have appeared on the horizon and that the
help and victory from the Strong and Great One comes when one thinks that all
has been lost.
So O Muslims, do not abandon us with your duas and your wealth.
«And Allah always enforces His Will whereas most of the people do not know
this». [Quran *:*]
«If Allah helps you, none can overcome you and if He abandons you, who then will
help you after Him?» [Quran *:*]
And Peace and Blessings be upon the best of creation, Muhammad bin Abdullah, the
Commander of the Mujahideen and upon all his family and companions.
The Servant to Islam and the Muslims, Muhammad Omar Mujahid
Monday 03 December 2001CE/ 18 Ramadan 1422AH
Duas for last ten days of Ramadan
As the end of Ramadan approaches, the Muslim Ummah is aware of what is befalling
their fellow brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, Palestine, Chechnya and
Kashmir. They are urged to stand up during the night every night and especially
the odd nights and beseech Allah to give victories to the Mujahideen in these
blessed days. Allah (SWT) says in the Quran «Supplicate to me and I will answer
you». To make it easy, a sample dua they can recite is given below:
O Allah the Most Powerful, give victory to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan!
And cleanse their land of the Americans and their allies!
O Allah show us in America the wonders of your Ability!
O Allah shake the earth from beneath their feet!
O Allah make their plans lead to their destruction O Lord of the Worlds!
O Allah show us in them a black day!
O Allah, make our hearts rejoice with a swift victory so that the Eid will
really be an Eid for the Muslims with their joy at Allah's victory to their
brothers and the destruction of the Crusaders!
O Allah, hasten your victory and help to our Mujahideen brothers and make their
feet firm and help them over their enemies!
O Allah do not judge us by our sins for indeed we seek forgiveness in you and
turn to you in repentance!
O Allah there is no might nor power except Yours!
O Allah help your servants and rout the Coalition
O Allah accept our duas O Answerer of Duas because WHO is there besides You that
we can make dua to?
And Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds and Peace and Blessings be upon His
Messenger, Muhammad (SAWS) and all his family and Companions.
Ameen
Severe clashes between Taliban and US commandos, dozens of American troops
killed and seriously injured
KANDAHAR (Islam News): US Commandos and the anti-Taliban leader, Commander Hamid
Karzai's militia made a joint attack over Taliban at Sha Wali Kot in the North
of Kandahar. The Taliban not only withstood this attack, but also repelled the
U.S infantry and Hamid Karzai's militia. This was the first face-to-face clash
between the Taliban and the American troops aided by the anti-Taliban Afghan
forces which was successfully made useless by the Taliban. Immediately following
this, the Taliban made a massive counter-attack on the US soldiers in which
dozens of American troops and anti-Taliban agents were shot dead and numerous
were seriously injured.
Further to this, severe damage was also caused to their arms and ammunition. The
news of this unsuccessful U.S operation and their heavy loss has created a wave
of distress and panic in the U.S. Government and in order to hide this news from
the public, the Pentagon is now making false propaganda that these US Commandos
were killed because a B-52 US bomber accidently missed its target. The military
experts all around the world have expressed their greatest amaze at this
telecast by BBC, considering it ridiculous and baseless that a computerised and
lasered bomb can miss its target 'accidently'(!) and still kill many dozens of
soldiers despite landing 100m away from its target.
Arab guerillas attack Gul Agha's camp, disguised as American commandos, killing
70
KANDAHAR (Islam News): The Arab Mujahideen carried out an extremely well-planned
and unique operation against the American agent Gul Agha. They disguised
themselves as American commandos and headed to Gul Agha's troop positions in the
North East of Kandahar, driving captured American jeeps adorned by captured US
flags. They told the excited crowd that they had come to distribute dollars
amongst them so the troops gathered in a single place. Soon after receiving the
signal, a fleet of ten jeeps loaded with Arab Mujahideen appeared and they
started their attack, killing at least 70 of the troops and seriously injuring
dozens of them. The victorious Mujahideen managed to escape safely from the
scene after causing serious damage to Gul Agha's troops.
US helicopters escape after throwing off 20 died bodies from the aircraft
QUETTA (Islam News): US helicopters flew away throwing off 20 dead bodies at a
small town, Torkhah, in Surkhab Province. These bodies were of Gul Agha's men
and three of them have been identified. Gul Agha's troops now hold the Americans
in great contempt for this inhuman act towards them. The American troops regard
the dead bodies of their own men with all the due respect and show disrespect
and contempt for the bodies of those who help the U.S by fighting against
Taliban, even though hundreds of them have been killed on the front lines by
Taliban troops.
Gul Agha's followers revolt against him. «Taliban are on the right path, we will
no more be with Gul Agha»
CHAMAN (Islam News): Gul Agha's men have started to revolt against him and have
accepted that the Taliban are on the right path. Hayat Hameed Zai (25) confessed
that he was paid ten thousand rupees to fight against Taliban at Takhta Pul. On
the first night of an operation, a colleague, Habibullah Hameed Zai shot dead
three Arabs dead on the orders of Gul Agha and one Arab was arrested. This man
was given a rifle as reward from Gul Agha. The following morning, when Hayat
Hameed Zai saw the bodies of these Arabs, he noticed that their faces were
dazzling radiantly and he didn't take long to realise that these men are the
martyrs and that the Taliban are on the right path. With this thought, he left
Gul Agha's militia and joined the Taliban.
Another man leaving Gul Agha's troops, Sardar, reported that the followers of
Gul Agha neither fast the month of Ramadan nor do they let others fast in this
holy month. He further said that he had been turned out of the militia, being
declared as a spy of Mulla Omar and a traitor to their unit, just because he
wanted to fast.
Hamid Karzai has been seriously injured in a special guerrilla operation be
Taliban
KANDAHAR (Islam News): In the North of Kandahar, Sha Wali Kot district of
Southern Afghanistan, one of the very well known anti-Taliban leaders, Hamid
Karzai, has been seriously injured along with some US soldiers, in a well
planned operation by Taliban guerillas which was originally aimed against the US
commandos.
According to the details, Hamid Karzai was busy in some special meeting with
some US soldiers, when they were attacked by the Mujahideen. The Mujahideen
managed to escape without any damage. The news about his injury has also been
confirmed by Pentagon though they claimed he was injured in the same B-52 bomb
attack that several dozen US soldiers were killed in despite this bombing
dropping several kilometres from Hamid Karzai. It is unbelievable that ordinary
Americans still trust the news given out by their Government after all this.
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan .
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Osama bin Laden, the man held responsible for the atrocities of 11 September,
has evaded his captors and may have made a clean getaway from southern
Afghanistan.
A week ago western intelligence agencies, among them the CIA and the UK's MI6,
were "almost sure" that he was holed up in the natural fortress of the Tora Bora
cave complex in the White Mountains of Nangarhar Province south of Jalalabad.
Local Pashtun forces fighting through the caves and tunnels have found no trace
of the Saudi renegade, and there is every indication that he has skipped
Afghanistan - maybe some time ago. In building expectations that the al Qaeda
leadership would be trapped in the Tora Bora complex, the intelligence agencies
fed chosen journalists with tall tales of how Bin Laden had converted the Tora
Bora into a "multi-layered fortress, with air conditioning, running water,
dormitories and ammunition stores".
From Jalalabad helpful "local journalists" and guides said they knew of men who
had supplied Bin Laden in the White Mountains. One account had an interview with
"Bin Laden's grocer". Other "guides" said they knew "Bin Laden has been moving
about at night, sometimes on foot, often on horseback".
Many of these helpful guides and informants were likely to be plants - used by
the al Qaeda and hardline Taliban forces to cover the flight of their master
strategist. Now the line from Jalalabad is that Bin Laden slipped across the
border into the lawless North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, where he still
has plenty of support. One Pentagon intelligence analyst believes he may have
quit Afghanistan weeks ago. One intelligence analyst dismissed the tales of the
last stand at Tora Bora, as "a load of baloney".
Bin Laden's last recorded interview appeared on 9 November with the Pakistani
journalist Hamid Mir of the English-language Dawn newspaper, which has favoured
a strong pro-Taliban line. Mir met Bin Laden at a "mountain hideout", where the
al Qaeda leader said he and his men would stand and fight "to the death". The
interview now looks suspiciously like a cover for his flight from Afghanistan.
Escape would have been relatively easy. He could have gone through the bandit
country of Baluchistan and down to the coast of Pakistan. An Omani special
forces officer says that easiest route would be west into south eastern Iran.
From there he could have slipped into Yemen, where he has family connections and
supporters, or across into Somalia and possibly on to Sudan.
A new destination on the list is northern Nigeria, where al Qaeda is now
understood to have a firm foothold in the militant Islamic groups involved in a
murderous communal war with local Christians. All these countries now feature on
the list of where America may take its campaign against al Qaeda and global
terrorism next. Unless Iraq comes up first.
+ + + +
DiMethylTryptamine
Rizla Ranger UK
DiMethylTryptamine says...
Rizla Ranger UK
Day one of battle for Tora Bora: Ambush, retreat and ignominy
By Richard Lloyd Parry at Tora Bora
06 December 2001
On a map, it is little more than a mile from the bottom of the White Mountains
to the caves that the al-Qa'ida fighters use, but it took Jan Shah and his
mujahedin three hours to climb the steep forest slope.
They expected some resistance, but there was none, and when they got to the
caves, there was treasure beyond their expectations: 40 four-wheel drive pick-up
trucks, with the keys still inside, abandoned by the al-Qa'ida Arabs three weeks
ago after their retreat into the mountains.
More cautious or more disciplined troops would have followed their orders and
stopped there, but Commander Shah's men pressed ahead.
It was the first day of fighting at Tora Bora. "The battle has started, and we
will persevere until we have eliminated them completely," said Sohrab Qadri, a
mujahedin commander loyal to Jalalabad's security minister, Hazrat Ali. "But the
resistance is very tough, they are fighting hard, and our men have not been able
to go very far."
"We were told just to secure a line," said Commander Shah, "and we met some
villagers who warned us not to go on because the Arabs and Taliban were there.
But when we got up there we were full of courage and so we went on." And that
was when the ambush was sprung.
"We'd been there for five minutes when they suddenly jumped up and began
firing," he said. "I could see their faces, and they were all the faces of
Arabs, not of Afghans. They were firing machine-guns, and I was hit in the left
leg."
The battle lasted for 10 minutes before the ambushers disappeared up the slope,
and the mujahedin limped away. Last night, Commander Shah lay in Jalalabad
hospital alongside one of his injured men.
"I was hurt and I was not sure about what was going on," he said. "But my men
were carrying the dead bodies of our comrades upon their backs." It is
impossible to know the full extent of the casualties.
Last night, usually talkative pro-Western commanders in Jalalabad, the regional
capital, were mysteriously unavailable. But witnesses who left the battle front
after the convoy of journalists in which I travelled spoke of awful scenes –
pick-up trucks bearing dead soldiers, the injured being carried in convoy away
from the front. The battle for Tora Bora is only one day old, but it is already
fulfilling its promise to be one of the most difficult and dangerous of the war.
From the hill where I stood it looked deceptively simple. Beside us,
intermittently deafening us with their shells, were three tanks of the
anti-Taliban mujahedin alliance, with 10 more on the road below. Looming above
them were the White Mountains, and the valley area known as Tora Bora where this
battle is being fought.
In there, hidden from view by the first peak, are the men known as "the Arabs" –
the Chechen, Pakistani and Saudi fighters of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida
network, along with a few remnants of the Taliban. No one really knows how many
there are – some of the mujahedin say 700, other estimates go as high as 2,000.
They have been holed up there for three weeks, since their Taliban allies pulled
out of eastern Afghanistan to beat a strategic retreat to the south.
The Arabs could have pulled out too, to the stronghold of Kandahar, where the
Taliban still hold out. Instead they chose to stay in the White Mountains, the
scene of many battles in Afghanistan's 22-year war.
And with them, the mujahedin commanders say – until a few days ago, at least –
is Osama bin Laden.
After the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1979, the mujahedin themselves hid out
in the caves, enlarging them with dynamite and successfully defending the steep
approaches to the valleys. Later came the al-Qa'ida and Mr bin Laden, who
transformed them into an underground fortress, with doors, concrete walls and
water-driven electricity generators. Now the mujahedin are fighting to take
them, and they know better than anyone what a task that is going to be.
This is an ill-matched battle. Pitched one against another, there would be
little to choose between the mujahedin and the Arabs. The former have tanks,
while their enemies are firing nothing more powerful than Kalashnikov rifles,
machine-guns and short-range mortars. But the Arabs have the tremendous
advantage of the terrain, a narrow but steep mountain range covered with caves
and forests into which they can retreat at will.
But gliding through the sky, scarcely audible at 15,000 feet, is the decisive
factor in this battle: American B-52 bombers.
The mujahedin commanders on the front line carry only walkie-talkies and they
have no way of communicating with the planes above. Yesterday, they simply
watched as a single plane circled again and again. Every 15 minutes or so, a
great muffled boom reverberated through the mountains, accompanied by an orange
flash, then clouds of smoke rising from behind the hill. And then their 13
elderly T-56 tanks loaded and fired at the same spot.
But this is a battle that will be won on the ground, and there the mujahedin had
a mixed day. One thousand of them have gathered here since Tuesday, along with
their battered Russian tanks, and last night more were on the way. The Arabs
have left their cave hideaways for the forest, and to the mujahedin soldiers
moving towards them, they are a faceless enemy. "We can hear them talking to one
another on their radios," said a soldier named Habibullah. "But they call one
another by numbers instead of names. We heard them saying. 'Don't shoot at them
now. Wait until they come up and then surround them, and take them out.' " And
that, as Commander Shah and his over-enthusiastic men discovered, is exactly
what happened.
But the Arabs' supply lines have been cut. The villagers who were bribed and
bullied into delivering water and food are leaving the area, and the stores in
their caves will give out eventually.
"I can't compare them with the Russians because there is no one left to help
them now," said Halim Shah, the commander of the front line. "They are
completely helpless. But they are terrorists."
When you ask how long the battle will last, the mujahedin refuse to answer. And
when you press them, they say, rather hesitantly, "Soon".
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Sam Kiley in Muzaragh, Tora Bora
Anti-Taliban tribal fighters this morning inched their way through abandoned al
Qaeda terrorist positions under the cover of devastating B52 carpet bombing with
a small group of journalists, the first to gain access to part of Osama bin
Laden's mountain redoubt.
Led by Haji Zaman, the main Mujahideen leader on the front line - making his own
reconnaissance before launching an attack on the terrorists dug into caves in
heavily forested ridges between us and the Pakistani border three miles away -
we passed the detritus of a ferocious battle the day before.
Al Qaeda have been equipped with the latest 80mm Soviet mortars which lay
scattered around in positions they abandoned only a few hours before we passed
through. The approach to Tora Bora, a vast natural fortress reinforced with
man-made caves, involved a dangerous drive through dusty foothills before we
came within range of Bin Laden's mortar men at a switchback in the road 3,000
feet above the valley below.
Zaman ordered his men to scatter among the rocks and trees of the hillside as we
crept forward towards the front line where his men had taken heavy casualties
overnight. The Mujahideen are reluctant to discuss their dead and wounded but
one confessed they lost up to 18 men when al Qaeda forces, mostly Arabs and
Chechens, surrounded them. Another fighter said the 18 had not been left dead on
the hillside but had been captured and were being held as hostages by the
terrorists.
Whatever the truth, a heavy price has been paid for yesterday's initial
successes for the Mujahideen when they overran what they described as the
command centre of the terrorists' cave network. They may have underestimated the
extent of Bin Laden's mountain lair but they were deeply respectful of the
fighting skills of his men who have broken up into small teams and have
repeatedly managed to ambush them, inflicting relatively heavy casualties on the
Mujahideen guerrillas who traditionally expect to have the edge in mountain
warfare.
While Zaman's fighters carried out their reconnaissance and their commander
planned his next battle, the B52s bombed the higher ground in a series of ridges
reaching towards the towering snowcapped White Mountain range which are the
terrorists' only escape route. On the lower slopes the fleeing al Qaeda had
clearly lived frugally, carrying only arms and ammunition. Abandoned infantry
positions showed they are accomplished night fighters, leaving no traces of
having used fires to cook while they concentrated their efforts on defending Bin
Laden who the Northern Alliance is convinced has been hiding out in the Tora
Bora complex.
"It's not easy. I'm going to go deep into Tora Bora to get as close as possible
to see what to do next and then I will make my own plan," said Commander Zaman
as he picked his way through the mountains of Tora Bora on foot.
Overnight, Bin Laden's men, defending his mountain lair, had forced Mujahideen
fighters into a temporary withdrawal. B52s dropped cluster bombs on a network of
Bin Laden's caves which remained in his hands on the other slopes of the Tora
Bora area after the Mujahideen overran the network lower down.
The Mujahideen under Hazrat Ali reinforced their positions in the valley below
Tora Bora in Muzaragh with an extra tank and an anti-aircraft cannon but held
their fire in anticipation of US air strikes on the last of the major al Qaeda
redoubts since the surrender of Kandahar started this morning.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
Two pieces of fresh and definitive nuclear intelligence have U.S. Special Forces
frantically searching the Tora Bora cave complex of east Afghanistan and
triggered a major terror alert inside the United States, the third since the
attack on New York and the Pentagon.
In Afghanistan, the U.S. military – combing through the Tora Bora mountain cave
complex 300 miles northeast of Kandahar for Osama bin Laden, his top lieutenant,
Ayman al-Zawahiri, and 1,000 al-Qaida fighters – were ordered to switch their
priorities around. Their top objective now is to locate al-Qaida's weapons of
mass destruction – including nuclear devices – in a desperate race against the
clock.
According to intelligence sources, some 3,000 special forces commandos from the
United States, Britain, Germany and Russia are currently scouring the cave
warren of Tora Bora – which means black dust – for suspected weapons stores.
The special forces personnel operating in the region are attired in protective
suits and carry equipment to counter threats from radiation and biological or
chemical agents. It has been declared a no-go zone for journalists – even those
attached to the U.S. military.
A senior U.S. intelligence source familiar with the Tora Bora operation said the
target area from Jalalabad to the Marines' Reno base south of Kandahar, has been
cleansed of all cameras and media correspondents. The images appearing on
television screens of summer-like conditions at Tora Bora come from archived
footage. At present, the edges of the area north of Kandahar are dusted with
snow, and winter is raging in north, northwest and western Afghanistan,
encumbering U.S. intelligence-gathering and air operations.
The latest intelligence reports in U.S. hands claim that al-Qaida chiefs removed
their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons arsenal from secret hideouts in
Kabul to Tora Bora six days in advance of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and
Washington. That information persuaded Russian, Pakistani and Northern Alliance
intelligence that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri went somewhere else, anxious to
remove themselves from harm's way anywhere near a site where weapons of
mass-destruction might explode.
Military sources report that because of the bad weather, sorties by drones and
B-52 bombers and F-18 warplanes over Tora Bora and territory south of Jalalabad
are intermittent. U.S. air operations are also disrupted in such areas as Paktia
and Lugar in the southeast.
A further downturn is forecast by meteorologists in the days to come, with heavy
snowstorms threatening Jalalabad in the east. Those forecasts persuaded
President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and U.S. military chiefs that
no time must be lost in the search for al-Qaida's nuclear weapons – particularly
in view of the second piece of alarming intelligence reaching Washington Nov.
27, primarily from Pakistan.
Bin Laden and his partner, al-Zawahiri, are now reported to be planning to take
advantage of the slowdown in U.S. air activity forced by the inclement weather
to complete their preparations for massive pre-Christmas terrorist strikes in
the United States, including a possible nuclear or radiological weapon attack.
The target period referred to was between Dec. 5 and Dec. 20. Al-Qaida's
operational teams were described as standing by at the various departure points,
some waiting only for the delivery of explosives, others just for their last
order to go.
Bush dispatched CIA Chief George Tenet urgently to Islamabad to establish the
credibility of this intelligence data with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
and the heads of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence service.
According to sources, Musharraf showed Tenet documents and first-hand witness
accounts collected in the past two weeks by Pakistani military intelligence
officers who had discovered and entered underground stores around Kabul, in
which high levels of nuclear radiation were detected. The Pakistani agents also
spent large sums of money to buy from Kabul locals descriptions of the men in
charge of the stores and anything they may have picked up about the type of
goods cached there.
They came up with a description of dark-colored, cone-shaped, ultra-heavy
containers, about 4 feet long, which they were given to understand were
radioactive. The guards, identified as a special al-Qaida unit of foreigners,
Egyptians, Saudis and Chechens, spoke to no one. Their commanders communicated
directly with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri.
According to sources in Islamabad, Musharraf advised the CIA director to go to
Kabul himself and verify the information firsthand. They report that Tenet took
this advice and paid a secret visit to the Afghan capital Sunday, Dec. 2, under
the protection of U.S. and Russian special forces units.
With the help of interpreters, he and his assistants interrogated the Pakistani
agents' sources directly. After six hours in Kabul, Tenet called the White House
to confirm the Pakistan report, adding that it tied in with previous
intelligence attesting to nuclear activity in the Tora Bora complex.
Washington's order to switch the objectives of the Tora Bora offensive went out
accordingly at the beginning of the week. A nuclear terror alert was declared in
the United States Dec. 4.
American armed forces in Afghanistan are in a race against the weather, too. The
heavy snows expected around Dec. 10 to 12 will make their task almost
impossible, forcing them to wait for the spring thaw. If Tora Bora is left in
Taliban and al-Qaida hands, it would serve as a forward base for guerrilla
forays to harass U.S. forces at Kandahar and Jalalabad and loosen their grip.
Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri would win a breather of five long months safe from
large-scale U.S. assault.
+ + + +
oh, and today is Pearl Harbour annivesary
"A day that shall live in Infamy"
+ + + +
http://torabora.newstrove.com/
+ + + +
Swarvegorilla
in foxholes in an NBC suit and covered all that land warrior shit........
I don't really think I envy the '1000' SF commando sniper special seal green
beret delta SAS elite stormtroopers too much...
Swarvegorilla....... great nukes........
Rizla Ranger UK
BBC
The World Health Organisation has said that an outbreak of fever in the west
African country of Gabon is ebola, the usually fatal viral disease.
A WHO spokesman said seven people had died so far.
It is the first known outbreak of the disease since 224 people died of it in
Uganda last year.
The WHO spokesman, Gregory Hartl, said two teams of specialists were on their
way to Gabon to help deal with the outbreak.
The specialists will try and contain the outbreak as well as investigate its
source.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of a separate outbreak in the nearby
Democratic Republic of Congo.
A total of 28 people have died in this outbreak, although DR Congo health
officials say the fever is unlikely to be Ebola, as had been earlier feared, but
a similar hemorrhagic fever.
There is no known cure for Ebola and 70% of its victims bleed to death within
days.
The Gabon outbreak is in the remote province of Ogooue Ivindo in the country's
north-east.
Gabon was last afflicted by ebola in an outbreak in 1996-97 that killed 45 of
the 60 people infected.
Remote village
The cases in DR Congo have been reported in a remote village 500 kilometres east
of the capital, Kinshasa. A team of epidemiologists and doctors is on its way to
carry out further tests and treat the sufferers.
The village in West Kasai province, Mbisangandu, is only accessible by an
aeroplane flight, a journey by dugout canoe, and then a 15km walk through thick
forest.
In another worrying development, five people in a village some 90km away are
also feared to have been affected.
Dr Mapunza Mamieza, chairman of the Ministry of Health's emergency committee,
said the Ebola virus could almost certainly be ruled out, and several patients
had responded well to treatment from antibiotics.
Rebels
The challenge now is to establish what the virus is, which means sending samples
to a clinic in South Africa, isolating the affected communities, and getting
treatment for the patients.
Rebels controlling the eastern half of the country are being asked to allow
movement of sufferers and doctors across the frontline which runs close to the
affected area.
Officials reported that the nearest hospital is in rebel hands.
Ebola was discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in the DR Congo.
+ + + +
A Bolivian government commission has begun an investigation into the
circumstances surrounding the death of a peasant leader in the central province
of Chapare last week.
Casimiro Huanca died on Thursday after being shot as police tried to disperse
coca farmers, who were gathered outside their local union headquarters.
Reports say the police fired shots into the air and threw teargas grenades.
Coca-farmers allege that Mr Huanca was shot twice by officers after they had
pushed him to the ground.
The government has denied responsibility for the killing.
But the Bolivian Assembly for Human Rights warned it would take the case to the
Organisation of American States if there was not a thorough investigation in the
death - the latest in a series during clashes between security forces and coca
farmers opposed to the government's drug-eradication programme.
+ + + +
Suspected Algerian Islamic militants have killed 17 civilians and wounded four
others in the worst attack so far during this year's Ramadan, the Muslim holy
month.
Algerian security sources said the attack occurred late on Thursday night in the
area of Cadat in the province of Ain Defla, about 130 kilometres (81 miles)
south west of Algiers.
According to the official APS news agency, the security forces have launched "a
vast operation to look for the criminals." No details on the identity of the
victims have been given.
The month of Ramadan normally sees an escalation of violence in Algeria, where
more than 100,000 people have been killed in 10 years of violence between
Islamic militants and the military-backed government.
The violence brought the number of people killed since the start of Ramadan,
which began on 16 November, to 48.
Violence erupted in Algeria after authorities cancelled a general election in
January 1992 which Islamic fundamentalists were poised to win.
Since then according to official figures more than 100,000 people have been
killed - although independent sources put the death toll at 150,000.
+ + + +
A helicopter has crashed in northern Afghanistan killing 22 people, including
three anti-Taleban military commanders.
The reason for the crash, near the town of Farkhar in the mountainous province
of Takhar, is not immediately clear.
One of dead, identified as Mohammed Mustafa, was the commander of a Northern
Alliance unit which had guarded the late guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Masood.
Two others - Arbab Mohammed Hashim and Mirza Ghulam Nasiri - were well-known
ethnic Pashtun leaders thought to have defected from the Taleban during the
militia's defeat in Kunduz province last month.
The Pakistan-based news agency, Afghan Islamic Press, reported that Hashim's
supporters were alleging that their leader was deliberately killed, but the
Northern Alliance said it was an accident.
+ + + +
Security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir have rejected allegations that
they opened fire indiscriminately when an army convoy was attacked in Baramullah
north of Srinagar.
Five civilians were among the nine people killed.
A soldier, a policeman and two militants also died.
In addition, around 25 people were injured during the fierce gun battle.
Local residents had claimed the army had fired back at random when the convoy
was ambushed.
+ + + +
The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
December 7, 2001
Kinny Ntambale
AN illegal fuel vendor of Kalomo died from snake bites at the weekend after he
wrestled with a huge black mamba which attacked him as he cycled home.
The man in his mid 20s, was attacked by the black mamba as he cycled 20
kilometres from Kalomo on the Livingstone/Lusaka Road.
According to eyewitnesses, the black mamba known for its stealthiness and
aggression bit the man several times before he dismounted and engaged it in a
fierce battle killing it after over an hour.
The man who was named by police died few hours later, the snake was displayed by
mourners on his grave.
The snake is believed to be the most vernomous in Africa and attacks anything in
its way even if unprovoked.
Meanwhile, villagers in Luangwa district are complaining about the numerous
attacks of elephants in the area.
Last week a woman was attacked when she tried to chase the animals from her
maize ban.
Susan Kaluba said her sister-in-law was attacked at night by the elephants which
had started to eat the maize in the ban.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 10, 2001
A Journalist's Assignment to Slum War-Front Detailed to Cover the Kibera
Violence to Back Up a Colleague Already On the Scene, Photographer Joseph
Mathenge Could Not Have Prepared Himself Well Enough for What Was to Follow.
Within the Hour, a Youth Would Be Hacked to Death Before His Eyes. This is His
Account of Events On Tuesday, December 4. a Menacing Gang of Youths Approaches.
They Wave Their Pangas And Rungus As They Advance On a Hapless Young Man
Suspected to be one of the arsonists who set houses on Karanja Road on fire, the
young man looks like a hunted animal.
There are more than 20 people armed with pangas, simis and rungus. They kick and
punch him until he falls to the ground before they start slashing and cutting
him. A few, realising that l am setting my camera sights on them, advance
menacingly.
"Usijaribu kupiga picha ama utakiona! (Don't dare take any photographs or we
will deal with you!") one of them shouts. I am forced to acquiesce as the
combatants surround me.
Lying on the ground, the injured man tries to shield himself from the blows with
his hands. His white shirt is soaked in blood as the slashing continues.
His grey trousers are torn to shreds as his screaming assailants shout "Ua!"
(Kill!) and chop him up systematically.
Just a few meters away, police are lobing tear gas canisters at a group of
arsonists who are systematically setting houses on fire. Fear-ridden residents
appeal for mercy. "Mwacheni! Msamehe!" (Leave him! Forgive him!) most of the
women in the crowd plead as the slaughter of the man continues.
Alerted by the screams, policemen arrive at the scene and succeed in dispersing
the murderous group.
Abandoned even by the crowd which minutes earlier had been pleading for his
life, the young man writhes in pain. He dies minutes later.
I had not experienced a scene like this before. Desperate were faces before me -
women yelling their hearts out as they watched their houses, their very
livelihoods, reduced to ashes. Others called out for their missing children.
Desperate policemen, determined to intervene - found themselves trapped by
menacing youths who brandished sharp pangas.
I watch as the youths trample on another man and then hack him to death,
mercilessly. I am sternly warned not to take pictures.
I plead with an armed policeman to spare at least a bullet or two as our only
hope against the blood-thirsty youths. However, the GSU come in good time.
We run as fast as we can. I step on a nail which pierces the sole of my shoe. I
pull it out and run for the wound can only be nursed later.
At the time, the local chief's camp is overcrowded by Kibera residents seeking
refuge. Others try to lock themselves up in the ruined houses.
Children can be seen frantically crying for a helping hand as domestic animals
are left without minders. A slum best known for congestion and teething
population is now shockingly empty.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 10, 2001
Nation Team
Eighteen people have been arrested in Mandera over possible links with Mr Osama
bin Laden.
They include an outspoken imam. Police spokesman Dola Indidis confirmed the
arrest of the preacher, but did not give details.
The imam was reportedly held on the orders of the US Federal Bureau of
Investigations.
Several attempts to contact the Mandera district commissioner and police boss
were unsuccessful as telephone links between Nairobi and the district had
collapsed.
Sources told the Nation that the imam was picked up on Saturday at a Mandera
mosque on the orders of America's Federal Bureau of Investigations, which has
been tracking down allies of the fugitive being sought for the September 11
killings in New York.
The latest development comes on the heels of claims by Fafi MP Barre Shill that
"thousands of residents in Hulugho division" were connected to Al-Itihad, an
organisation suspected to have links with Mr bin Laden.
The statement drew the anger of local leaders, particularly the Muslim
leadership.
Intelligence sources told the Nation that security had been tightened in the
northern frontier, particularly in Wajir and Mandera districts.
Recent reports have pointed to a US military build-up off the coast of Somalia.
Border surveillance has been reinforced to stop an influx of Somali refugees
fleeing the possibility of military action against that country by the United
States.
The action comes barely two days after the Nation exclusively reported the
presence in Kenya of an elite team of US finance experts who were preparing an
onslaught on terror merchants who use the country's porous borders and banking
regulations to disguise funds intended to finance attacks. The move on the
frontiers is also meant to forestall terrorists infiltrating the country through
Somalia.
Several Kenyan traders operating in Somalia have already returned home and more
are expected over fears that America may attack Somalia for its perceived
support of terrorism.
The collapse of the Taliban regime has shifted America's anti-terrorism war to
Africa - particularly Somalia and the Sudan, which are increasingly viewed as
possible sanctuaries for terrorists.
Sources say the US believes cells of Mr bin Laden's Al Qaeda group operate in
Kenya, where dirty money is funnelled into terror activities such as the 1998
bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
This is so because Kenya lacks airtight legislation against international money
laundering, the source of funds for new atrocities. Money laundering is only
mentioned in the Narcotics Act of 1994.
Experts interviewed yesterday could offer no estimates of the amounts involved
in the money laundering industry.
Reported by Catherine Gicheru, Ken Opala and Waweru Mugo
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 7, 2001
Liberia's Defence Minister Daniel Chea said government troops killed 28 fighters
of the armed opposition it had been battling since last week, including a senior
commander in their northern stronghold of Kolahun, news organisations reported
on Thursday.
"The deputy chief of staff of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and
Democracy (LURD) force, Randall Mulbah, and 27 [fighters] were killed in a
fierce fight for Foya," Reuters reported Chea as saying in a statement. Two
other senior LURD officers, he was reported as saying, had been seriously
wounded while two troop carriers and one anti-aircraft gun were destroyed by
government soldiers.
The government Radio Liberia International (RLI) reported on Friday that the
town of Kolahun which was partially occupied by the LURD fighters was currently
under siege on three fronts.
It reported Chea as saying that naval forces of the Armed Forces of Liberia
(AFL) were advancing from the Foya region, while the combined forces of marines
and large platoon were "closing in rapidly on Kolahun". According to Chea, the
objective of the latest siege was to "finally liberate Kolahun"
Meanwhile, the government announced a search to determine the whereabouts of a
senior military intelligence officer, Emmet Ross, who reportedly fell into an
ambush while on a special mission in northern Lofa county, RLI said on Friday.
Ross, also deputy minister for operations in the ministry of national security,
was among a number of junior officers collecting military intelligence at the
front in the Belle forest region.
"His convoy came under a surprise ambush attack, and reports received from the
Ministry of National Defence indicate that he, along with three of his junior
officers, are currently missing in action," RLI said.
It reported President Charles Taylor as expressing distress over the incident
and that he had ordered a search led by Chea "to rescue Ross and his
colleagues".
Six months ago, Liberia's Youth and Sports Minister, Francis Massaquoi, who
according to the government was on a "humanitarian mission" to deliver relief
supplies, was killed in Lofa County.
LURD dissidents have been fighting in the northern and northwestern parts of
Liberia since 1998 for the overthrow of the Taylor government. Since September,
it has intensified its activities in the area.
+ + + +
Daily Trust (Abuja)
December 10, 2001
Shehu Abubakar
Benin City
Hundreds of motorcy-clists staged a violent demonstration yesterday in Benin
City, the Edo State capital, following the murder of a commercial motorcyclist
by some people alleged to be armed mobile policemen on night patrol.
Mr. Osaro Iyiriaho, 35, was said to have been shot on the head, and instantly
dropped dead from his motorcycle, a Yamaha with registration number ED 6629 BD,
while conveying a passenger to a nearby street.
Bonfires were set all over the major streets of Benin with hundreds of
motorcyclists and sympathisers taking to the streets singing solidarity songs
and condemning the police.
Briefing newsmen in the premises of Benin Central Hospital, where Osaro's body
was said to have been deposited, Mr. Friday Iyiriaho, who identified himself as
the immediate elder brother of late Osaro, alleged that the police were
responsible for his brother's death.
Mr. Iyiriaho said the state commissioner of police had yesterday morning invited
relations to the deceased to his office and apologised to them, promising that
the matter will be thoroughly investigated and action taken as the entire patrol
team were arrested and detained in the state Criminal Investigation Department.
A female member of the deceased's family also showed newsmen three used empty
shells of ammunitions allegedly used by the police at the scene of the incident.
A team of armed mobile policemen in a police armoured car with registration
number PF 2903 E/D and three "Operation Wipe" MAZDA vans stormed the scene of
the incident yesterday afternoon, shooting into the air and throwing canisters
of teargas smoke to scare the crowd.
After about two hours of waiting by newsmen at the Police Headquarters in Benin
City to get the police side of the story, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Yekini Jimoh, who was said to be away by a personal aide in his office, was seen
leaving the office in a cream flowing gown in his official car, avoiding the
journalists.
The Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Akan Ezima, who arrived the
headquarters on a bike was seen rushing out of the premises on the same bike,
shortly after exchanging pleasantries with the waiting pressmen.
+ + + +
KANDAHAR (Islam News): What follows is the message which Usama Bin Laden
conveyed to the youth of the Muslim Ummah.
"My beloved brothers in Islam,
Assalamu-alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
We have been struggling right from our youth; we sacrificed our homes, families
and all the luxuries of this worldly life in the path of Allah (we ask Allah to
accept our efforts). In our youth, we fought with and defeated the (former) USSR
(with the help of Allah), a world super power at the time, and now we are
fighting the USA. We have never let the Muslim Ummah down.
We should realise that this life is temporary and eventually we have to return
to Allah (SWT), the lord of the Heavens and the earth.
"Truly To Allah we belong and truly, to Allah we shall return."
Muslims are being humiliated, tortured and ruthlessly killed all over the world
and it is time to fight these satanic forces with the utmost strength and power.
Today, the whole of the Muslim Ummah is dependening (after Allah) upon the
Muslim youth, hoping that they would never let them down.
The Jihad (fighting in the way of Allah) has become Fard-Ain (obligatory) upon
each and every Muslim. We advise the Muslim youth not to fall victim to the
words of some scholars who are misleading the Ummah by stating that Jihad is
still Fard-Kifayah. The time has come when all the Muslims of the world,
especially the youth, should unite and soar against Kufr and continue Jihad till
these forces are crushed to nought, all the anti-Islamic forces are wiped off
from the face of this Earth and Islam takes over the whole world and all the
other false religions."
"And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e.
worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for
Allah Alone [in the whole of the world]. But if they cease (worshipping others
besides Allah), then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do."
[Surah Al-Anfal]
We ask Allah (SWT) to rank us amongst His Truthful slaves.
Wassalamu-alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
Your brother,
Usama Bin Laden"
Arab Mujahideen Force America’s agents to Retreat From Tora Bora - Around 200
Killed or Injured
Jalalabad (Islam News/Radio Report): Arab Mujahhideen in Tora Bora, situated to
the south of Jalalabad, had fierce clashes with the troops of local commanders
Haji Zaman, Hazrat Ali and Zahir, causing them to retreat with heavy casualties.
According to the news report, the enemy troops attacked under the cover of
intense American aerial bombing and heavy artillery including tanks, armoured
personal carriers (APCs), etc. Initially they advanced forward but the Arab
Mujahideen repulsed their attack and they were forced to retreat. According to
BBC and other journalists who visited the region, the Mujahideen had left their
posts for sometime, but when these local commanders advanced, the Mujahideen
were able to push them back and strengthen their control over the region.
According to a journalist in Tora Bora, Friday’s clashes resulted in death of
several fighters of the Eastern Shura Core Commander Haji Zaman. Six men from
Hazrat Ali’s group were also captured by Arab Mujahideen.
According to the news received by ‘The Daily Islam’ from Tora Bora, the
Jalalabad government sustained heavy casualties with almost 200 of the agents of
America being killed or severely injured. The source also mentioned that there
are around 600 Arab Mujahideen fighting with great courage despite the intense
bombardment over the last 2 months. The news also said that the Mujahideen had
sent a message to the Jalalabad government through Dr. Amin (a local resident),
saying they had no conflicts with the Afghans and they should not get between
them and the US troops. The Mujahideen will deal with the Americans insha-Allah.
The Arab Mujahideen wish that American troops would launch attacks themselves so
that they have a chance to fight them face to face. They also wished not to kill
afghans.
There are no reports of any reply from Jalalabad government to this message so
far.
The bodies of Three American Soldiers Reach Germany
Berlin (Monitoring Desk): Three bodies of American soldiers have reached
Germany, an international reporting agency said from Lamstein airbase. The
agency told that the bodies were of 2 American green beret soldiers who died in
Kandahar and one was of an American Serviceman who was probably present on USS
Kittyhawk and died in an accident. These bodies were transferred to the cold
storage at Lamstein airbase. The three dead personnel are reported to be 32 year
sergeant First class Daniel Henry from Massachusetts, 28 year old staff sergeant
Bren Cody Procer from California and 39 year old Master sergeant Jefferson
Donald Davis from Tennessee (who served aboard the Kittyhawk).
Arab Mujahideen Attack Kandahar airport, Gul Agha's Troops Flee
Kandahar (Islam News): Despite the withdrawal of the Taliban, the American and
Coalition forces kept up the intense bombing in the south of Kandahar airport.
Reports from Kandahar say that about 100 Arabs are fortified inside the airport
and intense fighting is going on between Gul Agha supporters and Arabs.
Yesterday, after the Gul Agha's men captured the airport, the Mujahideen
counter-attacked from the rear causing severe damage, following which Gul Agha's
men were forced to escape from the region.
Most of the Arab Mujahideen shifted to safer places before the Taliban
withdrawal from Kandahar
Kandahar (Islam News): At the time of withdrawal of Taliban forces from
Kandahar, a large number of Arab Mujahideen were present. To find out what
happened to them and where they are now, after the withdrawal, Islam News
contacted Taliban representative in Pakistan Mulla Abdus Salam Zaeef. Mulla
Zaeef said that the Mujahideen had been present in Kandahar and nearby areas but
they had shifted to safer places on Thursday, and those who remained in Kandahar
were very few. Other Taliban officials said that the Arab Mujahideen had
evacuated Kandahar, although a few Arab Mujahideen were present in the vicinity
of Kandahar Airport region. If the reports of fighting in this region are true
then these were the Mujahideen who refused to evacuate or surrender weapons.
These Mujahideen will fight till they gain martyrdom.
Another Commander in Kandahar told BBC there were no Arab Mujahideen present in
Kandahar and they unaware of where they had gone. According to analysts, the
shifting of large number of Arab Mujahideen towards safer places is a great
shock to American and Coalition Members, and this is considered to be the
complete defeat to the US who wanted to kill them all in Kandahar.
Taliban forces have taken their weapons along with them at the time of the
withdrawal from Kandahar
Kandahar ( Islam News): After the agreement with Mulla Naqibullah, Taliban
forces started evacuating Kandahar since Thursday night, and have also taken
away their weapons in large numbers along with them. A few local Taliban,
however, gave away their weapons to Mulla Naqibullah, who is holding KOTWALI.
According to news, as soon as the Taliban forces evacuated Kandahar, there was
chaos and looting in the city. Check posts are being set up in different parts
of the city that are under control of soldiers loyal to Gul Agha, Hamid Karzai,
Mulla Naqibullah and Gul Agha Sherzai. News of firing from different parts of
the city were also reported.
Withdrawal of the Taliban from Kandahar came peacefully after agreement from a
Shura (Council) constituting the Taliban and Mulla Naqibullah
Kandahar (Islam News): The peaceful evacuation of Taliban forces from Kandahar,
was based on a Shura agreement between the Taliban and Mulla Naqibullah. The
Shura included Defence Minister Mulla Ubaidullah Akhwand, Taliban's well-known
commander Mulla Bradar and respected scholars. Before the evacuation, the
Taliban handed over their heavy weapons including tanks, armoured personal
carriers and other weapons to Mulla Naqibullah while taking small weapons along
with them.
The new also reported that the Taliban's withdrawal from Kandahar was totally
peaceful and there were no reports of chaos or disturbance. This is evident from
the fact that although according to the agreement the evacuation had to be
completed within 4 days, it was completed by Friday afternoon. It must be
clarified that Mulla Naqibullah was a former Taliban member and he was the Core
Commander of Kandahar before the arrival of Taliban forces. He invited Taliban
to come to Kandahar in the beginning of the Taliban and fully cooperated with
them. He also provided heavy weapons at that time, which benefited Taliban
forces considerably.
"Alhamdulillah, Ameer-ul-Mumineen Mulla Mohammad Umar is in complete safety",
says the Ameer’s representative, Syed Tayyab Agha.
Kandahar (Islam News): In a briefing to Islam News, Syed Tayyab Agha said that
Ameer-ul-Mumineen Mulla Mohammad Umar is in Afganistan and in complete saftey.
He declared that the rumours, stating Ameer-ul-Momineen Mulla Mohammad Umar to
have been captured, as COMPLETELY BASELESS and FALSE. He further mentioned that
the Taliban leadership and top commanders are also in complete safety and are
fine.
Sheikh Usama bin Laden is alive and well - Arab Mujahideen.
Kandahar (Islam News): For the first time after Taliban's evacuation from Kabul,
news has been recieved that Sheikh Usama bin Laden is safe. In the news received
from Kandahar, at the time of evacuation from Kandahar, the Arab Mujahideen told
Taliban officials that they were in contact with Sheikh Usama and that he is
fine and absolutely safe. The American bombing campaign against him has been a
failure and has been unable to hurt him. The Arab Mujahideen did not disclose
Sheikh Usama's whereabouts. They further said that the news about Dr.
Aiman-az-Zawahari being injured or martyred is false. It must be clarified that
this is the first statement made about Sheikh Usama after the evacution from
Kabul. While evacuating from Kabul, the Taliban had said they were not in
contact with Sheikh Usama and neither did they know his whereabouts. The Arab
Mujahideen had also not given any statements either.
Chances of fighting breaking out between rebel groups in wake of Taliban's
evacuation from Kandahar.
Kandahar (Radio Report): It is being reported that the city of Kandahar has been
hit by wide spread chaos, severe tension and robberies after the Taliban's
peaceful evacuation from the city. Different commanders have set up governments
in their own local areas and have put up check-posts to terrorise and loot the
people. The population of Kandahar is worried that fighting will break out
between the commanders. The forces of the American agent Gul Agha and the forces
of the other agent Hamid Karzai have already squared off in the southern border
town of Spin Boldak. Heavy movement of Pakistani armed forces towards the
Chamen-Spin Boldak border has also been witnessed.
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan.
+ + + +
More L8R
Hope everyone had a great weekend
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
the mathematical value of "balance" or, "Truth"...
From Azzam, I've bought Chechnya combat footage CD Roms.
Yesterday, I saw the same footage and CD used to indicate
guilt of the men held in Spain for terrosrist charges. They said
"it clearly shows the planning of attacks" etc etc yadda yadda.
The CD's clearly show attacks being planned for January 2001,
against Russian troops.
That's why I H8 journalists.
They speak with forked tongue, Kimosabe.
Yet the KKK websites are still up and running
and saying the thing's they say.......
Read Azzam's comments, and
always keep that mind open ;)
Buy the CDRoms, they are a cheap & interesting
insight into the mindset and tactics of these
people - the kinda stuff we usually only ever
get to see ALTERED by our respective Nations
news media providers ...
Respec', to ALL!
Riz
(a non-aligned interested party)
+ + + +
Freedom of Speech: The First Casualty of 11 September 2001
The Azzam Publications web-sites azzam.com and qoqaz.net have been down
since the week following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. The
purpose of the article is to explain why and how this happened.
Why were the azzam.com and qoqaz.net sites shut down?
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 created over 6000 casualties. The
first of these casualties was put by President Bush, in his own words:
"Today, our way of life, our freedom, was attacked." The American people
lost their freedom of speech on 11 September 2001 and democracy was dealt a
lethal blow. The FBI proceeded to shut down any web-site that did not agree
with American Foreign Policy, under the pretext that they were supporting
terrorism. This was done by putting psychological pressure and blackmailing
the web hosting companies. They used these childish tactics because they
knew that according to International Law, both of these sites had not broken
any laws and therefore they could not cite any legal grounds for shutting
down the sites officially.
Surely these web sites contain content that some people may consider
extremist?
Extremism is a relative term. Just because you disagree with someone's point
of view, it does not make him an extremist. We disagree with some things
said by President Bush but for those reasons, we do not and will not call
him an extremist. The American people, perhaps the least independent and
free-thinking people in the World have been brainwashed into thinking that
any opinion that disagrees with American hegemony is an extremist and
terrorist opinion. The point in question is not extremist opinions but legal
and illegal content. Our site contents are regularly checked by legal
experts to verify that we are not breaking any international laws. If these
experts have missed any illegal content and it is brought to our attention,
we guarantee to remove this content, not because we agree with man-made
'international law', but in order to expose the hypocrisy of the hypocrites.
We give some examples of where we have stayed within international law
ourselves and encouraged other Muslims to do the same:
Reactionary behaviour to crises in the Muslim World: We encouraged the
Muslims not to react to crises affecting the Muslim world in places such as,
e.g. Chechnya, Palestine, etc. by random illegal acts of violence, e.g.
explosions, etc. Rather we said that the one who wants to act should act in
the place of action, which is far away from a comfortable lifestyle in a
Western country.
Firearms training in the UK: We discouraged Muslims from attempting to train
using live firearms in the UK when similar training could be done legally
elsewhere. We also warned them to stay away of 'Muslim' personalities who
were offering or encouraging this training.
11 September 2001: We did not condone the attacks of 11 September 2001. We
refer to them in the same words of Mullah Muhammad Umar, "Acts of terror"
and Usama bin Ladin "I have nothing to do with these terrorist attacks". We
also offered condolences to the innocent victims of those attacks, and the
truly innocent victims of those attacks are known to Allah Alone. We do not
know what was inside the heart of every single person killed, whether it was
good or bad, so we leave that to Allah to decide and raise the victims on
the Day of Judgement according to their intentions.
On the other hand, it is well known that some American White Nationalist
organisations openly supported the attacks and declared publicly that since
the attacks killed Jews and damaged the ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government) of
the USA, they were worthy of being supported. Look at www.stormfront.org or
www.natall.com as examples. On the other hand, you have Zionist Extremist
web-sites maintained and hosted in America, such as http://freeman.io.com.
Why were sites like this not shut down which may seem to some as publicly
advocating extremist views? We are not saying that these sites should be
shut down because that is against one of the basic tenets of a free society
that you allow someone to express his opinion even though you dislike it. We
ourselves disagree with the opinions held on these sites but consider there
to be more benefit in allowing the sites to remain online rather than
attempting to shut them down, for the following three reasons:
a) If the attempt to shut down these sites is publicised, they will attract
more attention and interest because people will want to know why they were
shut down
b) An individual from an opposing point of view can go to such a web-site
and understand the reasoning behind why people hold those opinions, which
perhaps we consider extreme. For example, white nationalists call the
American Government ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government) because they feel that
the rights of American citizens have been usurped by a hard core of Zionists
within the US Administration, which place Israeli interests before American
interests.
c) It is impossible to shut down these sites entirely without actually
shutting down the Internet. It just causes minor inconvenience for both the
authorities and the webmasters, but the content remains online. In fact,
such immature actions actually harden the resolve of the webmasters to
ensure their content remains online and they work harder to guarantee that.
They think that the proof of the truth of their content lies with the fact
that attempts are being made to censor this content and so it makes them
even more determined to keep it online.
Reporting statements made by 'extremists': When we relate statements by
individuals considered to be 'extremists' like Field Commander Khattab,
Mullah Muhammad Umar or Usama bin Ladin, we are 'advocating terrorism'. When
ABC News, Reuters and CNN relate such statements in full, translated,
transcribed and explained, they are just 'relating news'. Why does exactly
the same piece of news become 'advocating terrorism' when related by
Muslims, yet it remains news when related by non-Muslims? Like it or not,
someone like Field Commander Khattab is as much a party to the conflict in
Chechnya as Vladimir Putin is. This is a fact that cannot be avoided or
brushed under the carpet, no matter how much one hates Khattab or Putin.
Why are newspapers then reporting that organisations like Azzam Publications
are being investigated for terrorism and 'money laundering' activities?
The fact that articles are still being written and submitted and some
attempts are being made to keep the sites online is the strongest proof yet
that Azzam Publications is not breaking international law. Since we have not
broken the law, we do not advocate breaking the law and will adjust our work
if new laws are introduced which make our work 'illegal', we do not expect
to be 'busted', 'raided' or 'arrested'. We know our limits and we remain
within them. As for being investigated for 'money laundering', that's the
first we've heard of it! No-one has asked us any questions about money
laundering. Anyone who has emailed us during the last few years asking us to
accept donations to 'pass on' to Mujahideen in various countries will know
that every one of these requests has been declined because when we say we do
not accept or 'pass on' donations, we mean it. Our postal box has been open
to inspection by law enforcement authorities who can view the few £3 or $5
orders that we receive for our products, for the last few years. However, we
will not be surprised if our postal box is closed down. In fact, we will
consider it as a success if it is shut down because it will enable us to
concentrate all our efforts in putting our products online.
What do you expect to happen to you in the future?
We expect 'cat and mouse' games to be played with our sites so we ask our
viewers to be patient and to constantly check
http://msanews.mynet.net/MSANEWS.htm for postings relating to our latest
mirror site. We expect our postal address to be shut down by the slaves of
American Intelligence agencies (British law enforcement authorities). This
will give us more time to concentrate on providing our content online.
Therefore we will endeavour to put all our books, audio and video material
online. We also expect the availability of online material to increase our
site traffic because people will be interested to know why these products
were banned from sale. Finally we expect false copies to be made of our site
in order to divert the public. All of these measures will just strengthen
our position and interest in our material.
Do you think you will be closed down?
Allah has promised to preserve the Truth so He will preserve it with or
without us. Therefore, all attempts to shut down our sites will be futile.
If they shut down one site, we will just open another one. Since Allah has
enabled our reputation to settle in the hearts of sincere Muslims, we don't
think that we will have a problem generating traffic to our sites.
What do you say to the law enforcement authorities?
We say to them that you will never be able to completely eradicate our
material so it is probably better if you do us both a favour and avoid
yourself the hassle and inconvenience of trying to shut our sites down. We
know our limits and have always stayed within the law. If there is a single
word on our site that is against international law, we will remove it.
Allowing our site to remain online gives you two benefits: (a) It enables
you to track and understand the Muslim 'extremist' point of view and thus
may aid you with intelligence in your War against Islam/Terrorism. (b) The
more fuss you make about our site, the more following it will attract. By
shutting down our sites you have already given our name a well-known brand.
Now, even if we are without a site, we only have to post our material to
various discussion lists around the World and the Muslims themselves will
spread it. Therefore you may as well leave us alone!
Finally, good luck to you in what you believe in.
We may not agree with you but we respect your right to hold those opinions.
+ + + +
Warning Regarding British Muslims Going for Jihad in Afghanistan
"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
Since the start of the US Crusade on Afghanistan, a Muslim organisation
based in the UK has been appearing in the media issuing statements and
interviews about British Muslims going for Jihad in Afghanistan. Since our
launch in 1996, it has been the policy of Azzam Publications to remain clear
of differences amongst Muslims and to avoid neverending debates. However,
due to events following the 07 October 2001 start of the bombing campaign on
Afghanistan, we have decided that we owe a responsibility to our sincere
Muslim brothers and sisters in the UK and around the World and inform them
of information that has been known to us for a long time. If we withhold
this information today, it may be that Allah will hold us accountable on the
Day of Judgement. Therefore, bearing this in mind, we would like to bring
the following points to the attention of the Muslim community in Britain and
overseas, without mentioning names. We ask our Muslims brothers and sisters
to look at and study this information with a clear, unemotional heart and
ask themselves what we have to gain personally by giving away this
information. We do not need publicity or advertising and we are not an
organisation that wants to recruit members or collect donations.
In October 2001, the British Press and other Western Media reported that
four British Muslims had been killed in Afghanistan. Spokesmen for a
British-based Muslim organisation, both in the UK and in Pakistan, issued
statements and interviews to the Media containing the following information:
Full names and places of residence of the British Muslims who were killed.
That these Muslims went to fight Jihad in Afghanistan and they were killed
during the course of this.
That hundreds more British Muslims had already gone to fight in Afghanistan.
That this organisation has offices in Peshawar and Lahore, Pakistan, and it
has sent and continues to send dozens of British Muslims across the border
into Afghanistan, after providing them with hospitality during their stay in
Pakistan.
That if these British Muslims return to Britain and are charged with
treason, the equivalent of a civil war will break out in Britain with places
like Downing Street becoming legitimate targets.
In order to understand why this organisation made such irresponsible
comments, it is necessary to give some background information about this
organisation and the leader of this organisation.
The leader of this organisation does not have a verifiable history in Jihad
in any of the major Jihads fought since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
in 1979, including Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir or Tajikistan. In other words,
despite what he may claim to the non-Arabic-speaking Muslim communities in
Britain, he is unknown in the lands of Jihad across the World. Any Muslim
that wishes to verify this information only has to go to the Mujahideen
Scholars, leadership, Shuras or Councils in these countries and ask whether
this individual has a history with them.
In 1998, the leader of this organisation claimed to be a close
representative of Usama bin Ladin and said that he received faxes containing
a list of targets that were next on Usama bin Ladin's 'hit-list'. A close
representative of Usama bin Ladin would surely be very well-known in at
least Afghanistan, if not Chechnya and Bosnia. He later denied any
involvement with Bin Ladin. Any Muslim that wishes to verify the rank and
status of this individual with respect to the Mujahideen of Afghanistan only
has to ask any of the main Mujahideen commanders in Afghanistan, of which
there are dozens in all provinces.
The leader of this organisation has claimed to have sent several hundred
British Muslims to Chechnya. This is a lie. Any Muslim that wishes to verify
this information only has to ask the Mujahideen Military Council (MMC) of
Chechnya or one of their leaders, Field Commander Shamil Basayev or Field
Commander Khattab.
Despite making open statements supporting acts of terrorism, he remains a
free man. He has not undergone trial and is not awaiting extradition to
America.
He has made many public statements over the last few years informing the
media about activities of 'militant' British Muslims: where they train for
Jihad, how they train for Jihad, what methods and routes they use to go for
Jihad. He has claimed that British Muslim
Mujahideen train in Britain using firearms before going for Jihad.
At this stage, we would like to point out that the majority of the Muslims
in this organisation are non-Arabic speaking youngsters in Britain. The vast
majority of them are sincere and hard-working Muslims who wish to try their
best in order to serve Islam and Muslims.
However, they are being misled by an individual whose background is not
known and whose reputation as central figure in the Worldwide 'Jihad'
movement does not extend beyond the British Isles.
We can then look at the information given by this group recently and how it
adversely affects the Muslims and their cause:
Full names and places of residence of the British Muslims who were killed.
It was not long before the media knocked on the doors of the families of
these individuals and on the doors of members of the Muslim community who
knew them. Their parents went at lengths to say that their sons were in
Afghanistan on aid work, or holidays. However, specific information that
this organisation knew about these Muslims was made public, putting their
families in problems. Undoubtedly, their families would already have
received visits from the British authorities, thanks to these irresponsible
statements.
That these Muslims went to fight Jihad in Afghanistan and they were killed
during the course of this.
Was it really necessary to give this specific information, with names, to
the media? It is giving information like this that led British Ministers to
start ranting and raving about centuries-old treason laws. Even if they did
go to fight, could not this organisation have said that they went to deliver
aid?
That hundreds more British Muslims had already gone to fight in Afghanistan.
That this organisation has offices in Peshawar and Lahore, Pakistan, and it
has sent and continues to send dozens of British Muslims across the border
into Afghanistan, after providing them with hospitality during their stay in
Pakistan.
How ironic that even America and Britain decline to give exact details,
numbers and locations of their military actions, but this organisation
operates freely and freely gives information about its activities and the
people involved with its activities. Their spokesmen appear on television
with their real names and faces uncovered. They are allowed to operate
freely through offices in Pakistan which have not been shut down unlike
offices of real Mujahideen, such as Jaish Muhammad, Lashkar Tayyibah and
Harkat Al-Mujahideen. Are statements like this supposed to show bravery, or
are they a reflection of ignorance, treason against the Muslims and
stupidity? The British Government allows them to openly recruit for more
'volunteers' on British streets. Perhaps the British Government sees benefit
in this, because it will get detailed lists of names, addresses and dates of
birth of British Muslims going to Afghanistan via this organisation?
That if these British Muslims return to Britain and are charged with
treason, the equivalent of a civil war will break out in Britain with places
like Downing Street becoming legitimate targets.
Such irresponsible statements have not even been made by other outspoken
Muslim spokesmen linked to Jihad, such as Sheikh Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza,
who, unlike the leader of this particular organisation, do at least have
checkable histories in Jihad. The vast majority of Muslims in Britain do not
even have the power to travel to Afghanistan to fight, leaving behind their
comfortable lifestyles. How then will these same Muslims suddenly possess
the power to start attacking Downing Street? Surely, statements such as
these create more enemies for the Muslims when they have enough to deal with
as it is.
To conclude, we would like to say:
We advise our Muslim brothers and sisters to remain clear of this
organisation, especially its leader.
We advise our Muslim brothers and sisters who are already with this
organisation to make sincere efforts to verify the information we have given
in this document, by checking up the background of their leader, especially
in the lands of Jihad. We have nothing against them and only wish for their
benefit in this Life and the Next. We do not want them to fall into this
trap.
There are other Muslims that have gone to Afghanistan from various parts of
the World but they did not give media interviews or become 'heroes' before
they went, they did not disclose their real names, addresses, date of birth,
city of residence, where they work, where they study, which mosque they pray
in, who they know, who their friends are etc.to anyone at any stage of their
trip, whether in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Nor did they show their passports,
driving licences or identity cards to anyone. Likewise, they did not discuss
their intentions or travel plans over the telephone, in mosques, or public
gatherings. They were wary of giving details to female members of their
family for fear they may be loose with their tongues and they did not tell
anyone who did not need to know, which meant everyone except one or two
people.
We cannot and do not discourage any Muslim from going to render assistance
to Muslims in Afghanistan because that is equivalent to discouraging a
Muslim from praying Salah or telling a fasting Muslim to break his fast.
We advise any Muslim that wishes to go to Afghanistan to stay away from this
organisation when it comes to making travel arrangements. It would not be
surprising if names and details of those who go via this organisation end up
in the hands of British or Pakistan intelligence authorities. This does mean
that everyone who is working with this organisation is a spy, but it is very
easy to infiltrate such an organisation that operates so openly. There are
many other ways to get to Afghanistan and many other groups in Pakistan,
such as Jaish Muhammad, the Taliban Consulates, Lashkar Tayyibah and Jamiat
Ulema Islam.
As part of a plan to reinforce the 'sincerity' of the leader of this
organisation in the eyes of British Muslims, we expect the British
authorities to arrest him in the near future, but for him to be subsequently
released. The intention behind this act will be for the British Muslims to
begin saying: "If he was not sincere, why was he arrested?" and "The proof
that he is on the truth is that he was arrested." etc.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
10 December 2001 : The 600 Arab Mujahideen in Tora Bora Have Enough Food
Stocks for Six Months
The 600 Arab Mujahideen in Tora Bora Have Enough Food Stocks for Six Months
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan
Jalalabad ( Islam News): In the eastern mountainous region of Afghanistan
severe fighting is going on between the Arab Mujahideen, the Americans and
their agents. American B-52 bombers continued their intense bombardment of
the area on Saturday as well. Eyewitnesses have seen dark clouds of smoke
rising from the region after the bombardment.
The Eastern Shura commanders disclosed that after their forces had captured
and searched parts of the Tora Bora mountains, they had found no clue or
sign of Osama bin Ladin or other Al Qaida leaders. There were also no Arab
Mujahideen in the mountains. Initially, reports were being received that
Osama Bin Ladin was residing in the caves of Tora Bora. This new information
from Eastern Shura commanders has created more tension among the Americans.
These tensions increased after the villagers of Tora Bora said that they had
not seen Osama bin Ladin here and also are unaware of any news of his
presence in these mountains. After this situation, the Americans desperately
issued the statement that they did not know anything about Osama bin Ladin’s
whereabouts, even whether he is still in Afghanistan or not. People coming
from Tora Bora said that approximately 600 Arab Mujahideen remained
fortified in this region, equipped with the latest weapons. The news that
the Mujahideen have enough food stocks to last for 6 months is also common
knowledge among the local people.
It should be known that Tora Bora is the region where Sheikh Osama bin Ladin
constructed more than 40 long and wide tunnels during Afghan-Soviet war and
every tunnel is interconnected with each other. These tunnels are spread
over a region of 15 to 20 km. The Soviet Red Army fought for 4 years
continuously to capture this region, but was unsuccessful. Melwa, another
region near Tora Bora has more networks of tunnels.
Eyewitnesses told that after fresh clashes, the Arab Mujahideen have
regrouped in the fortified high mountains of Melwa. Eastern Shura commanders
said that they have faced intense resistance from the Arabs and it will be
very difficult to defeat them. A Pakistani journalist who returned after
visiting Tora Bora mentioned that there is no evidence of the presence of
Osama bin Ladin in this region, although Eastern Shura commanders were
spreading strange reports and disclosures to collect dollars from their
American masters. They have no real information as to whether Osama or his
companions are here or not.
Baluchistan Traders Are Safe Because Gul Agha's Fighters Engaged Elsewhere
Quetta ( Islam News): There has been a substantial fall in thefts and
burglaries in the border city of Baluchistan, as well Chaman, Kachlak,
Pisheen and Khuzdar. In previous years, from mid Ramadhan till Eid-ul-Fitr,
bandits and mercenaries carried out widespread looting and burglaries
throughout the whole province of Baluchistan. The main target of these
criminals were traders, but since the crusade war began against the Islamic
Emirates of Afghanistan, most of these criminals have gone to Kandahar along
with Gul Agha and are engaged in similar activities of looting, burglaries
etc. over there.
Even Western Foreigners Are Not Safe After the Evacuation of Taliban Forces
From Kandahar
Chaman (Islam News): After the removal of the Taliban Government in
Afghanistan, everyone has acknowledged the chaos, lootings and killings that
are now prevalent throughout the country. The honour of women is also not
protected and the condition has become so bad that even the citizens from
the US-led Coalition nations, who caused the Taliban Government to vanish,
are not safe. A recent incident was witnessed on the Chaman Border when a
delegation of Englishmen entered the Afghan borders. The criminal anti-
Taliban forces present there, beat the Englishmen and dishonoured the only
female present in the delegation. All this happened openly, in public and
the humiliated delegation recounted this on their return from the border. It
is not known that whether this delegation belonged to any European
Organization or was a group of journalists. After the listening to the story
of the delegation, a local remarked that the English are reaping what they
had sown and this was just the beginning. Let us see what will happen after
this.
An old lady's strange dream in favour of the Taliban's decision to evacuate
Kandahar
Kandahar ( Islam News): There were good tidings from Allah (SWT) and
pleasant dreams since the beginning of Taliban Movement. Similarly there are
accounts of such good indications even now. According to a report, an old
lady from a well known area in Kandahar city, Charsoo, saw a dream before
the evacuation of Taliban from Kandahar in which there was clear indication
to give respite to the disbelievers. The old lady saw a rush of beautiful
men and women in the streets who were 200 in number. Their foreheads were
shinning and the old lady got the feeling that these men, women and children
were those who were martyred due to American bombardment. These Shuhada
(martyrs) were indicating to the Taliban to leave the city, and they were
reciting the following Ayah from the Quran:
"Famahhil lil Kafireena Amhilhum rowaida"
"So give a respite to the disbelievers, deal gently with them for a while"
[Sura At Tariq: 17]
The old lady learned this Ayah during the dream and in the morning went to a
local religious Scholar and told him the dream along with the Ayah she had
learnt. The religious Scholar told the translation of the Ayah and explained
to her the meaning of the dream. After her departure he went personally to
the Council of Taliban elders and recounted to them this strange dream. The
Taliban elders told the local religious Scholar that they were engaged in a
conference regarding evacuation of Kandahar and this would mean giving some
respite to the disbelievers so their false sympathy to the Afghans is
unveiled before the whole world.
"I Am Not Displeased With My Son", Says Osama bin Ladin’s Mother
RIYADH (Online): The mother of international ‘terrorist’ and the USA's most
wanted Mujahid, Osama bin Ladin, has said that she is not displeased with
her son whatsoever. In an interview with the Arabic newspaper 'Al-Madinah',
she denounced the news that she was displeased with her son. One the
contrary, she said that like every mother she is satisfied and pleased with
her son and makes dua to Allah (SWT) for his safety and well being. She
further denied that the bin Ladin family had severed relations with Osama.
"O Allah! Bless Me With Shahadah (Martyrdom), For I Left Madinah For It"-
Dua of An Old Lady in Kandahar
KANDAHAR (Islam News): The old Mujahidah lady from Madinah, came to Kandahar
filled with the love for Jihad in the way of Allah (SWT). It was her daily
routine to ask Allah (SWT) for Shahadah when she heard US jets fly by, which
awed her neighbours. Taliban officials told Islam News, that the lady
migrated from Madinah to Kandhar at the onset of US attacks on Afghanistan,
for the love of Jihad and Shahadah, seeking only Allah’s (SWT) pleasure.
Everyday, when the barbaric US terrorists bombed Kandahar, she used to go
outside her house and raise her hands to make dua to Allaah (SWT):
"O Allah! Bless me with Shahadah for I left Madinah for the love of it"
According to the Taliban officials, this really awed her neighbours. They
added that her son is a Mujahid and has been living in Kandahar for some
time.
+ + + +
11 December 2001
Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in Afghanistan
KANDAHAR (Special Report): On Friday 07 December 2001, late afternoon after
Asr prayer, a group of 15 Arab Mujahideen on a reconnaissance mission
spotted an encampment of US Marines. US marines have been actively
participating in terrorist activities with the forces of American Agent
Hamid Kirzai. According to the reports, the Marines were camped out in the
desert at some distance from Kandahar. The exact number of US Marines at the
position is unconfirmed but they were supported by at least two APCs
(Bradley Fighting Vehicle). The Mujahideen unit were only on a
reconnaissance mission equipped with light weapons but after spotting the US
soldiers, they launched a lightening attack on the US camp just before
sunset. The American soldiers panicked and fled in all directions assisted
by their fear of the Mujahideen. Three US marines were confirmed killed and
17 more were severely injured. After inflicting heavy casualties on the
enemy, the Arab Mujahideen guerillas safely left the site of the carnage
without any losses. This surprise attack left the US air support in shock as
they were unable to render any air support to the American Marines on the
ground. Further reports have been received that the Taliban and the Arab
Mujahideen have initiated an intense guerilla war against US targets and the
areas on the outskirts of Kandahar have become a living nightmare for US
forces and their agents.
MUJAHIDEEN ATTACK ALLIANCE POSITIONS NEAR KABUL
105 Mujahideen from the Hamza Abu Zubair Brigade attacked positions of the
Northern Alliance near Kabul, killing 67 enemy soldiers and capturing huge
quantities of weapons and ammunition.
ENGLISH JOURNALIST DISCLOSES PLOT BY WESTERN INTELLIGENCE TO ASSASSINATE HER
LONDON (Special Report): The English Journalist Yvonnee Ridley who was held
by the Taliban in Afghanistan last September, disclosed that Western
intelligence agencies tried to murder her in order to gain public support on
the agenda of air strikes against Afghanistan. The 43 year old British
Journalist wrote in her book, "IN THE HANDS OF THE TALIBAN", that the
Taliban arrested her on 28th September 2001 and freed her on 8 October 2001.
During this period the Western intelligence agencies prepared a plan to
murder her in order to create a cause for strikes against Afghanistan but
they were not successful in their plot. Ridley disclosed that she had plenty
of proof related to this plot which she had gatherd with the aid of an
Al-Jazeera television reporter. She said that these documents will soon be
brought out in public.
CNN CORRESPONDENT FOUND DEAD IN JALALABAD
PESHAWAR ( Islam News): The American television network CNN's correspondent,
Mr Charles Stephen, has been found dead in a hotel of Jalalabad. This
correspondent was living in one of Jalalabad's well-known hotels.
NANGARHAR ADMINISTRATION CLAIMS BIN LADIN PERSONALLY LEADING FIGHTERS
JALALABAD ( Radio Report): In the Eastern Tora Bora region of Afghanistan,
US warplanes continued intense bombardment on Sunday but the Americans and
its agents (the so-called Eastern Shura Commanders) have still not been able
to achieve any significant success so far. The Western media claimed that
the American Agents have gained control of some regions of Tora Bora and
that they gained this control after intense fighting. The Media also
reported that the Eastern Commanders' fighters are facing great resistance
from the Arab Mujahideen and it seems that Usama Bin Ladin has personnally
taken command of this battle. According to the BBC, the Eastern Shura
representative, Muhammad Amin, claimed that Usama Bin Ladin has disappeared
along with his 1000 Arab Mujahideen in the forests of Spin Ghar,a region
adjacent to Tora Bora. Later on, an injured driver en-route from Tora Bora
said that Arab Mujahideen were present in Tora Bora, that they had
provisions for six months including food, weapons and ammunition, etc.. The
Arab Mujahideen have also made arrangements for electrical generators and
electricity. The caves of Tora Bora are very long and there are 20 paths to
enter a single cave. This driver was injured in Tora Bora three days ago. He
further added that he had not seen Bin Ladin in Tora Bora. Here the
Americans have also accepted the fact they do not know anything about Usama
Bin Ladin's location.
KANDAHAR: FIERCE CLASHES BETWEEN GUL AGHA AND MULLA NAQEEB
KANDAHAR (Islam News): In Kandahar, severe clashes are going on between Gul
Agha's agents and Mulla Naqeeb's companions. Two of Gul Agha's supporters
have been reported dead in these clashes and one injured. One of the two who
died belonged to Gulistan, Quetta. His dead body was taken to Chaman
yesterday from where it was sent to Gulistan.
GUL AGHA'S FIGHTERS NOT OBSERVING FASTING IN RAMADAN
SPIN BOLDAK (Islam News): In Spin Boldak, Gul Agha's fighters are not
fasting openly due to which local people are sensing discomfort. These local
people are considering this so called goverment as Allah's (SWT) Anger.
According to reports after the evacuation of the Taliban from Spin Boldak
and other cities, Gul Agha's units of thieves and gangsters have started to
show their true colours to the locals which they judged from the fact that
even a week has not passed after the evacuation of the Taliban and these
supporters of Gul Agha are not fasting. This situation has created tension
in the minds of the local people and they are considering it an open
indication of the Displeasure of Allah (SWT).
NORTHERN ALLIANCE HELICOPTER CRASHES KILLING 3 COMMANDERS AND 18 OTHERS
In the Northern Afghan province of Takhar, a Northern Alliance helicopter
crashed killing three senior commanders and 18 other soldiers. According to
the Afghan Islamic Press, the Northern Alliance helicopter crashed in a
village called "Farmz" of Takhar Province on Saturday evening. Ahmad Shah
Masood's commanders: Commander Muhammad Mustafa (Tajik), Commander Arbab
Muhammad Hashim and Mirza Ghulam Nasiri who belonged to Pashtun Tribes, were
all killed. This news was released by the Afghan Islamic Press from Northern
Alliance sources but it is has not been verified by independent sources.
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Rebels fighting Liberian troops in northern and north-western Liberia are
heading for the Sierra Leonean border in an apparent move to attack that
country, the Liberian Government has said.
"Well-armed units of the Lurd dissident group were spotted heading for the
Sierra Leonean border," a Ministry of Information release said on Sunday.
The intent of the rebels is to launch a bogus attack on Sierra Leone from
Liberia so that it will appear like Liberia has attacked Sierra Leone
Daniel Chea
Defence Minister
The dissidents have been heading to the town of Kungbor, situated on the border
with Sierra Leone and some 165 kilometres north-west of Monrovia, said the
government.
President Charles Taylor reacted by calling in the Sierra Leonean ambassador
here, Kemoh Salia-Bao, for consultation.
"The president has also made efforts to contract President [Ahmed] Tejan Kabbah
to put the Sierra Leonean armed forces on full alert in order to prevent the
LURD rebels from entering Sierra Leone," the statement, signed by Information
Minister Reginald Goodridge, said.
He said he has ordered Liberian troops being deployed at Kungbor "to cut off the
rebels from the borderline with Sierra Leone."
Mr Chea said heavy fighting was still continuing for the northern town of
Kolahun and the north-western towns of Belle Fassama and Geingba.
The rebels advanced to Geingba early on Saturday, Mr Chea confirmed, "but this
should not be regarded as gaining additional territory. We are talking about the
same area."
Geingba is approximately 15 kilometres from Belle Fassama, a town overrun by
rebels last week and which is still being fought over.
A senior Liberian battlefront commander, Roland Duo, phoned the Defense
Headquarters from Kolahun via satellite last night to state that the town has
changed hands to the rebels.
Chea, the Defense Minister, also confirmed the retake of Kolahun by the rebels
on Saturday. He said his men had taken the town in the early or Friday, "but the
rebels regrouped and entered the town again. They are there, but I can say for
sure, we will get them out."
Rebel spokesman, Charles Benning, Saturday confirmed that his men killed a
Liberian deputy security minister, Emmett Ross, who was ambushed last week.
+ + + +
LMFAO!
Sam Kiley at Tora Bora
Osama bin Laden's cave complexes at Tora Bora and Malawa have been captured by
Afghan Mujahideen fighters. They have driven the terrorist chief 's hard-core
supporters onto a peak in the White Mountains where al Qaeda is staging a last
stand.
Commander Mohammed Zahir led troops in the capture of Malawa late last night. He
said he had overrun at least a dozen of Bin Laden's caves, dug into the sides of
valleys and crammed with ammunition and other supplies.
Troops under the command of Hazrat Ali attacked Malawa and Tora Bora head-on,
supported by US air strikes from an F14 Tomcat which laid waste to al Qaeda
positions defending the valleys where Bin Laden had most of his caves.
The whereabouts of the world's most wanted man this morning remained unknown but
Mujahideen leaders said he had been seen visiting his troops on horseback as
recently as last Saturday and that they believed that if he had not managed to
escape to Pakistan, only three miles away, there was a good chance that he is
still with his men on the Enziri Zur peak.
This was bombed this morning by US planes and strafed with Mujahideen
anti-aircraft fire as infantry fought up its near sheer slopes towards al
Qaeda's last hideout. From my position, about 300 yards from where the
Mujahideen fighters were locked in a vicious fire fight with al Qaeda forces dug
in higher up the hill, the extent of the task facing the enemies of Bin Laden
should not be under-estimated.
Al Qaeda has clearly lost large numbers of men in air strikes with cluster bombs
on the ridges approaching the mountain peak, where they are staging their last
stand. The debris of cluster bombs, and many of the unexploded yellow devices
lay around the fox hole from where this report has been filed. The surrounding
shrubbery and small trees have been shredded to bare stalks and the bloody
clothing of men blasted into small pieces hangs in the branches.
Al Qaeda fighters appear to be making good on their promise to become martyrs to
their interpretation of Islam, firing heavy weapons from caves.
The final assault on Bin Laden has been reinforced by 14 vehicles carrying US or
British special forces commandos, who helped the Mujahideen advance overnight
and improved the accuracy of air strikes. The commandos are thought to be mostly
Americans, 20 of whom have been based in an abandoned school in a river valley
five miles from Tora Bora. They have refused to talk to the media.
Commander Spin Jabal Khil said that the presence of the foreign commandos had
been a major boost to morale but he insisted that it was Afghans alone who would
destroy al Qaeda and kill Bin Laden.
+ + + +
DEBKA
10 December: At round about 16:43 IT, Monday, December 10, US Middle East envoy
former General Anthony Zinni was due to pass through the el Baluah suburb of N.
Ramallah on his way to call on Yasser Arafat, when a truck loaded with gas
canisters blew up. The explosion occurred two or three minute before the
American convoy’s arrival. The Palestinian truck driver was killed.
Correspondents, told by Palestinian sources that a tank shell hit the truck,
found no sign of tank fire at the time. Earlier, Palestinian spokesmen called
the blast an accident.
According to the Israeli military, the truck was probably booby-trapped and
detonated by remote control. An investigation is underway. His route was to have
taken him past the site of the blast, one of the Ramallah suburbs occupied by
Israeli troops last week. Zinni was slightly delayed on his way to Ramallah,
which may have saved his life and those of his escort of US security personnel.
DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources suggest that the explosion was
either a serious attempt on Zinni’s life or a signal that the Palestinians would
prefer him to go, their answer to his ultimatum. Sunday, he gave the
Palestinians and Israelis 48 hours to make progress, or he would consider
leaving the region.
Any investigation would attempt to discover who among Arafat’s staff knew the
time of his appointment with the US envoy and tipped off the would-be assassins.
Another key question is who set up the booby-trapped truck. This would have
required more than an hour or two’s work, unless the Palestinians have a fleet
of them ready to go.
Until now, the only Middle East terror groups attempting to assassinate senior
US personnel were al Qaeda and the Hizballah. The Palestinians now join that
list.
This looks their answer to the diplomatic offensive the United States launched
against Palestinian terror in the last couple of weeks, and may be only the
opening shot of their coming showdown against America and Israel combined.
+ + + +
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
The main market in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, has been almost completely
destroyed by fire.
Eyewitnesses said the fire at the New Market began mid-morning on Monday and
raged for over 12 hours.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - A unit of Colombia's ultra-right death squads,
blamed for some of the worst massacres in a 37-year war, has sent Christmas
cards to its fighters wishing them peace and a prosperous New Year.
The e-mail letter, signed by a regional block of the outlawed United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, features a blonde girl donning a white angel
costume with wings standing in front of a richly decorated Christmas tree.
"It is the month in which we sow our hopes to achieve a peace that is so craved
for by all Colombians. And with Christmas come our new projects and hopes for
the next year," the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said.
Funded by business leaders and ranchers fed up with attacks and blackmail by
left-wing guerrillas, the 8,000-member paramilitaries are blamed for horrific
human rights abuses -- such as using chain saws and sledgehammers in the past to
torture and kill rebels and suspected rebel sympathizers.
The "paras," as they are known locally, are branded a terrorist organization by
Washington.
Colombia is gripped by a war that has killed 40,000 people in the past decade.
The three-way conflict pits leftist rebels against the armed forces and
paramilitaries.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
DiMethylTryptamine
user-friendly
Rizla Ranger UK
More than 15,000 people displaced by fresh fighting between Liberian troops and
rebels in the northwest of the country in the last week have arrived in Sawmill
Town.
Sawmill, situated some 100 kilometres northwest of the capital Monrovia, has
begun swelling with displaced people who intermittently arrive in large groups.
The vast majority of them fled camps in towns such as Bopolu, the provincial
capital of northwestern Gbarpolu county which has been the scene of some of the
fiercest fighting in recent days.
The displaced people complained that they were being prevented from moving
further on to much more safer areas like the main provincial town, Tubmanburg,
some 60km outside of Monrovia.
Zubazi Aquoi, a spokesman for the displaced, said Bopolu itself has not been
attacked, "but echoes of artillery bombardments were so heavy from embattled
places, that the 3,600 people at the camp all came with me".
The fleeing people arrived in the town carrying bundles of personal effects
mainly cooking utensils and foam mattresses on their heads.
Liberia's Defence Minister Daniel Chea, visiting the region on Monday, said the
displaced people were safe where they are "and we will do everything to see them
go home very soon".
Mr Chea deployed more heavily armed troops in the area on Monday to contain the
spread of the rebellion and provide safety for civilians.
"We will make the movement of the rebels difficult," he said, dressed in a
bullet-proof jacket.
Displaced people pouring into Sawmill on foot are largely women with babies
strapped to their backs and men carrying children on their shoulders.
Hundreds of them suffering from travel fatigue and hunger sat on the road side
with bundles of personal effects beside them.
Government troops and rebels clashed in the north-western remote towns of
Kungbor and Weasua on Monday.
"The rebels entered Kungbor yesterday and our men are trying to chase them out,"
said a Liberian commander. "They are here to sabotage our Christmas and we will
not allow it."
But not everyone is that sure.
Annie Manten, a resident of Lofa Bridge, a diamond mining town 17km east of
Sawmill refuted this.
"We see the soldiers themselves evacuating their families from here while at the
same them urging us to remain. If the place is so safe as they tell us, why
can't all of us remain," she asked.
Boaima Massaley, a typhoid sufferer who trekked from the town of Weasua, another
diamond-rich town of Gbarpolu county, said they walked for three days to
Sawmill.
"We fled because we felt that we were threatened. We began to see amongst us
people we have not seen before. This suggested to us that the rebels had
infiltrated," Boaimah said, half-naked and sweating.
As he spoke, hundreds of fellow displaced people looked on and nodded in
approval. He claimed that 16,000 people had fled Weasua and surrounding towns.
There are over 50,000 internally displaced people in the north-western region.
They had earlier been forced to flee northern Lofa county, where the rebels
began their attacks three years ago.
Moses Konneh, a displaced man at Sawmill said he left Lofa Bridge on Sunday,
"because although the war has not reached there, I saw people packing and
leaving in panic."
Aid agencies, including Medecins Sans Frontiers, pulled out of the region last
week when the rebels launched an attack on the town of Belle Fassamah.
+ + + +
United States warplanes have resumed bombing of the Tora Bora mountains in
eastern Afghanistan after a deadline passed for al-Qaeda fighters to surrender.
B-52 aircraft pounded the hillsides where fighters loyal to Osama Bin Laden have
been under attack for nine days.
An anti-Taleban spokesman said the mainly foreign al-Qaeda forces had failed to
give up their positions on the mountain in line with an agreement reached on
Tuesday.
The local militia had given the al-Qaeda troops until 0800 local time (0330 GMT)
to hand over their weapons and give themselves up or face renewed assault.
Reports say Bin Laden's men are now setting new conditions for their surrender.
+ + + +
Troops are reported to be patrolling the streets of the Indonesian city of
Ambon, on the Moluccan Islands, following violent protests by Christian
residents on Tuesday.
The city remains tense after the death of at least four Christians in an
explosion on a boat led to rioting.
Demonstrators attacked the local governor's residence, setting fire to cars and
to another public building.
It is unclear what triggered the initial blast, but many in the Christian
community have blamed Muslims for the incident.
Clashes between the two communitites on the islands have caused thousands of
deaths in the last three years.
+ + + +
Former loyalist police agent William Stobie, who had been accused over the
murder of solicitor Pat Finucane, has been shot dead in north Belfast.
The attack happened outside a block of flats on the Forthriver Road, in the
Glencairn area of the city, at about 0615 GMT on Wednesday.
It is thought Mr Stobie was shot a number of times as he walked from his home to
his car. He died at the scene.
The scene has been cordoned off and forensic scientists are examining the scene.
Mr Stobie was a self-confessed former Ulster Defence Association (UDA)
quartermaster.
He was accused of aiding and abetting in the murder of Catholic solicitor Pat
Finucane, but his trial collapsed at the end of November in the absence of
evidence.
Mr Finucane, a high-profile Catholic solicitor, was shot dead in front of his
family at his home in 1989.
The killing was admitted by the UDA/UFF but nationalists have alleged security
force collusion in the killing.
A team of detectives, headed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John
Stevens, has been investigating the murder of Mr Finucane and claims of security
force collusion.
Assistant Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Alan
McQuillan, condemned the killing as "another dreadful murder in the run-up to
Christmas".
He said the victim was shot as he approached his car shortly after 0600 GMT.
"It's too early to speculate about what's going on here or how many gunmen were
involved," he said.
"But we will be doing everything we can to investigate this and bring the people
responsible to justice."
Stobie's partner is understood to have been at home when the shooting occurred.
Last April, it was claimed in court that Mr Stobie was on a death list.
It was alleged he had been informed by police he was being targeted by
paramilitaries.
There is speculation that Mr Stobie had been given a recent warning.
+ + + +
At least 16 people have died in clashes between Tamil Tiger rebels and
government troops in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
The rebels carried out two simultaneous raids on police and army positions, in
the first major attack since Sri Lanka's new prime minister Ranil Wickramasinghe
was sworn in.
The defence ministry said guerrillas from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) attacked the Pahala Toppur army base in the district of Trincomalee, 230
kilometres (142 miles) north-east of the capital Colombo, killing three soldiers
and wounding 12 others.
At about the same time, rebels attacked a police station in Valachchenai in the
neighbouring district of Batticaloa, killing three policemen and wounding 11.
At least six guerrillas were killed in a counter-attack in Trincomalee,
according to defence officials.
"Troop reinforcements were able to repulse the attack and take back a bunker
line that the terrorists occupied briefly," defence ministry spokesman Sanath
Karunaratne was quoted by the French news agency AFP as saying.
Local officials said troop reinforcements were sent to both areas and began
searching for the rebels, who had retreated into the jungle.
The raids came on the day that Mr Wickramasinghe was due to appoint a new
cabinet, following this month's controversial general election.
Correspondents say the attacks come as a surprise, given that Mr
Wickramasinghe's United National Party was elected on a platform of holding
peace talks with the rebels.
The previous government, led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, often proposed
peace talks but carried out a military campaign against the Tamil Tigers.
In November, the rebels lowered their demands, saying they would be willing to
accept political autonomy in the north and east of the island rather than a
separate state.
More than 64,000 people have died in the conflict since fighting began in 1983.
+ + + +
London was today placed on full alert for the possibility of a double-pronged
Christmas terror campaign.
Anti-terrorist detectives fear that the capital could be the target for both
Islamic extremists and renegade Irish terrorists trying to disrupt the peace
process.
Today Scotland Yard launched an urgent appeal to Londoners to remain vigilant
for the possibility of an attack. The warning is being backed by an advertising
campaign.
Police believe the Real IRA may try to launch a terrorist attack on the mainland
in the run-up to Christmas following the recent high-profile arrests of terror
suspects in connection with the Ealing and BBC bombs.
However, detectives believe the most potent threat comes from Islamic extremist
groups or individuals who may try to carry out an attack against civilians in
London in retaliation for the military success of the Western alliance in
Afghanistan. An internal memo has warned senior commanders across London to be
on the alert for the possibility of suicide attacks.
In particular security sources are worried about the possibility of spontaneous
revenge attacks if Osama bin Laden is killed or captured by alliance forces.
Senior police sources emphasise there is no specific intelligence of a planned
attack but it is believed secret terrorist cells loyal to Bin Laden, which are
capable of carrying out an attack, may be already in place in Britain.
One senior police source said: "This is a very dangerous time. There is a
perception that things are going well for the West at the moment in Afghanistan
and this is precisely the time that we need to remain vigilant."
The security services are alert to the possibility of every type of attack in
Britain ranging from threats to airlines, car bombings, assassination attempts
and suicide attacks along the lines of those more commonly associated with
Israel. Thousands of extra police have been on anti-terrorist patrol in London
protecting potential targets such as Downing Street, Canary Wharf and the City
airport.
The Met police advertising campaign comes only days after Home Secretary David
Blunkett raised the possibility of a Christmas bombing campaign.
In a BBC radio interview he warned that information from intelligence sources
suggested that Britain could be a prime target because of its alliance with the
United States. Fears of an attack were raised today in a briefing by Scotland
Yard's Assistant Commissioner David Veness and Deputy Assistant Commissioner
Alan Fry, the head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch. The Met has also issued a
warning in an advertisement on page 18 of today's Standard.
+ + + +
New Vision (Kampala)
December 11, 2001
Uganda issued an Ebola virus alert on Monday in areas bordering the Democratic
Republic of Congo where 28 people died of haemorrhagic fever last week, health
officials said.
"We have been hearing of rumours of an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in Congo
and Gabon so we have put the districts on alert just in case it is Ebola," Sam
Okware, Uganda's Ebola task force chairman, told Reuters.
Doctors fear the outbreak of fever in the Congolese village of Misangandu,
roughly 1,000 km (620 miles) southwest of Uganda, could be the Ebola virus.
There is no known cure or vaccine for Ebola, which causes up to 90 percent of
victims to bleed to death in days.
The World Health Organisation said at least 10 other people, including a nurse,
had died of a mystery illness in the west African country of Gabon and
attributed one of the deaths to the deadly virus.
The biggest recent outbreak of Ebola killed more than 170 people in Uganda last
year. The virus is named after the Ebola River where it was first identified in
1976 in the DR Congo.
Ebola, which is passed on through contact with body fluids of infected persons
and begins with aches and fever similar to flu symptoms, killed 245 people in
the Congolese town of Kikwit in 1995.
Okware said yesterday Ebola can never be too far from anybody. "Distance is not
a big deal. One can cross the continent in two hours," he said.
Okware said health workers in the western border districts should screen
travellers who enter Uganda. All hospitals should stock medical facilities while
health workers look out for patients with fever and bleeding.
Medics caring for UPDF soldiers have also been put on alert and given
guidelines.
Meanwhile, Education state minister Henry Okello Oryem has warned that Ebola may
strike Uganda again from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He cautioned the Acholi to be on the alert and keep hygiene.
"Ebola was in Congo and it is back there. We never know, Ebola can come to
Uganda again now that it is in Congo. Let us behave as if Ebola is still in Gulu
and in this country," Okello said.
Oryem, who represented the Vice-President, Dr. Speciosa Kazibwe, was chief guest
yesterday during a requiem service for Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, former medical
superintendent of Lacor hospital, who died of Ebola last year.
Oryem, the Chua County MP, urged the people to forget politics and unite to
fight diseases.
Lacor chief Dr. Corti Pieru said Ebola would not have spared an Acholi, Italian,
partyists or Movementist had the medics not worked hard to contain it.
"We are gathered here today for the memorial service of the late Dr. Matthew
Lukwiya, the hero, and other martyrs of Ebola. Dr. Lukwiya ensured that Ebola
did not reach Kampala, Arua, Soroti, Lira, Kitgum and Apac districts. They did
this by accepting that they were chosen to render service even to the point of
death. Let us all join hands to end the suffering of the Acholi," Corti added.
Chief celebrant Kitgum Bishop MackLeod Baker Ochola said Lukwiya's legacy was of
love, forgiveness and humanity. He compared him to India's Ghandi.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 10, 2001
A UN radio station to be known as "Okapi" is scheduled to begin broadcasts in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) next month, the world body's Observer
Mission in Congo (MONUC) announced in Kinshasa Friday.
The Pan-African News Agency reported the Swiss and British governments had
promised to finance its programs. The station will be the biggest to be
established during a UN peacekeeping operation.
Radio Okapi will broadcast general news on MONUC's activities and humanitarian
actions. Okapi is the name of an animal, which symbolizes peace.
In the past, the UN had also established similar radio stations in violence
affected places like East Timor, Liberia, Kosovo, the Central African Republic.
It also had a radio station covering the rebel-held Kivu province in eastern
DRC.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 12, 2001
Paul Redfern
Kenya might be used as a launch pad for US attacks on Somalia, it became clear
yesterday.
The possibility of Kenya becoming a staging post for US forces, arms and
equipment increased following meetings between President Moi and UK defence
secretary Geoffrey Hoon.
Kenyan support for any US-led strike might well result in an easing of aid
conditions to Nairobi, according to informed sources in London.
The meeting came barely a week after the President received US Assistant
Secretary of State for Africa Affairs, Mr Walter Kansteiner.
It also came within days of the arrest of an outspoken imam from Mandera on
suspicion that he was connected with Mr Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda movement.
The arrest of the imam who has been held incommunicado for the last five days
sparked violent demonstrations in Mandera and a successful demand to have him
produced in court by Friday.
The arrest of the man led to riots in Mandera yesterday with youths raiding a
Catholic church and a polytechnic. They set ablaze some buildings, a vehicle and
looted property worth thousands of shillings. Several people were injured.
Although details from the meeting between the President and Britain's Mr Hoon
were not forthcoming from the foreign ministries of either country, sources said
the talks were focused on the alleged Al Qaeda threat in Somalia and Sudan.
The meeting was also being seen as a follow-up to discussions between the US and
Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti this month, which centred on cooperative security
arrangements to guard against terrorism in the Horn of Africa.
The joint surveillance is intended to monitor groups in Somalia that the US
believes have links to Al Qaeda. The terrorist group is said to have used
Somalia as a base for attacks in the region, including the bombings of the US
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and it is said to have forged strong
links with the Al Itihaad al Islamiya (Islamic Unity) organisation inside
Somalia.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman in London told the Nation yesterday that it
could confirm the meeting between the President and Mr Hoon had taken place but
it "could not comment on the nature of the discussions involved."
Military operations
The authoritative The Times newspaper said both Kenya and Ethiopia "could assist
in military operations" against alleged terrorist bases with Kenya "being called
upon to help, possibly with logistics."
The talks were stated to have included discussions on the use of Kenyan military
bases in the event of a strike by US and British forces against Islamic Unity.
The Times yesterday quoted intelligence sources as saying that the Western
allies were looking in detail at two suspected Islamic Unity bases in Somalia as
well as a number of islands off the coast near the border with Kenya.
This coastal area is being patrolled extensively at the moment, mostly by German
ships, in an effort to try to prevent Al Qaida forces taking refuge and
regrouping in Somalia.
The two suspected terrorist bases in Somalia are at El-Wak, in the south-west
and Las Anod in the north of the country. There were also reports that Islamic
terrorist extremists are using the island port of Ras Kamboni but these appear
to be out of date. A UN team which visited the islands after the September 11
attack was said to have found no evidence of any terrorist organisation.
A nine-man US team went into Baidoa, Somalia on Sunday to meet opposition
warlords opposed to the interim government in Mogadishu.
The officers were said to have held talks with leaders of the Rahanwein
Resistance Army, who were said to have offered territory under their control as
Western military bases in the fight against Islamic unity.
A strike on terrorist bases in Somalia would be an easier target for US forces
than Iraq and would not threaten allied unity. US Defence Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz said recently that Somalia was a country "virtually without a
government, (and) a country that has a certain Al Qaeda presence already."
The likelihood of military action has increased since Mr Wolfowitz said that its
intelligence forces now had "a much clearer picture than before" about how Al
Qaeda networks overlapped and operated.
US intelligence experts were said to be convinced that Al Qaeda camps in Somalia
were still active despite the protestations to the contrary by the transitional
government, and that the country remained a prime destination for any of Mr bin
Laden's followers able to escape from Afghanistan.
Islamic Unity was said to own a network of banks and businesses in Somalia which
Western intelligence believe is a cover for financing terrorism. It is also said
to have set up guerrilla training bases and is claimed to have links to Al Qaida
going back nearly a decade since Mr bin Laden was active in Sudan.
But the organisation is also said to be one of Somalia's biggest providers of
education and health services in the absence of an effective state
administration.
Reports that the Kenyan police had arrested Sheikh Ahmed Salim Sweidan, a close
associate of Mr bin Laden and a man wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings
in Nairobi "would represent the biggest breakthrough yet in the fight against
terrorism," according to a respected UK national newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Muslim clerics immediately said the police had arrested the wrong man, claiming
the iman they seized was Sheikh Ahmed Mursal, also known as Sheikh Ahmed Sudan,
not Sweidan, who runs a boys' school and charity.
Sheikh Sweidan was alleged to have bought the truck used to blow up the Nairobi
embassy killing 214 people and injuring thousands of others. He was indicted by
a US court and is on America's list of its most wanted suspects with a $25
million reward offered by the FBI for information leading to his arrest. Police
took the fingerprints of the sheikh they seized and sent them to the National
Registration Bureau in Nairobi. There, Commissioner of Police Philemon Abong'o
was ordered to produce the imam in court on Friday.
Mr Justice Gideon Mbito directed Mr Abong'o and CID director Francis Sang to
show cause why he should not be set free.
Identity unclear
On the row over the imam's identity, US embassy spokesman Tom Hart, said: "We
don't know the identity of the man being detained by Kenyan police. We are
waiting for a verification."
The US embassy said they received information from a Kenyan about the presence
of Sheikh Sweidan in Mandera and alerted the Kenyan police as part of the
cooperation between US and Kenyan authorities. Mr Hart said the FBI was not
involved in the operation to arrest the imam.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 12, 2001
George Munene
A seven-year-old boy yesterday committed suicide at Kianyaga in Kirinyaga
District following a domestic quarrel.
Police said the victim drunk a poisonous substance when his father refused to
allow him to travel to Ngurubani town to visit his mother, who had fled after a
disagreement.
The local police boss, Mr Nicodemus Diffu, said officers were investigating the
incident.
In unrelated incident, a woman was found hanging dead on a rope from the roof of
her house at Karaini village.
Mr Diffu said that police suspected that the woman who could not be immediately
identified, committed suicide.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 11, 2001
Kenyan authorities said yesterday they have arrested one of the world's "most
wanted terrorists" - a man with suspected ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
terrorist network who allegedly participated in the 1998 bombing of the U.S.
embassy in Nairobi.
Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, whose name was on a list of 22 "most-wanted"
terrorists issued Oct. 10 by President Bush, was arrested Saturday in Mandera,
about 500 miles northeast of Nairobi on Kenya's border with Somalia, police
spokesman Dola Indidis said.
Indidis said Swedan was arrested "over concerns for the security of the country"
but said he could not elaborate. He said Swedan was being questioned but has not
been charged. It was not clear whether Swedan had been transferred to Nairobi.
Swedan and four other fugitive suspects were added on Dec. 16, 1998, to a U.S.
federal indictment against bin Laden that charges him with masterminding both
the Nairobi embassy bombing and a simultaneous attack on the U.S. Embassy in Dar
es Salaam in neighboring Tanzania on Aug. 7 of that year.
At the same time, the State Department announced rewards of up to $5 million for
information leading to the arrests of the fugitives.
British Primer Minister Tony Blair identified Swedan is one of two al-Qaida
operatives who bought a truck used in the Aug. 7, 1998, Nairobi embassy bombing,
which killed 219 people, including 12 Americans. Twelve other people died in the
attack in Tanzania.
The Daily Nation reported yesterday that 18 people had been arrested in Mandera,
including an unidentified Muslim imam, allegedly on a request from the FBI.
But Indidis, the police spokesman, said Swedan was the only person arrested in
Mandera and U.S. Embassy spokesman Tom Hart said that there had been no
operational involvement of the FBI in the arrest.
+ + + +
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
December 11, 2001
Ken Ramani
The undeterred arms race in the Kerio Valley is likely to lead to a
conflagration that has never been seen in the country, warns a report titled
Pacifying the Kerio Valley Conflict - An Analysis of the Conflict.
The report takes great exception with the politicians are engaged in the
armament of members of the Pokot, Marakwet and Turkana communities to mount
bloody cattle-rustling expeditions.
The report, which will be launched today in Nairobi, is a joint effort between
the National Council of Churches (NCCK), Netherlands Development Organisation
(SNV) and Semi Arid Rural Development Programme (SARDEP).
The organisations have been working separately in the Kerio Valley for more than
five years on peace-making and community development initiatives.
The report draws parallels between the barbaric attack dubbed Murkutwo massacre
carried out last March where 53 people were killed and the 1994 Rwanda genocide
in which close to one million people died.
"What is dumfounding pundits and wananchi is the new dimension the conflict has
assumed. Initial conflicts pitted communities of different language groups such
as the Kikuyu and Kalenjin in Nakuru District, or the Maasai and Kisiis along
their common border. But guns have never been used there," says the report.
The report warns that the prolonged conflict can only help to solidify current
mutual suspicions and development jealousies between the Kerio Valley
communities.
It is claimed that the guns are no longer being used as instruments of attack or
defence during cattle raiding expeditions. They are now being used purely to
kill human beings - either as an act of vengeance or intimidation.
An employee at the Tot World Vision Centre who was interviewed recalled one
incident in which a dozen people were killed:
"If these guns are being used to acquire cattle, then why are they being used to
kill women and children who don't own cattle?
"The bullets should be targeted at men who own cattle. Instead of children being
vaccinated with needles, that day they were vaccinated with bullets - 13 of them
were killed. Women were also killed. But no action has been taken todate."
The report says the Government has the capacity to effectively and urgently
disarm the combatants while NGOs, church organisations, and other development
partners could facilitate the establishment of long-term mutual understanding
between the warring communities.
It warns that there is no single community in the conflict that would claim
victory, adding that they are all victims and accomplices in the conflict.
"Now is not the time to apportion blame. This is the time to collectively
pacify, heal and develop the valley."
The report talks of the high losses, both human and material that the conflict
has cost the area.
"Lives - particularly of innocent children, women and the elderly-have been lost
to this senseless and blind conflict.
"Large tracts of abandoned arable land hitherto under natural irrigation,
hectares and hectares of abandoned pasture now being consumed by bushes and
ghost market centres which were once bustling with business activities are now a
common site in the Kerio Valley.
The security situation in the area started to deteriorate in the early 1980s
when the Pokot began to acquire firearms from the Karamajong Uganda.
The Government was alarmed by the situation and appointed homeguards, commonly
referred to as the Kenya Police Reservists (KPRs) among the Pokots, who were
legally given guns to protect their community from the Karamajong and Turkana
raiders.
It is believed that KPR had no strict rules governing the storage and usage of
the guns, some of which were used to terrorise the neighbouring communities.
For the part of the northern side of Kerio valley, the supply of guns has been
from war-ravaged southern Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia. The report also
claims that approximately 11,000 illegal guns are sold in the Kenyan black
market annually.
In Pokot, the report says virtually every moran owns a gun. Merchants of the
guns are said to be businessmen and political activists.
Cattle rustling in the area has become a lucrative venture such that
unscrupulous traders fund the raids.
The cattle are sold in western Kenya and even in Nairobi. "Although it is not
clear who the arms and cattle merchants are, there is a feeling that they may be
influential people in the community," says the report.
Most residents interviewed claimed that within two or three days of cattle
rustling incidents, lorry loads of cattle are seen being transported out of the
area yet no action is taken to ascertain their connection with the raids.
The 27-page report blames politicians from the Kerio Valley for igniting and
sustaining the conflict for selfish ends.
The report recommends the economic empowerment of the youth in the area to
discourage them from prolonging the conflict because of idleness.
NCCK's General Secretary the Rev Mutava Musyimi and Jessie Bokhoven, a director,
SNV-Kenya, say there is need to constitute a consortium of development agencies,
which should include the Government and local authorities who will then adopt a
uniform approach to pacifying and developing the Kerio Valley.
They argue that the scope of development should bear a two-pronged approach with
peace for development and development for peace intervention frameworks.
"In view of the delicacy, urgency of the situation and dire needs of the valley,
a high rate of success would only accrue from uniformity and complimentary of
intervention efforts rather than diversity and parallelism."
They conclude: "It is in view of these factors that we wish the information will
not just end up in nicely-arranged bookshelves.
"It is our sincere hope plea that you (Government) use the information to act
now in the interest of the suffering residents of Kerio Valley, most of whom
have become refugees in their own country."
+ + + +
+ + + +
Witnesses say about 100 Colombian leftist guerrillas have kidnapped resort
guests in the northwestern town of Jardin, killing one person who apparently
tried to object.
Military officials say the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC rebels
forced an unknown number of hotel guests to go with them into the mountains
early Sunday in vans. One of the kidnapped guests is a local fireman.
Air force helicopters have been sent from Medellin to search for and rescue the
kidnap victims.
Meanwhile, the right-wing paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of
Colombia, has claimed responsibility for last week's death of a regional oil
worker's union leader.
The group, known as AUC, issued a communiqué on its web-site Saturday, accusing
the union leader of being a rebel commander. AUC leader, Carlos Castano, signed
the letter.
On Friday, Colombian President Andres Pastrana denounced the right-wing
paramilitary group and left-wing rebels, calling them "terrorists of the worst
kind." The two sides have been fighting each other for control of the country's
coca fields, and have engaged in kidnapping and drug trafficking to finance
their operations.
Coca is the main ingredient in the drug, cocaine.
The Associated Press reports leftist guerrillas from the National Liberation
Army have released an American backpacker that they kidnapped last month.
The report says the group released Glenn Hereggestard from the state of
California on Friday afternoon.
+ + + +
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - The tough expression and sun-cured face cannot
conceal the still seething anger that led Carlos Rios to become a Marxist
guerrilla at the age of 13 in search of vengeance.
Carlos, who is 17 now, doesn't know how many people he killed and wounded during
his three and a half years with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- a
17,000-strong force known by the Spanish initials FARC. But now he says he
realizes that revenge brought no satisfaction and his years packing a rifle
didn't soothe the hurt caused by the murder of his aunt.
His first combat came one month after joining, and he lived rough in the jungle
and dodged bullets until finally his life as a guerrilla came to an end on Oct.
20, 2000. That was the day that the army captured Carlos in a dusty village in
northeastern Colombia, when he ran out of bullets after fighting for four hours.
Now Carlos just wants to forget the war which has left him with a damaged pelvis
and shrapnel still dug into different parts of his body. His old wounds ache in
the high Andean cold where he now lives in the capital Bogota, in a safe house
run by the government's Colombian Family Welfare Institute.
Like many other child fighters taken prisoner, he was included in a program
entitled Boys and Girls Rehabilitated from the Armed Conflict. Since its
commencement in 1997, some 740 former child fighters have passed through the
program, which usually lasts five months and which prepares them to return to
civilian life.
The current batch of teen-agers live in groups of about 30 in five houses --
whose locations are secret, for security reasons. Many of them can barely write
their name when they begin the program, which seeks to give them reading and
writing skills and offers them training in trades such as carpentry.
They also receive psychological counseling.
The United Nations (news - web sites) believes that 6,000 minors are fighting
for Colombia's illegal armies of the left and the right, which are waging a war
that has killed about 40,000 people in the past decade alone.
Despite suffering losses, too, the guerrillas have a steady supply of recruits.
But earlier this year, it recognized that some were too young, and said that it
would stop accepting fighters less than 14 years old.
CHILDREN DRAGGED INTO CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
Carlos' voice trembles when he describes how a group of about 30 armed men
entered his aunt's general store and dragged her away together with a helper.
The two women's bodies were never found.
Carlos says the men who did it were members of a far-right paramilitary group.
So he went and joined the rebels, and in so doing became another example of the
cycle of violence that feeds Colombia's 37-year old war.
``I filled up with hatred of the paracos,'' he said, using the pejorative
nickname for the far-right fighters, ``I left home and went to work in the
mountains. But I was depressed, I felt bad, so I went and joined the
guerrillas.''
Carlos says that he was fighting for social equality. But, asked about the
meaning of the word ``democracy'', he is baffled and laughed nervously.
He is little more coherent describing something of which he has far more direct
experience: killing people.
``You feel lots of things. When you kill, you don't feel anything. You think
that at last you've done something which has hurt the soldiers. The same that
they feel when they kill us,'' he said.
The institute's director, Juan Manuel Urrutia, says that his wards were the
victims of the armed groups that recruited them. But he added that the
government should not forget its own responsibility in a country where 40
percent of children grow up in poverty.
The ranks of the young poor provide the war's cannon fodder and fingers to
squeeze the triggers in a country that is also ravaged by the struggle to
overcome the world's largest cocaine industry.
``We don't forget our responsibility, the state's responsibility, for letting
those kids be recruited,'' Urrutia said in his modest office.
The rehabilitation program costs $300-$500 per child per month, quite a lot of
money in a country where the minimum monthly wage is about $125.
KIDS MUST DECIDE FOR SELVES
Urrutia says that former child guerrillas are very disciplined, accustomed as
they are to following orders. But it takes quite a bit of work to build up their
self-esteem and convince them they can and should take decisions for themselves.
Ninety percent of the program's beneficiaries came from leftist guerrilla
groups, mainly the FARC. The rest were members of the far-right paramilitaries.
Occasionally, Urrutia says, the guerrilla groups send spies to join the program.
They sign up, sniff around, and then run away back to their jungle or mountain
bases to report on what's going on.
Many factors in this mixed-up country lead children to abandon poverty-stricken
homes and become guerrillas or paramilitary fighters.
``Some of the boys join up because they want to be like Rambo. The girls go
because they have a crush on some boy who's joined up, because they've been
jilted or because they think they will find affection and respect,'' said
Urrutia.
Their reasons are not unlike those given by poor urban teen-agers who explain
why they join street gangs in blighted inner-cities U.S. neighborhoods.
Sixteen year-old Olga Contreras joined the FARC two years ago because her
brother joined and she missed him.
``They didn't want to take me because I was so small, but in the end they did
because they were looking to recruit,'' she said, speaking in a soft voice.
Since she was a little girl, growing up in Colombia's muggy eastern plains, she
had always liked weapons and uniforms, and wanted to be a guerrilla. There are
plenty of towns out there, lost in poverty, where bare-foot kids see the
guerrillas march past and form early ideas of glamour.
Defying her mother and stepfather, she ran away from school and began a
militarized, regimental existence, in which guerrilla commanders control
everything from the right to have a boyfriend to the times when fighters can
bathe.
``There were lots of soldiers chasing after us and the only thing we did was
run. Toward the end I even hoped they would kill me so that I wouldn't have to
suffer any more. I cried all the time, I wasn't strong,'' she said.
She doesn't like to remember what she has seen -- the wounded and the dead. Or
the contraceptive coil they made her use to avoid pregnancy.
Seventeen-year old Manuel Restrepo's story is different. He didn't want to
become a guerrilla at all, but left his mother's coffee farm to travel to
Colombia's south to work picking coca leaf -- the raw material for cocaine.
Things went well and he was soon earning $250 a month -- until the local FARC
guerrillas told him to clear out of the coca region because he was a stranger.
After eight days, unable to work, running out of money and unable to put
together enough to pay for a bus fare home, he decided that the only way he
would be able to survive would be to join the guerrillas.
After 12 months he had had more than enough of rebel life and, taking advantage
of the confusion of a blazing army attack, managed to run away with a friend.
Now, after seven months in the program, Manuel is almost ready to go home. War
may have finished with his innocence, but not with his desire to live.
``War doesn't help anything. Just makes other people suffer,'' he said.
But Carlos too has other things on his mind now. Despite his youth, he has an
infant daughter he has never seen, whom he fathered before running away to the
FARC. He says he wants to go and find her and bring her some toys.
+ + + +
(Sunday)
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Leftist guerrillas have freed an American backpacker
kidnapped in Colombia last month, officials said Sunday.
Fighters from the National Liberation Army, or ELN, released the hostage -
identified as Glenn Hereggestard of California - on Friday, said army spokesman
Capt. Luis Hernandez.
Hernandez said the ELN, the nation's second-largest rebel army, abducted the
29-year-old backpacker on Nov. 4 from a rural highway outside the town of San
Luis in Antioquia province. He was released in the neighboring village of San
Francisco, 117 miles northwest of the capital, Bogota.
A U.S. Embassy official in Bogota confirmed that an American abducted by the ELN
had been released, but said he could not identify the hostage.
The official said the hostage required no hospital treatment following his
release. It wasn't clear if ransom had been paid.
Meanwhile, fighters from the nation's largest rebel army - the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC - kidnapped as many as 23 people in Antioquia
after breaking into the hotel where they were staying, the army said.
Dozens of rebels besieged the Marando Hotel outside the town of El Jardin, 235
miles northwest of Bogota, before dawn on Sunday, abducting five guests and
killing one man who refused to go, said Hernandez.
Hernandez said the rebels then kidnapped as many as 18 other guests who had
chased the guerrillas in their vehicles in an attempt to rescue the hostages.
The army's anti-kidnapping unit reported that some of the hostages were later
freed, although it couldn't confirm how many.
Colombia's rebel groups kidnap for political reasons and for ransoms to fund
their insurgencies, frequently netting their victims at impromptu roadblocks set
up on highways.
The 37-year internal conflict, pitting two guerrilla groups against government
troops and a right-wing paramilitary army, kills an estimated 3,500 people every
year, mostly civilians.
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http://www.cursor.org/aljazeera.htm
+ + + +
SOME of Osama bin Laden's most trusted fighters yesterday accused him of leaving
them to their fate in the mountaintop Tora Bora fortress.
Afghan defectors from bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network said a split had emerged
between hard-core Algerian fighters and other Arabs, including Egyptians, who
felt they had been left for dead by their leaders in Afghanistan's White
Mountains.
A senior Afghan intelligence official, Pir Bajsham, said: "Some al-Qa'eda
fighters have become extremely demoralised in the last couple of days.
"Some will fight to the last bullet but we also expect hundreds to surrender
when their food and ammunition runs low. It is only a question of when."
Allied air strikes have hit Tora Bora for most of the past three weeks. Bombing,
which intensified on Sunday, dropped off yesterday as Western-backed Afghan
warlords sent guerrilla platoons crawling up rocky paths towards al-Qa'eda
positions.
"The US air raids have been cut back to allow my men to advance into the mouth
of Tora Bora," said Husta Gul, an Afghan officer.
Afghan fighters, re-supplied by camels, have edged up to firing positions
overlooking the Tora Bora valley where between 1,000 and 2,000 Arab and Chechen
fighters are still waging their "holy war" against so-called "Western
aggression".
A spokesman for Hazrat Ali, an anti-Taliban commander, said last night that most
of Tora Bora and the neighbouring Melawa Valley had now been captured, "except
for one place" - the central cave complex used by al-Qa'eda.
The Melawa Valley is strategically important as it offers ground troops a second
route towards the terror network's Tora Bora base.
US forces have used their devastating "daisy cutter" bomb near Tora Bora. One of
the 15,000lb fuel bombs, which destroy anything within a radius of 600 yards,
was dropped on Sunday but fighting remained so intense that US forces had been
unable to assess its impact.
When asked if bin Laden had been one of the al-Qa'eda leaders in the cave it was
aimed at, a Pentagon spokesman said: "Hopefully so." Several leading Egyptian
families have already fled the Tora Bora base.
"The men are saying that as long as Osama and his top lieutenants are hiding in
caves and not doing any of the front-line fighting, they don't want to sacrifice
their lives for the al-Qa'eda cause," said an Afghan who helped take several
Egyptian families, including a dozen children, to safety.
The attacks by American B52 and F16 fighter bombers have been increasingly
targeted at the Arab and Chechen front line.
Al-Qa'eda families who have escaped the intense bombing, said the air strikes
have caused huge rockslides in the Tora Bora mountain valley.
American "military advisers" driving in a green truck with tinted windows and
dressed in local garb were spotted yesterday mapping out a strategy for a
broader siege of the White Mountain enclave.
But the battle for Tora Bora has not yet been directly joined by British or
American ground troops.
Meanwhile, Western-backed Afghan fighters have made little progress flushing out
Arabs and Chechens despite the defections.
The rugged terrain has forced the rag-tag Afghans, many of whom fought in the
same mountains against Soviet troops, to move on foot through lines of al-Qa'eda
fire.
However, there were growing signs yesterday that senior al-Qa'eda leaders have
already fled the besieged mountain base. In Washington, US officials said bin
Laden was probably still somewhere in "eastern Afghanistan".
That broad description of his whereabouts suggested that he is probably on the
run again. Bin Laden had favoured the Tora Bora mountain enclave because it
permitted a quick escape into Pakistan.
It also offers the option of hiking across the mountains to one of several other
terrorist bases to the south, in Afghanistan's Paktia province.
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more L8R
Rizla Ranger UK
12 December 2001 : Uzbekistan Eyewitnesses See Dozens of US Casualties
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan
LONDON (IWPR): The London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting has
reported from Khanabad, Uzbekistan, that the US air base in this city is
receiving daily flights carrying dead and injured US soldiers. Uzbek sources at
Khanabad suggest that the real figures of US casualties are far higher than the
Pentagon's official totals. Uzbek army personnel working at the air base said
scores of US casualties have been arriving there. From November 25 to December
2, an Uzbek orderly working with American medical staff said he had witnessed
the arrival of four to five US helicopters - carrying between them 10-15
American casualties - each day. The orderly said the US staff he was helping
confirmed the casualties coming off the aircraft were Americans.
A reporter who managed to enter the air base with a group of visiting Uzbek
parents said that one whole floor of a building and four large canvas tents were
full of injured US soldiers, who have suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds to the
arms, leg and head. The airport sources could not confirm how many incoming
casualties had died. One Uzbek soldier said that since October 15 he had helped
US servicemen load 20 body bags onto American transport planes. But he could not
confirm whether they were dead US soldiers.
But there is other evidence of American fatalities. One Uzbek officer said US
soldiers had told him that four of their comrades had died of their wounds on
December 1 while being airlifted to Khanabad. An Uzbek pilot spoke of the death
last week of an American soldier who he had become friendly with while he was on
the base. The US serviceman, he said, had died in the attempt to end the prison
riot on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif two weeks ago. "A lot of American troops
died there - it was a real battle, " the pilot said.
Uzbek army personnel say the atmosphere on the base has changed distinctly in
the last week or so. They say that in October when the Americans began deploying
at the airport, they were gung-ho, telling their Uzbek counterparts that it
would take no more than a month and a half to defeat the Taleban and al-Qaeda.
While the Taleban appear to be on their last legs, al-Qaeda fighters continue to
resist in mountain redoubts, with some US servicemen at Khanabad now resigned to
a long haul. Uzbek military staff say frustration at this is noticeable. They
say they have witnessed growing tensions among American troops, often
overhearing arguments and shouting matches.
The link to the entire report can be found in the Associated Links section
below.
ARAB MUJAHIDEEN WITNESSED AERIAL SUPPORT FROM ALLAAH(SWT)
TORA BORA (Special Report): On Saturday afternoon after Asr Prayers, the Eastern
Shura launched a concentrated offensive against Mujahideen positions in the Tora
Bora mountains. According to news reports from the area, it was the most intense
attack launched against them so far. Haji Qadeer's forces had close air and
armour support. The US Air Force bombed the Mujahideen positions savegely and
heavy armour was also pitted against them. The fighting was so intense that the
Mujahideen initiated a tactical retreat to the mountains with light weapons.
They had earlier resolved to die fighting instead of being taken prisoner. It
was when they had moved back and the forces of the Eastern Shura, supported by a
heavy detachment of US ground troops had moved forward, that bombs began to fall
on the Coalition forces from the sky, killing 300 of the enemy comprising
Americans and Haji Qadeer's militia.
This was without doubt a miracle from Allah (SWT) who had blinded the American
pilots so that they bombed their own people. The Mujahideen counter- attacked
after this incident and killed another 300 US troops/ Alliance militia,
capturing 100 prisoners. It has been reported that a joint force of 900 troops
including US soldiers and Eastern Shura militia attacked the Mujahideen who
numbered around 500 troops.
This was a highly organised offensive against the Mujahideen, which was
coordinated by high-ranking US military commanders, whose mutilated bodies
littered the battlefield at the end of the battle. It has been reported that
after this major victory for the Mujahideen, Haji Qadeer asked the Americans to
deploy more ground troops as American air support has proved to be impotent
against the Mujahideen and lethal instead to the Americans and their agents. The
Mujahideen sources claimed that it was doubtlessly help from Allah (SWT)
TORA BORA ATTACKED BY 15,000LB HEAVY BOMBS; AMERICAN AGENTS UNABLE TO ADVANCE
JALALABAD (Islam News): The Americans have started using 15,000lb heavy 'Daisy
Cutter' bombs on Tora Bora. According to news reports, the Americans have
carried out the most intense bombing on Arab Mujahideen present in Tora Bora,
which is 25 km away from Jalalabad. They have used cruise missiles, cluster
bombs, Napalm bombs, B-52 bomber carpet-bombs, Oxygen-sucking bombs and after
the failure of all these armaments, they have now resorted to the most dangerous
Daisy Cutter bombs. According to the information received from Tora Bora the
American warplanes have dropped several 15,000lb bombs similar to what they
dropped in civilians in Kandahar, but despite this, the Northern Alliance forces
have still been unable to make any advances on the Mujahideen positions.
Although the Northern Alliance Commanders, Hazrat Ali and Haji Zahir are
claiming for many days that their 3000 fighters have started attacks, eye
witnesses from Jalalabad have said that there are only 450 equipped criminals of
these commanders in Tora Bora, including 200 troops under Hazrat Ali and 250
under Zahir Shah. The eyewitnesses said that in order to collect US dollars from
the Americans, these troops continue to make different claims every day, but
until now they have only advanced 1.5 km from their initial positions. It is not
within their reach to take control of the whole region. These dangerous regions
are spread over 35 km in length and in this whole region there are numerous
large and small caves. It must be clarified that this region starts from the
South of Jalalabad and meets the Parachinar region after 35 km.
The American and Coalition forces began bombing Afghanistan on 7th October 2001
and Tora Bora is the only place where bombing has been going on continuously and
without any break since that date. However, so far the Americans have still been
unable to achieve significant results from this bombing. The Americans are in
complete disarray as regards this situation and whether Usama Bin Ladin is here
or not.
"O ALLAH! BLESS ME WITH MARTYRDOM" PRAYS ABU KHULOOD AL-YEMENI
KANDAHAR (Special Report): Abu-Khulood Al-Yemani's joins the ranks of the
martyrs in a way that would be the envy of every Muslim. Last Wednesday, 5
December 2001, two elite units of Arab Mujahideen advanced towards the outskirts
of Takhta Pul to lay an ambush for the forces of American agent, Gul Agha.
Abu-Khulood from Yemen was commanding the first unit comprising of 15 Arab
Mujahideen and Abu Haani was commanding the other unit of 15 Mujahideen. On the
way to the rendezvous, Abu-Khulood told his companions that he would be martyred
in this battle. His companions passed his remark with a smile. Into the
battlefield, the Mujahideen launched a fierce attack on the enemies of Allah
(SWT) and reports confirm that 17 of Gul Aghas's troops were killed on the spot
with a number severely injured. As the firing subsided, Abu-Khulood, who had
been commanding the operation, fell on his knees, raised his hands towards the
sky and made dua to Allaah (SWT):
" O Allah! I have been fighting in your way for such a long time and still you
have not chosen me amongst the Shuhadaa (Martyrs). O Allah! bless me with
martyrdom!!!"
As soon as Abu-Khulood finished this dua, he was hit by a bullet and Allah (SWT)
gave him what he so profusely cherished. Abu-Khulood had spent most of his life
waging Jihad in the way of Allah (SWT). He had fought the enemies of Allah in
many lands of Jihad including Bosnia and Afghanistan. The Mujahideen forces
suffered no other loss in this operation.
AL-JAZEERA CHANNEL: AMERICAN COMMANDERS KILLED BY MORTAR FIRE IN TORA BORA
TORA BORA (Al-Jazeera): It was one day last week when a mortar round from the
Arab Mujahideen positions in Tora Bora hit the command center of the Eastern
Alliance, while a planning session was in progress. According to news reports,
high level US military commanders as well as Haji Qadir's top commanders were
present in the session. The command center was destroyed by the round and the
Eastern Alliance militia used excessive force to keep the foreign journalists
and TV crews from the scene of carnage. Al-Jazeera Network speculated that this
harrassement was to cover up the heavy blow dealt to the command structure of
the US forces in the area.
AFTER AMERICAN BOMBING THE ARAB MUJAHID SAID OVER THE SATELLITE PHONE WITH JOY:
"CONGRATULATIONS, HISHAM HAS ENTERED PARADISE INSHA-ALLAH"
KANDAHAR (Islam News): The desire for martyrdom is so deep in the Arab
Mujahideen that they compete with one another for it. This can judged from an
event that took place upon the martyrdom of an Arab Mujahid due to American
bombing few days ago. His companion was overwhelmed with joy and an eyewitness
told Islam News that using a satellite telephone, he informed the martyrs's
sister in the following way: "MUBROOK MUBROOK HASHAM DAKHAL-AL- JANNA
INSHA-ALLAH!" (Congratulations! Congratulations! Hisham has entered Paradise
insha-Allah)
The sister asked this companion to give this same news to her mother and he
spoke to her mother and informed her with same joy. The martyr's mother, after
listening to this news, said many times: "ALHAMDULILLAH! ALHAMDULILLAH!" (Praise
be to Allah! Praise be to Allah)
These Arab Mujahideen told Islam News that martyrdom in the month of Ramadan and
also against the greatest enemy of Islam in the whole world like America is one
of the greatest achievements that has no substitute in this world.
WOUNDED MUJAHID FROM UAE VOWS TO CONTINUE JIHAD AGAINST AMERICA
QUETTA (JANG): In a report by the Pakistan Daily Jang, 'Abdur-Rahman', an Arab
Mujahid from the United Arab Emirates vowed to continue the Jihad against
America. "We have nothing to lose. If I die, I am a martyr for whom Allah has
promised paradise. And if I survive I am a victor." he said.
"America has killed thousands of innocent people just because they are Muslims.
They hit them very violently. If I see them, I will kill them," said Rehman.
"They dropped 7.5 tonnes of bombs without identifying targets and razed
buildings and blew up mud houses of poor Afghans. Many bodies just disappeared
and we could not trace even the fingers of the victims for their Islamic
burial."
Abdur-Rahman is one of four Mujahideen being treated in a Quetta hospital under
Police guard after which he will be interrogated and handed over to US
authorities by the apostate Pakistani Government.
The report can be found in the Associated Links section
KANDAHAR: KILLINGS A DAILY ROUTINE AND AN UNRESTFUL SITUATION HAS FORCED PEOPLE
TO GUARD THEIR HOUSES
KANDAHAR (Islam News): According to information received from Kandahar, the
residents of the city are have been forced to guard their houses again. After
the evacuation of the Taliban from Kandahar, the situation there is very tense
and killings are a daily routine. According to news reports, the American
supported bandits of Gul Agha's militia have kept the residents of the Cantt
region of Kandahar under their control, by the force of weapons. Every day, they
enter into the houses of people,loot them and molest the women. For this reason,
the residents have started guarding their houses personally. During the Taliban
rule, people were so relaxed that they did not even lock the doors of their
houses. Is this the type of 'modern' Islam that many Muslims have been shouting
for, who labelled the Taliban as being 'extreme' when they were ruling
Afghanistan? Perhaps this is why Allah has given the Muslim Ummah what they
wanted and what they deserve. Gul Agha's criminals have also looted the Herat
Bazar shopping centre and kidnapped a trader's son due to which there was
extreme tension in the city and shops were closed.
WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACK IRRELEVANT NOW AFTER 9000 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED
The 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in America have now
become an irrelevant topic of discussion as the number of Afghan civilians
killed by America since 7th October 2001 reaches 9200. Are the same Muslim
'scholars' and 'organisations' and 'councils' who shed many tears over the 11
September attacks now going to shed three times as many tears or give three
times as many 'official' statements condemning these atrocities as well? Or is
the life of an American disbeliever worth more than a Muslim Afghan civilian?
Rizla Ranger UK
Rizla Ranger UK
UK Gov't Export Control Bill debate
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Tonge: The Liberal Democrats welcome the amendments, and are happy to
support them. We, like Conservative Members, have been worried for some time
about mercenary activities. I was amazed, during the election campaign, to come
across two young people in my constituency who said that they were involved with
mercenary activities and who claimed to have been trained in Afghanistan. I can
hardly believe that such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
I remind the Committee that we were promised a Green Paper on mercenary
activities by November 2000; but, as the hon. Member for Salisbury pointed out,
it has not yet appeared. I hope that the Government will accept the amendment as
a promissory note for that Green Paper. Clearly, it would not encompass all the
things that we need to say about the subject, but it would at least show the
nation that the Government take mercenary activities seriously and that they
will deliver the goods in the near future.
I am a little disappointed that amendment No. 55 does not mention police and
security or paramilitary activity, but we may be able to correct that omission
at a later stage. I was also interested to see that it includes the words,
``the authority of the Secretary of State''.
As I recall, the Sandline affair involved word of mouth--people understood that
authority had been given. The amendment should say,
``the written authority of the Secretary of State''.
Nevertheless, we welcome the amendment. We hope that the Government will take it
seriously, and that they will include it or a similar provision in the Bill.
Nigel Griffiths: We are all concerned about the role of mercenaries. The
amendments seek to ensure that a range of activities under the heading ``foreign
military assistance'' can be controlled under the Bill. I do not believe that
such a change is necessary. Clause 4 is already a wide-ranging provision. It
allows the Government to impose controls on ``technical'' services. That term is
broad and it covers services provided by any individual or party in connection
with the development of production, or the use of, any controlled goods or
technology. In practice, that means services provided by anyone in connection
with any military goods or technology. ``Anyone'' includes mercenaries; in
answer to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Dr. Tonge), it also includes
police, security and paramilitary personnel. They are all covered under clause 4
and by the word ``services''.
That wide-ranging new power implements the EU joint action on controls on the
provision of technical assistance for weapons of mass destruction and related
missile programmes; it allows us to implement any requirements for controls on
technical assistance imposed by international embargoes; and it provides
appropriate penalties.
Mr. Gerald Howarth: The Minister recognises the force of the argument made by my
hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Richmond Park. However, the Committee needs
to hear that the Minister has taken specific legal advice on the amendments. I
think that judges will be unwilling to extend the interpretation of technical
assistance as the Minister suggests. Under the present circumstances, we must
make it explicit to the courts of England that they have a duty to help to
eradicate terrorism. In view of my hon. Friend's remarks, will the Minister tell
us whether he has taken specific legal advice on the amendments?
11.30 am
Nigel Griffiths: I hardly think that my civil servants would advise me on the
matter without taking full and proper legal advice.
Aspects of the activities listed in the amendments, such as training in the use
of weapons, which is a key mercenary activity, come within the scope of the
clause. Powers over the transfer of technology and the trade in controlled goods
allow for the control of other aspects of such activities, such as the
procurement of equipment, which is another aspect of mercenary work. The
wide-ranging powers in the clause will therefore deal with many of the concerns
that have been voiced.
Dr. Tonge: I must dispute the Minister's claim that subsection (4) covers actual
people. We are talking about people who are training to be mercenaries and to
fight, perhaps with their bare hands. We are not talking about goods and
services or technology of any description.
Nigel Griffiths: I should not have to tell the hon. Lady that mercenaries need
equipment and technology; they thrive on it. They do not generally go around
using their bare hands; they are well armed. It is clear from the examples that
we have been given of websites and from advertisements that people will not
train in America without the equipment that the hon. Member for Salisbury
mentioned. It is important to note that people provide services, and mercenaries
provide a despicable service that requires an infrastructure. We got a flavour
of the infrastructure of terrorism from the hon. Gentleman's contribution.
Dr. Tonge: I must press the Minister on this issue. I said in my opening remarks
that the actions of 11 September were carried out by trained men—we can call
them mercenaries or whatever we like—who used their bare hands and perhaps
Stanley knives. That is the point that Conservative Members are trying to make
in the amendments.
Nigel Griffiths: I think that the hon. Lady said that Stanley knives were used,
and the record will show that, but I do not want to get into the particulars of
that tragic case when I know that the Americans and others are investigating it.
However, as the hon. Member for Salisbury and the hon. Lady rightly said,
private military companies and mercenaries are the subject of a forthcoming
Green Paper, which will set out the options for their regulation. In the Bill,
we are trying to provide the Government with powers to ensure that we can put in
place an export control regime that meets the challenge posed by the modern
world. That is why we are acting in concert with the European Union, the United
Nations and the various international export control regimes, such as the
missile technology control regime.
The controls will be introduced on technical assistance and will derive from
international obligations. That is the only way to make them fully effective. If
members of the Committee believe that a framework of controls such as has
existed hitherto was in any way competent to meet the crisis that we witnessed
during the past few weeks, they are mistaken. The reason for the changes is to
try to tighten controls on armaments technology and on methods of transferring
technology, and to starve mercenary groups of illegal traders and brokers
involved in breaching embargoes of the necessary resources. That is what the
framework is all about.
Mr. Key: When will the Green Paper be published?
Nigel Griffiths: As the hon. Gentleman will know, that is a matter on which the
Foreign Secretary and the Foreign Office will take the lead. He raised the
matter with the Home Secretary yesterday, and I am sure that the Foreign
Secretary will have read his comments as well and will be happy to respond as
soon as a date is known.
Mr. Key: I am grateful for the support of the hon. Member for Richmond Park, who
has a long track record on the subject. I was especially interested in what she
said on police, security and paramilitary activity, about which we have a blind
spot in this country because we do not have a paramilitary police force, unlike
almost every other European nation. If one visits Kosovo—as I have several
times—one will see amazing work carried out not only by the regular and reserve
forces, but by the Ministry of Defence police. Our soldiers are not policemen,
but we do not have paramilitaries. The MOD police—a regular armed
service—perform the function that paramilitaries would perform elsewhere.
I considered that the subject was a little wide of the mark, and that I would
have pushed my luck if I had introduced it for debate. However, I pricked up my
ears in the Chamber yesterday when the Home Secretary said that he would seek to
reintroduce the clauses on the MOD police in the Armed Forces Bill, the passage
of which was not completed due to the general election. He also said that he
would go further and introduce legislation to extend the jurisdiction of, for
example, the British Transport police. That is long overdue, as long as it is
done in the right way.
Of course, there are drafting issues in relation to my amendment. As I have
said, I am not a lawyer, but I have done my best. The Minister will not be
surprised to hear that I was disappointed when he said that some provisions in
the amendments were not necessary. It is astonishing for a Minister to say that
it is not necessary for such legislation to cover mercenaries.
The Minister also said that mercenaries were despicable, but I do not think that
they need be so. This country has a long record, lasting hundreds of years, of
use of mercenaries. The private forces of the East India Company were not
despicable. Some consider the Gurkhas to have started as mercenaries, and they
are certainly not despicable. It is unregulated mercenaries who are despicable,
and they can cause havoc. I have been motivated to urge for regulation, although
I do not normally like regulation as a political philosophy. It would be of
great assistance on the issue to this country and elsewhere.
The Minister was unable to answer the question about when there would be a Green
Paper, but I do not blame him for that. He has had a very sticky wicket this
morning, which he has played with competence; I am grateful to him for that. I
am sure that the Government will reconsider the situation and I will do my best
to ensure that they do. However, the Minister seems to think that his
legislation conforms with and answers the Council joint action on the control of
technical assistance, which I quoted at the beginning, and which, as the hon.
Member for Richmond Park said, specifically includes instruction, training, the
transmission of working knowledge of skills and consulting services, and
includes all forms of assistance. The legislation does not conform with that. It
omits the whole area and that is why I must, with considerable regret, seek to
divide the Committee on this issue.
We shall return to this issue again and again and I have a sneaking feeling,
reading Labour Members' body language and listening to Opposition Members'
contributions, that the Committee is uncomfortable with the Government's
position on the matter. It is all happening very quickly, but on this occasion I
cannot give the Government the benefit of the doubt—that would be quite wrong. I
want to make it clear that many people outside the House as well as inside it
will be observing carefully the Government's decision not to allow the
amendment.
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Rizla Ranger UK
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/4/82.04.07.x.html
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http://www.caat.org.uk/research/Africa_Body.html#8
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http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/cmintdev/55/5509.htm
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Another day, another coup
With the world's attention focused on New York and Afghanistan, it's little
wonder that the recent putsch on the tiny Indian ocean island of Anjouan passed
unnoticed. Then again, so did the other 23 in the past 24 years. Kevin Rushby
visits a paradise of unrest
Kevin Rushby
Guardian
Monday October 1, 2001
In the furore of recent events in the US, one small item of news almost passed
unnoticed, but a friend in Africa spotted it and telephoned. "You know that
island between Mozambique and Madagascar that you visited," she said. "Was it
called Anjouan? Well, there's been a coup."
Actually, there have been 24 coups in as many years, the pace accelerating since
1997 and culminating with the latest on August 9 and an attempted one again on
September 24. On an island no bigger than the Isle of Wight, this means that a
significant proportion of the adult population has indulged in some storming of
the presidential palace, or at least enjoyed a little ministerial status, albeit
usually short-lived.
To be honest, any able-bodied person with some pluck and peripheral vision
stands a good chance: the Maoist revolutionary, Ali Soilih, took over in 1975
armed with little more than the spokes from a bicycle wheel; the French
mercenary, Bob Denard, succeeded 20 years later with a dozen soldiers all aged
over 60.
When I left the neighbouring island of Mayotte to sail to Anjouan last year, an
ex-Foreign Legion man warned me that, despite being an unarmed lone traveller
with an Anjouannais crew, I would be viewed as an invasion force. I was
fortunate to find a ship going at all, there being no news from the island, that
had suffered a failed coup seven days before (but failed coups are so common
they merit no attention whatsoever).
My invasion never happened, but my landing was certainly emphatic. How I did it
without injury I will never know.
We reached the island's eastern seaboard as darkness fell. It is an implacably
hostile coast where the 5,000ft volcanic peaks drop directly into the huge
swells of the Indian ocean. We could scent the fabled jungles of aromatic
plants: ylang-ylang, cloves and vanilla.
Two hours later, we rounded the northern point and approached Mutsamudu, one of
the remotest capitals on the globe, particularly since the island seceded from
the Comoros Islands in 1997 and so excluded itself from what is normally
referred to as civilisation. I had no idea what to expect. Anarchy? A red
carpet? A gun to the head? As a country, Anjouan does not register on the
diplomatic radar. News is scarce.
There was precious little to be seen of the town in the darkness: a few dim
lights hung over the quayside where a large crowd had gathered to witness the
arrival of the battered old ship, an itinerant vessel that occasionally sails
the 60 miles from the French island of Mayotte. As we inched alongside the wall
and touched, a spurt of energy passed through the waiting people and they began
to leap aboard excitedly.
I was pressed back up the companionway on to the upper deck. Inside the
wheelhouse I spotted the captain grappling with a bare-chested lunatic. There
was no one in a uniform, no officials, but everyone was bellowing at me,
"Passport! Passport!", and foolishly I held it up. Immediately, it was snatched
from me and lost. A thin man with a goatee beard pulled me to the edge of the
deck, from where we could see the seething crowd 12ft below. Then, with a
good-natured smile, he pushed me off. Somehow the crowd parted just sufficiently
for my arrival not to kill anyone.
I was given no time to gather my wits. Two men bundled me into an ancient
Renault 5, its engine wheezing and roaring in desperate gasps. The doors were
tied shut with string and I noticed a neat bullet hole in the windscreen just
three inches above the level of the steering wheel. The driver turned and
grinned, and I recognised the man with the goatee beard from the boat. Then we
shot forwards, hammering through the potholed narrow streets, catching glimpses
of men in doorways and pockmarked, graffiti-covered walls.
After some time, we stopped and I was ordered out. We were high above the
medina, the maze-like Arab bazaar that forms the heart of Mutsamudu, and the
favoured hiding place of all the plotters, rebels and ex-presidents. Then my
abductors set off down some steps into the darkness and I found myself
following, suddenly afraid I might lose them.
When I arrived at the bottom of the steps, they had disappeared. I plunged
forward, hand on the wall to my right. It was utterly black in these tiny cracks
of alley ways. I stepped forward, felt only air, then jarred my knee as I hit
the ground. When I straightened, there was a disembodied white shirt floating in
front of me. I reached out and touched it. A set of teeth gleamed.
"Hey brother," said the teeth. "Cool to cool. Take it."
A hand searched for mine. I understood he was drunk and swaying.
"Take it, man, Bob Marley. We are inna Babylon, baby. We are inna Babylon."
The red tip of a giant spliff lit his face for a second, creased and shiny like
a well-worn funeral suit. The spliff was pushed in my mouth.
"Hey brother, keep it loose. Passss the Dutchie. Par-take of the 'oly 'erb."
There is an aspect of Anjouan worth mentioning at this point: everyone knows
everyone else's business. I alone was unaware that my kidnapper was actually my
host and, as such, all would be well. This friend, a reggae fan like many
Anjouannais, was guiding me home with a conversation beachcombed from 70s
Jamaican hits.
I never quite got used to the small town's character. One night I got very drunk
with a rebel leader at his allotment (mountain lair would be more normal, of
course, but Anjouan is not normal). This man had stormed the palace twice and
his well-kept vegetable garden up in the jungle was a fertile haunt for
revolutionary ideas.
Next morning, a stranger accosted me in Mutsamudu market. "Bonjour, monsieur.
You are Ras Asahabi, the English who drank three bottles of wine and one of rum
last evening before fainting?" (My surname took on many variations while in
Anjouan, but I preferred this version over Rah Shabby.)
The rebel-leader-cum-vegetable-gardener is a good example of why Anjouan is
perennially unstable. Until the revolutionary Ali Soilih took over in 1975 with
his utopian Year Zero ideals, Anjouan had been a quiet backwater of dishevelled
French colonialism based on ylang-ylang and clove plantations. Ali Soilih
changed things radically: he put teenagers in charge, abolished history and
legalised cannabis. But Ali's downfall came through none of these, rather via a
French mercenary by the name of Robert Denard, a man he had paid to catch the
previous president.
Denard took a liking to the Comoros Islands and came back, deposed Ali Soilih
and ran the place from the wings. His mercenary cronies taught the young
Anjouannais all about guns, booze and partying, but not much else. The vegetable
gardener became Denard's bodyguard, though they later fell out, leaving the
gardener to become yet another rebel.
These corrupt and rotten years have now come home to roost. Guns are easy to get
and the island has drifted into a never-never world of clandestine
semi-criminality. While I was there, I saw a Chinese freighter arrive, but
nothing was loaded or unloaded. People said it was refuelling before taking its
cocaine onwards to Mozambique and South Africa. There was talk of strange night
flights, too, to and from the supposedly abandoned airstrip.
Not all is hopeless, however. My hosts in Mutsamudu were horrified when I asked
if anyone had been killed in the recent coup.
"Killed?! My God, no."
"But there was shooting?"
"Ah, oui! A lot of shooting because everyone has a gun. But everyone is useless
at shooting."
The latest political struggles have also been free of bloodletting. The three
police officers who deposed President Said Abeid Abderemaine on August 9 did so
without loss of life, and last Monday's coup attempt - launched against the new
junta by disgruntled Comoran army officer Combo Ayur - was put down without
killings. "Those who tried to stage a coup have fled," said Halidy Harif, one of
the three policemen. "There have been no deaths or injuries."
In fact, most of Anjouan's coups have been noisy but relatively non-violent. The
ethos of this tiny lost speck of an island was best expressed by an ex-minister
I met, sitting on a rock by the roadside. "Anjouannais love war," he said. "But
they hate bloodshed."
I was sorry to leave the place. It is exquisitely beautiful, unstintingly
hospitable and endlessly amusing. But a boat was leaving and someone had
discovered my passport. There was a temporary hitch when the key to the main
port gate was lost, but then they found it in the pocket of a drunk who was
lying on the ground singing, "John Brown's body lies a moulderin' in the grave".
As I stumbled down to the Madagascan fishing boat, some of the youths lounging
on the quay asked if I would tell the world to visit them. I said I would.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
CAMP RHINO, Afghanistan (news - web sites) (Reuters) - On a cardboard calendar
at a desert foxhole manned by U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, a red pen marks
December 4 as the night of the ``Camel Attack.''
Camel attack?
That's what Lance Corporal Jesse Mendoza and his unit wrote, half seriously and
half jokingly, on the calendar in their ``fighting hole'' on the fringe of their
base in southern Afghanistan.
``It was a pretty crazy night,'' Mendoza recalled.
``I had my NVGs (night vision goggles) on and I saw a big old camel running in
the compound,'' the 20-year-old from Fresno, California, said, a hint of a grin
appearing through the opening of his black balaclava.
The beast's romp caused such a stir that several Marines unleashed a torrent of
gunfire at it. But they found neither hide nor hair of the camel later, either
because they missed or because small arms were not enough to bring it down.
The camel kept everyone busy and warm on a night during which temperatures
dropped near freezing. But why does a seemingly harmless humped creature of the
desert stir such terror?
The Soviets had to contend with the threat of Kamikaze camels during their
occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Marines said.
Intelligence officers had just days before given briefings on the threat of
camels wired to explode.
The Afghan mujahideen fighters would strap dynamite on a camel and send it into
a Soviet base, setting it off with a remote detonator when it wandered near
troops or equipment, said Lieutenant Patrick English, acting commander of the
company in which Mendoza serves.
``It was simply a tactic. I don't know how good it was,'' English said.
SPOOKY TIMING
The timing of the briefing was almost spooky.
``A couple of days earlier they told us about camels, and sure enough we had a
camel,'' Mendoza remembered.
Sergeant Erik Knox, 37, from Chicago, who said he signs up with the Marines
every time he gets divorced, was also slightly alarmed.
``The fact that it was in our compound really freaked us out,'' he said.
``We heard the shots. The camel wasn't in our range of fire,'' he said, adding
that Knox's men did not open fire.
``You've got to be extremely careful and cautious when you're in the compound,''
he said, because you could hit fellow Marines.
And there was something a little troubling about the whole experience.
``They put a hell of a lot of rounds in it but they never found it,'' Knox said.
Mendoza also thinks they hit the camel because they had marked it with eight or
nine lasers. But it seems they just couldn't kill the beast.
A crazy night, all agreed.
Two nights later, it was even scarier.
December 6 was the night the Taliban or al Qaeda probed the perimeter of the
base, known as Camp Rhino, and the Marines replied by firing dozens of mortars.
No bodies were reported found the next day.
The same night a helicopter blew up and caught fire but nobody was seriously
hurt.
The place seemed as weird and wild as the song by the Eagles, ``Hotel
California.''
Indeed, the warren of foxholes which serves as home for Mendoza and his Marine
buddies bears the song's name.
``Welcome to the Hotel California... Such a lovely place. MRESs (Meals Ready to
Eat) served 24 hours. No Taliban allowed. No Vacancy. You can check out but you
can never leave.''
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Associated Press, 12/11/01
WASHINGTON - An American Taliban fighter being held by Marines in Afghanistan
has told U.S. intelligence officials the al Qaeda extremist network plans to
launch a biological attack against the United States within days, the Washington
Times reported Wednesday, citing U.S. intelligence officials.
John Walker Lindh, 20, captured with other Taliban fighters near Mazar-i-Sharif
earlier this month, told intelligence debriefers at a Marine Corps base near
Kandahar where he is being held that "Phase II" of al Qaeda's war on the United
States would occur at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the report
said.
Ramadan ends Sunday.
The third phase of al Qaeda's war would lead to destruction of the entire United
States, he told interrogators, it said.
The first phase of that war came on Sept. 11, when hijacked commercial jetliners
plowed into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington
and rural Pennsylvania.
The officials told the Times they questioned the credibility of Lindh's claims
because of his apparent low-level status within the Taliban, which is loosely
affiliated with al Qaeda, led by Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden.
Still, Lindh's claim was one of several reports that led the Bush administration
to issue a public warning last week about a possible impending terrorist attack,
the report said.
U.S. officials have not yet decided how to handle Lindh, a convert to Islam who
lived in the San Francisco Bay Area before departing on a religious pilgrimage
to the Middle East and eventually volunteering to fight with the hard-line
Islamic Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
The American could be charged with treason.
No further details of Lindh's debriefing were available, according to the
Washington Times report.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
every time he gets divorced,"
LOL!
Swarvegorilla
It's a nice post over all.
Rizla Ranger UK <LAWsL...@RidgelineWesleys.edu> wrote in message
news:UwMR7.59041$xS6....@www.newsranger.com...
Rizla Ranger UK
At least 10 people are reported to have been killed in an unprecedented attack
on the Indian parliament in Delhi.
The motive for the attack is unknown, but Indian Home Minister LK Advani said
the attack appeared similar to an October attack on the Kashmir state assembly
by separatist militants which left at least 29 people dead.
Shortly after the attack by five gunmen, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
appeared on television to announce that he and all his ministers were safe.
At least four of the attackers and six policemen were reported to have been shot
dead.
"We will not be cowed down by such attacks. It will only firm our resolve to
fight terrorism," Mr Advani said.
The five gunmen burst into the red sandstone parliament complex shortly before
noon local time and started shooting.
A gunbattle raged for an hour as security forces and armed police converged on
the parliament.
Indian government spokeswoman MK Krishna told the BBC that the gunmen had been
shot before they could enter the national assembly building in the sprawling
parliament complex.
"They couldn't get it in," she said. "Everyone inside is safe."
But there were reports that some people had been hurt inside the parliament.
The army is still deployed at the scene, but the shooting appears to have ended.
It is believed to be the first time the Indian national parliament has been
attacked.
About 100 MPs were in the building at the time of the attack.
As many as 30 people are reported to have been taken to hospital.
The government has ordered that security be stepped up at state assemblies
throughout India.
+ + + +
The four crew of a US B-1 bomber which crashed in the Indian Ocean 100 km (60
miles) north of the British base of Diego Garcia have been rescued.
+ + + +
Authorities in Indonesia have acknowledged for the first time the ties between
local Islamic groups and Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Confirmation that al-Qaeda members have been fighting on the island of Sulawesi
came in a statement from the head of the National Intelligence Agency,
Lieutenant General Hendropriyono.
+ + + +
A French army major has been found guilty of handing military secrets to the
Serbs shortly before the Kosovo conflict.
Pierre-Henri Bunel, 49, was jailed for two years, with a further three years
suspended.
He was immediately taken to the Sante prison in Paris.
A special military court in Paris heard that he revealed details of Nato's
bombing plans just before its military campaign got under way in Kosovo.
Bunel, who was attached to Nato in Brussels at the time, admitted passing on
information, but denied the treason charges, saying he was acting under the
orders of French intelligence services.
"I committed a serious mistake but I do not have the feeling that it was
treason," he said after the verdict.
Bunel had claimed he was told to convince the Serbs that the threat of Nato
bombardment was real, unless they withdrew their troops from Kosovo.
He had received a phone call via "a line that could only have been a military
line", he said, telling him he should convince Jovan Milanovic, a Serbian agent
based in Brussels, that Nato was serious.
"I want to show that I am not a traitor. I want to do this for my honour, for my
family, which has suffered a lot as a result of this affair, and also for my
fellow soldiers, who do not understand how I could have committed treason," he
said in comments broadcast on French radio before the verdict.
The potential Nato targets allegedly identified by Mr Bunel were, in the event,
not hit as the alliance postponed the threatened strikes.
Other alliance members, however, have blamed Serbian sympathies within the
French military for hampering Nato's campaign in the Balkans.
Prosecutors had asked for a five-year term for Bunel.
"You wanted to be a hero but you were a traitor. You must assume the
consequences," state prosecutor Janine Stern told the tribunal.
"You betrayed your comrades, you betrayed your allies, you betrayed France."
+ + + +
AGAM, Afghanistan, Dec. 12 (Wednesday) -- Afghan commanders huddled this morning
with U.S. military advisers, debating the terms of surrender for Osama bin
Laden's last remaining fighters cornered here in the mountains.
One Afghan commander said, "The Arabs want to surrender. The Americans wouldn't
let them." The commander, Yunas, added that instead of a deal, "an intense and
severe fight" was now likely.
On Tuesday, the al Qaeda fighters entered into surrender talks with Afghan
tribal forces after a fierce battle forced them to abandon many of their
fortified caves and flee toward the freezing mountain heights, retreating so
quickly that three dead fighters were left behind. The Afghan force besieging
the stronghold gave the battered and cornered remnants of al Qaeda until 8 a.m.
today to surrender.
After that deadline came and went, U.S. aircraft resumed bombing the remaining
position of the al Qaeda organization in the White Mountains.
Mohammed Zaman Ghun Shareef, the Afghan commander who negotiated the cease-fire,
said Tuesday that bin Laden loyalists were prepared to abandon their refuge and
lay down their arms. He quoted two al Qaeda representatives as telling him: "We
don't want to fight. We surrender."
But this morning, Zaman headed off the mountain to his compound in Agam, about
10 miles into the valley below the front line, where two truckloads of American
advisers met with him.
After days of intense fighting, the Afghan forces reported taking over dozens of
caves in Milawa and nearby Tora Bora, where bin Laden's men had been hiding
since the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Inside, they found large stores
of ammunition, heavy weapons, food supplies and even children's toys in one
extensive cave complex.
U.S. Special Forces were on the mountain during the battle, according to
witnesses, and late Tuesday afternoon a convoy of five trucks carried U.S.
troops wearing Afghan dress, with black-and-white scarves over their faces, down
the steep road away from the front.
It was unclear whether the battle marked a final defeat for al Qaeda in
Afghanistan, or whether some troops might fight on even as others surrender.
Also uncertain was whether bin Laden was still among the Arabs and other foreign
fighters here in the White Mountains near the Pakistani border, about 35 miles
southeast of the city of Jalalabad.
Zaman returned Tuesday from negotiations with al Qaeda representatives to tell
reporters he was no longer convinced the Saudi-born terrorism suspect was still
here. "Until today, I was sure he was available here," Zaman said. Bin Laden was
sighted in the area as recently as Monday, according to another Afghan
commander, Hazrat Ali, while other leaders said they feared he had fled through
the snowcapped ranges into Pakistan.
This week's advances were a dramatic reversal after more than a week of
desultory fighting between the Afghan force of about 2,500 and the unknown
number of bin Laden loyalists. Following a night of warfare in which small
groups of Afghans attacked al Qaeda fighters and were counterattacked, the
battle appeared to be decided against bin Laden's forces Tuesday morning.
Around 10 a.m. Tuesday, a massive bomb from a U.S. warplane hit and a huge cloud
of black smoke billowed above the mountain. According to the Afghans, it landed
directly on a major al Qaeda cave complex. After that, fire from tanks, mortars,
machine guns and rifles echoed through the barren peaks.
Ali used a hand-held radio to direct the battle from a captured al Qaeda command
post. The post lay across a charred, desolate ridge where U.S. planes had bombed
bin Laden's men several days earlier.
The intact casing of a U.S. missile lay nearby bearing the handwritten
inscription, "For those dreams taken, here a few nightmares." It was signed,
"D."
During Ali's meeting with reporters, mortar rounds fired by al Qaeda holdouts
slammed into the ridge. On the adjacent ridge just below the command post,
machine-gun fire raked an Afghan tank position. Around noon, commanders radioed
that they had captured the al Qaeda position and silenced the guns.
Ali said his forces had advanced more than four miles that morning and had
seized several large cave complexes. He promised that surrendering al Qaeda
fighters would be handed over to the United Nations.
The rivalry among Afghan commanders was evident at the front again Tuesday.
Against a background of gunfire, Ali pledged, "By evening, we will get
everything." But Zaman, his ally, was already busy negotiating a cease-fire with
the al Qaeda men. An hour after the cease-fire was announced at 1 p.m., Afghan
fighters crowded around the radio to listen as Zaman told Ali that he had
reached a deal to extend the pause until 8 this morning.
"They want this night from us," Zaman said over the radio. "They have to consult
with their commanders." In exchange, Zaman said, he had agreed to pull back his
fighters from their most forward positions.
"Do not bring your mujaheddin soldiers down," Ali quickly countermanded him.
"If you want to hold the line, bring your own men," Zaman snapped back.
Later in the afternoon, Zaman marched back down the mountain to the command
post, dozens of his fighters in tow, and announced that the al Qaeda fighters
would surrender. He was not contradicted by Ali.
Zaman and Ali spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon from an al Qaeda observation
post where spent rifle casings were scattered across the earth. All around were
signs of the recent occupants, from the Koranic verses engraved in Arabic on a
granite tablet outside the bunker to a tattered box of Crispo macaroni.
Many Afghan fighters came back from the front Tuesday with tales of capturing al
Qaeda caves.
Naim, 30, said groups of 10 Afghans had roamed the mountains overnight, engaging
in gunfights with al Qaeda forces.
As he sat on the edge of the captured command post, Naim said he and his
companions had gone into 20 caves the night before, throwing in grenades before
they entered. Inside, scanning the caves with flashlights, they found stores of
Kalashnikov rifles, rocket launchers and other weaponry.
They also found signs that the al Qaeda fighters had been living inside with
their families. "There were food supplies -- milk, rice, cookies and cream," he
said, and "many toys for children," as well as bicycles and soccer balls. Some
of the caves were large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, he said.
Sitting near Naim was another Afghan who had been in the battle the night
before, returning to the command post only because he ran out of ammunition.
Abdullah, 24, had heard the news of the cease-fire, but he did not believe that
the Arabs who had been shooting at him hours earlier would actually surrender.
"They are suicidal fighters," he said. "They must fight because they have no
escape."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
+ + + +
Institute for Islamic Studies and Research
13 December 2001
Foreign Mujahideen launched a major offensive on US Marine and tribal positions
in Kandahar Airport Tuesday.
They succeeded in destroying the base, which was occupied by approximately 800
soldiers, both American and tribal. About 200 opposition fighters were killed in
the bloody encounter and many more were injured.
In the ensuing battle, 25 of the Mujahideen attained martyrdom and dozens more
received injuries ranging from light to heavy.
+ + + +
ROFLMFAO!!!
Fears of secretive codes on jihad website
AN enigmatic Islamic website devoted to jihad, or holy war, has elicited concern
among US officials.
They fear the site is embedded with secret codes and instructions of use to
militants including affiliates of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, Newsweek
has reported.
Azzam.com, an entity operated by an unknown group of individuals under the
auspices of Azzam Publications, is named for Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian
militant killed in a 1989 bomb attack in Pakistan.
It has no bricks and mortar address, but operates a post office box in London,
and bills itself as "an independent media organisation providing authentic news
and information about jihad and the Foreign Mujahideen everywhere".
In an open letter to US President George W. Bush and throughout the website,
Azzam Publications is virulently anti-American and anti-Western, openly
recruiting martyrs for a global jihad and disputing Muslim involvement in the
September 11 attacks on the US.
A recent posting, dated December 9, is datelined from the southern Afghan city
of Kandahar and is a message to Muslim youth from top terror suspect Osama bin
Laden.
The message underscores reported US suspicion that supporters of the Saudi-born
multimillionaire, whom Washington blames for the attacks on New York and the
Pentagon, are behind the Internet site.
A farewell message from Azzam Publications dated November 20, still on the
website, exhorts "Muslims all over the World (to) render as much financial,
physical, medical, media and moral support to the Taliban as they can".
Newsweek reported that European hackers who broke into its German-based
subscriber list found an e-mail address for Said Bahaji, a fugitive identified
as a member of the September 11 hijacking cell based in Hamburg, northern
Germany.
The magazine has reported in its issue out tomorrow, the belief of British and
US intelligence sources that some of Azzam.com's jihad photos and graphics
contain messages embedded with a technology known as steganography – so
sophisticated it is difficult for intelligence agencies to decode.
Agence France-Presse
LOL!
+ + + +
Vanguard (Lagos)
December 12, 2001
Kingsley Omonobi
Kaduna
BARELY 24 hours after President Olusegun Obasanjo warned the people of the Niger
Delta against vandalisation and smuggling of oil pipelines and other facilities,
chairman of the security panel set up to oversee protection of oil facilities in
the area, Lt. Gen. Alexander Ogomudia has said that a new security arrangement
would soon be put in place to check acts of sabotage.
Speaking in an interview at the Chief of Army Staff annual conference in Kaduna,
General Ogomudia noted that the security arrangement would take effect only
after his committee had ascertained the reasons for the people s involvement in
such acts of sabotage.
"As you know, our committee is an all embracing committee and so our idea is to
first of all go for the fundamentals. And that means finding out why the hell
people are into that kind of crime," he said.
"The bottomline is lack of jobs, hunger, poor infrastructural facilities and
environmental degradation and that sort of problem so that is why we are also
looking at how the Niger Delta can be developed," he added.
He disclosed that a seminar was currently going on in Port Harcourt under the
auspices of the NDDC which was being attended by members of his committee
pointing out that "at the end of the day, we will take a look at its
recommendations, combine it with our own data and see how it can promote
security."
On the Army, the Army Chief reiterated his confidence in the ability of the
Nigerian Army to take on any foe in spite of the long years of neglect which led
to breakdown of equipment and low motivation.
"Like I said earlier, it is not easy for anybody or country to take on Nigeria
with over a hundred people. When the chips are down, I have confidence in my
soldiers and with the right support, we are an army that is not going to be
beaten easily."
Explaining the delay in the payment of salary approved by the United Nations for
Nigerian troops serving in peace-keeping areas like Sierra Leone and others,
Ogomudia said, "well, I don t know where you got your information that they are
being owed between five to six months. However, whatever is being owed them is
being worked out and they will be paid very shortly."
He disclosed that though the lean financial position of government has affected
the running of the army, "we have managed to handle training and other things
within the constraints of what is available to us."
"Don t forget that there are two sides to handling the problem. One is
infrastructural aspect which has to do with equipment and all that. The other is
the mental aspect. Therefore, our emphasis is to make sure that training from
the mental point of view is put in proper perspective and that it is also backed
by physical operational exercises," he said.
+ + + +
South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
December 12, 2001
Johannesburg
The list of child rapes in South Africa continued to rise on Wednesday, with
reports of five children, aged between three and 11 raped in KwaZulu-Natal over
the past few days.
Durban police spokesman Bongani Ntanjana said in a statement a ten-year-old and
her friend (about the same age) were raped, allegedly by the girl's stepfather,
in New Grout, Stanger, on Sunday evening.
The suspect was apparently on his way to a local shebeen to buy beer with the
children, when he took both girls into nearby bushes and allegedly raped them.
After the alleged rapes he gave each child R2 and warned them not to talk about
the incident.
In Kwamashu on Tuesday a three-year-old girl was raped by an unknown man.
The child's mother noticed a discharge and swelling of the child's vagina and
took her to a doctor, who confirmed that she had been raped.
The child had been selling fruit on the roadside about the time the incident
occurred.
In a third incident, an eleven-year-old was raped in White City, Inanda, also by
an unknown suspect.
Ntanjana said the victim's mother was bathing the child when see noticed white
stains on the girl's underwear. The child told her mother four men had dragged
her to nearby bushes and had raped her.
A four-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her uncle in Westham Place, Phoenix,
on Monday morning.
"According to the child the suspect removed her panties and put his thing
(penis) into her private (vagina)," police said.
Police superintendent Vasie Naidu said 852 arrests had been made for rapes
against women and children this year in the Durban area. A hundred and
thirty-four people had been convicted, and four life sentences imposed.
The remaining cases were either still pending or the investigations were
continuing, withdrawn due to the complainant withdrawing the charge or for
insufficient evidence, or because younger victims tended to forget the chain of
events.
She urged victims to report the incident immediately as a delay could impact on
the case.
"The immediate reporting of rape promotes forensic investigation as evidence
such as torn clothes, semen from the perpetrator (which) can be found in the
victim's underwear and vagina, scraping from nails, suspects' hair samples and
saliva, can also be used for DNA testing," Naidu said.
+ + + +
A "stockbroker" rapist who attacked a 38-year-old professional woman is being
hunted today by police in the City.
Detectives believe the man has struck before because he was "so calm and knew
exactly what he was doing".
The hunt gets under way as police in south-east London investigate two
terrifying sex attacks on women in their fifties.
The City attacker told his victim: "I used to be in the SAS but now I'm a
stockbroker." He held his hand over her mouth and nose and said: "If you tell
anyone about this I'll find where you live and kill you, your husband and
children."
Det Sgt Mark Simmons said: "This man is a real danger and needs to be caught. My
concern is that he had the confidence to walk up to this woman, take her by the
arm and lead her away before raping her. It suggests to me that he has done it
before using this method."
The woman, on a night out with friends, was approached after she went outside a
pub to make a mobile phone call. She noticed a man loitering and moved away into
Muscovy Street, near Fenchurch Street station.
But he grabbed her, led her onto a service road and raped her behind a skip. The
entire 30-minute attack on 3 November was captured on CCTV cameras and the man
is described as in his thirties, 5ft 8in, muscular and bald or with closely
cropped hair.
It was taken counsellors a month to take a full statement from the traumatised
victim.
At least six cars were captured on the video footage and a number of pedestrians
walked within yards of where the attack took place.
Mr Simmons added: "She was in fear of her life. He also told her he had been
married three times and made a reference to the IRA.
"This type of crime is very unusual in the City and we can not rule out that he
is a financial worker." Anyone with information should call police on 020 7601
2222 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Meanwhile detectives are appealing for witnesses and information about two
"serious sexual assaults" in Grove Park, south-east London, within a fortnight
of each other last month. In the first the attacker claimed to be a policeman.
He approached a 51-year-old woman in Lambscroft Avenue. Det Insp Gary Kelly, of
Lewisham CID, leading the investigation, said: "He told her he was a police
officer and showed her a card carrying his photo. Then he asked her to go with
him to his car and they walked into the Grove Park sports ground where he
assaulted her." The victim was threatened with a knife. After more than 40
minutes she was told to walk away. Now she is still afraid to go out of her
home.
In the second Grove Park incident, a 59-year-old woman became aware of a man
behind her as she was walking in Marvels Lane at about 3.30am.
He threatened her and led her through alleyways into a car park on the edge of
the Chinbrook Estate, overlooking the sports ground. She escaped but he caught
and assaulted her before leaving with her handbag.
The victim was later given stitches for cuts to her face and treated for severe
bruising. She is still in shock.
Both victims described the man who attacked them as 25 to 30 years old, about
6ft tall, slim and white, with short hair.
Mr Kelly said: "In the first incident he was wearing grey, possibly pinstriped
trousers, a grey top and a black nylon hooded, zip-up jacket. The second victim
described her attacker as wearing blue jeans, a dark hooded jacket and carrying
a rucksack."
He said the incidents might be linked but added that he was keeping an open
mind.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Lewisham CID on 020 8284 8345 or
Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Swarvegorilla
cloud
> of black smoke billowed above the mountain. According to the Afghans, it
landed
> directly on a major al Qaeda cave complex. After that, fire from tanks,
mortars,
> machine guns and rifles echoed through the barren peaks.
>
> Ali used a hand-held radio to direct the battle from a captured al Qaeda
command
> post. The post lay across a charred, desolate ridge where U.S. planes had
bombed
> bin Laden's men several days earlier.
>
> The intact casing of a U.S. missile lay nearby bearing the handwritten
> inscription, "For those dreams taken, here a few nightmares." It was
signed,
> "D."
>
Would people ever sponsor a munition?
I mean imagine if a celebrity bought a cruise missile and then showed live
to the world it being fired and then the gun camera footage of it going in.
Live retaliation. I'm sure it would get you fans. I mean a whole company
could throw in and get 1 missile and then get their 30min of fame as their
sponsored missile destroyed yet another terrorist position!
The 'bullet with your name on it' show! LIVE!!!!!
:-)
Swarvegorilla
Idea copywrite 13/12/01
Rizla Ranger UK
that 90% of Americans were in favour of
placing advertising on missiles and bombs!
Swarvegorilla says...
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger UK <LAWsL...@RidgelineWesleys.edu> wrote in message
news:Ri2S7.59958$xS6....@www.newsranger.com...
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
I think this needs its own thread, Swarve M8 ;D
!
"Swarvegorilla" wrote
Rizla Ranger UK
http://www.letsgetitoff.com
+ + + +
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/15thmeuphotos
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 13, 2001
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have
determined that an outbreak of acute respiratory infection, and not
haemorrhagic fever as was earlier speculated, is at the root of an epidemic
in the central province of Kasai Occidental.
Following an evaluation mission conducted by a team of representatives the
DRC Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF and
international medical aid NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), WHO reported
on Thursday that 17 deaths from 205 cases reported in the health zone of
Dekese, centred in the villages of Mbisangandu and Bongondo, appear to have
resulted from an as yet unidentified respiratory infection. Blood samples
taken from patients have been sent to Kinshasa and South Africa for
analysis. The majority of deaths have occurred in children under five years
and adults over 60 years. However, WHO reported that treatment with
antibiotics is proving effective.
The WHO Emergency Coordinator for the Great Lakes region, Erik Schouten,
told IRIN on Thursday that the relatively high 8 percent level of mortality
could be attributed to the already weakened condition of populations
resulting from years of conflict in the DRC.
He said that reports of another suspected outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in
Watsa, in northeastern Orientale Province, remained unconfirmed.
Meanwhile in Gabon, a team of scientists from WHO and its partners in the
Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network are helping to coordinate an
international response to a confirmed outbreak of the Ebola haemorrhagic
fever in the Ogooue-Ivindo province in the northeastern part of the country.
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 14, 2001
The number of suspected cases from Ebola haemorrhagic fever, which broke out
last week in northeastern Gabon, has risen to 14, WHO quoted the Ministry of
Health as saying on Friday. Two of the cases were confirmed, WHO said.
The UN agency said a team from two NGOs, MSF Belgium and EPICENTRE, arrived
in the Gabonese capital, Libreville, to join international experts already
in the country. "The International Response Team met the Ministry of Health
on Tuesday and assisted in completing organizational and coordination
arrangements for response," WHO said on Thursday. "Technical meetings with
health and military personnel were held on 12 December to organize teams,
programme of work and tools". It also said on Thursday that a joint
Gabonese-international team was leaving for the field.
The victims of the outbreak may have died after eating monkey meat, news
reports quoted the government as saying on Wednesday. The dead reportedly
include 11 members of one family. Gabon, which appealed for international
help, has placed the affected province, Ogooue-Ivindo, under quarantine. It
has also warned people against eating bush meat.
WHO said this was the fourth outbreak of Ebola in Gabon. The first was in
1994, when the disease left more than 20 dead. At least 66 people in a 1996
epidemic. Ebola is one of the deadliest viral diseases, causing death in
50-90 percent of cases. The virus is transmitted by direct contact with the
blood or body fluids of infected persons or primates, WHO said.
+ + + +
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
December 14, 2001
Patrick Muriungi And Philip Mwakio
About six people have allegedly died and more than 70 admitted to various
hospitals following an out-break of a strange disease in Igoji Division of
Meru Central District.
And the Medical Officer of Health (MoH), Dr John Murima, said a team of
doctors had been dispatched to the area to verify the reports.
In Mombasa, a second member of a family whose religious sect discourages
members from seeking treatment died on Wednesday evening.
It was not possible to establish the name of the sect and details on the
group but Mombasa deputy police boss, Mr Stanley Kilonzi, said that police
had launched investigations into the sect's activities.
+ + + +
Human Rights Watch (Washington, DC)
PRESS RELEASE
December 14, 2001
New York
Government-sponsored paramilitary forces known as "Guardians of the Peace"
have committed many killings, rapes, and other crimes over the last four
years in Burundi, Human Rights Watch charged today.
In an eighteen-page report entitled "To Protect the People: The
Government-Sponsored 'Self-Defense' Program in Burundi," Human Rights Watch
called on the Burundian government to disband the paramilitary force, which
has been responsible for many violations of international humanitarian law.
The Guardians, as well as similar patrols in urban areas, were established
by the previous government as part of a "civilian self-defense" program to
combat rebel forces in the eight-year-old civil war. A recently installed
transitional government has so far continued the program.
"The government has a duty to protect its citizens," said Alison Des Forges,
Senior Advisor to the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, "but it also
has an obligation to ensure that all its armed forces obey the laws of war.
Calling the Guardians 'civilians' does not change the facts: they are
recruited, trained, and armed by the authorities. They act under military
orders and, like soldiers, must be held accountable for any abuses they
commit."
In many cases, authorities required unwilling participants to serve as
Guardians or as members of similar patrols in the cities even though there
was no legal process for conscripting them for such service. Participants
receive no pay and generally do not know how long they will be required to
serve. They receive no uniform or insignia. Whatever powers they exercise
are not formally established or publicly known to other citizens.
Human Rights Watch has found that Burundian officials recruited many
children aged fifteen and younger for service in the Guardians and in urban
patrols. Supposedly recruited to defend their own neighborhoods, many of
these children were ordered into full-scale military operations far from
their homes. Some officers saw the children as more expendable than
better-trained adult troops and sent them into combat in the front lines.
Hundreds have died in military operations and from beatings suffered in the
course of training.
All parties to the civil war have used children as soldiers. The government
of Burundi has signed international conventions banning the use of children
under the age of eighteen years in combat, and military authorities have
ordered that children younger than that age not be recruited for military
service.
The report underlined the danger of preaching "self-defense" in a region
where ethnically-based violence has cost hundreds of thousands of lives in
recent years. "Telling people that they may have to take up arms to defend
themselves makes them more afraid and more open to manipulation by ruthless
leaders," said Des Forges. "If people think the government cannot or will
not protect them, they will be far readier to attack others."
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 14, 2001
Wahome Thuku
Three people were hacked to death and several others critically injured as
the war over rent erupted in another city slum.
Residents of Nairobi's Kiambiu slums in Eastleigh Section Three said the
three men were dragged from their houses and slaughtered on the roadside.
Others were only saved by police.
They said the gangsters targeted particular homes and business people.
On Wednesday night, armed gangsters went on a killing spree, destroying
property of unknown value. About 10 houses, shops and butcheries were raided
and looted.
Trouble started at 9 pm when a man said to be leading a campaign for rent
reduction engaged in a confrontation with another tenant.
Later, the man allegedly mobilised his supporters who broke into homes,
shops and butcheries.
A posho mill belonging to Ms Alice Njeri was set ablaze. One of her
employees, Mr Peter Kimemia, told the Nation that the gangsters broke into
the house at 2 am, carrying petrol in jerry cans.
"They doused the house with petrol and set it on fire. We managed to escape
before fire consumed the building," he said.
Yesterday, regular and Administration police, led by local chief James
Mutuiri, were patrolling the slum.
Police broke into a mud-walled house said to belong to the gang leader and
confiscated furniture and other items.
They also found a list of 52 names alleged to be members of a group
agitating for rent reduction. The list indicated that each had paid Sh20
registration fee.
Next to the house was an empty room which served as the "Kiambiu Land
Tribunal Office".
Police also recovered copies of a circular addressed to landlords, stating
that from November 18, tenants would pay Sh500 for cemented houses and Sh300
for other types.
A relative of one of the slain men said he was ordered out of his house and
slashed to death. "They accused him of belonging to the Mungiki religious
sect."
Another victim, Ms Virginia Wanjiku, said the gangsters broke into her house
at 1 am and demanded to see her husband. "I told them he was away but they
attacked me with metal bars." She suffered neck injuries.
The residents were allocated the land next to the Eastleigh Moi Airbase by
the City Council last year.
+ + + +
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
December 14, 2001
Minister Julius Sunkuli told Parliament yesterday that Kenya will not offer
its military bases to the United States to strike Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda
elements in Somali.
Sunkuli, who is also incharge of the Defence docket, said President Moi's
talks with Britain's Defence Secretary last week did not touch on the issue.
"The discussions did not touch on Kenya providing military bases for USA in
their fight against terrorism," said Sunkuli.
Sunkuli, however, said Kenya will play its part in the global fight against
terrorism.
"When the time comes we shall contribute but our national interests will be
first. However, we are not there yet," said Sunkuli.
Sunkuli who was contributing to an adjournment motion, took issue with the
Constitution Review Commission. He said they should concentrate on the work
they were appointed to do instead of commenting on legislation issues.
"Why are they revisiting the issue. Let us tell the Ghai Commission to get
going with the job given to them," said Sunkuli.
Sunkuli said the House spent many years discussing the Constitution and it
was not fair for people to introduce new intrigues.
Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara (Ford Kenya) also asked the Government to
deny USA facilities to smoke out Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda movement from
Somali in the global fight against terrorism.
Gitobu, who was contributing to a question from Lagdera MP Mohammed Shidiye
(Kanu), said the Government does not have resources to handle the aftermath
of USA bombing of the war- ravaged Somali.
"The Government must consider giving USA facilities which will be used as a
launching pad for battling Somali. Kenyans will suffer a great deal. The
government must not do that," said Gitobu.
Internal Security Assistant Minister William Ruto said the security of
Kenyans is paramount.
"The interests of Kenyans come first for the Government and we will do
everything at our disposal. The security of Kenyans is first," said Ruto.
+ + + +
African Eye News Service (Nelspruit)
December 10, 2001
Dumisane Lubisi
Komatipoort
Farmers in Mpumalanga will have to be extra vigilant over the festive season
in preparation for an expected surge in cross border stock.
Police warned on Monday that well-organised syndicates targeted farmers in
South Africa's border regions to feed increased demand for meat in
Mozambique for Christmas and New Year's celebrations.
Tonga police spokesman Captain Paulos Mabunda added that cattle, sheep and
other stock were also stolen for sale to local Mpumalanga butcheries.
"So we have to deal with the international syndicates and also with the
local cattle thieves," he explained.
Police and army personnel from South Africa and Mozambique have joined
forces to curb the thefts but still face the ongoing problem of insufficient
resources to catch the highly organised and professional syndicates.
South African National Defence Force (SANDF) commanding officer of Group 33
Colonel Hein Visser said: "This is a frustrating exercise because soldiers
patrolling the fence between the two countries can't be in all areas at the
same time.
"These people are professionals and need only five minutes to cross with the
stolen cattle," he explained.
Army personnel patrolling the Lebombo border complain of insufficient
resources like manpower and vehicles making it difficult to cover the whole
area.
"The syndicates observe our troops and wait for them to be deployed before
making their move," said Visser.
The inaccessibility of the area also benefits stock thieves.
"The area is mountainous and its terrain makes it difficult for the
patrollers to reach the scene of crime on time," said Visser.
Police were unable to release figures but confirmed that cross border theft
increases over the festive season. - African Eye News Service
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
December 14, 2001
Saidu Kamara
The alertness of Hughes Security International guards deployed at the
Hastings airfield yesterday at about 4:30 a.m. intercepted a blue Mazda car
with Registration Number AAJ261 carrying eight bundles of barbed wire in its
booth.
Sources close to Hughes Security company intimated STANDARD TIMES that the
guards posted at the Pakistani's section of UNAMSIL were doing routine
inspection when they saw the blue car approaching the security checkpoint.
Report says the guards intercepted the blue car which had three people
believed to be criminals. During the searching of the car, the guards
discovered the eight bundles of barbed wire. While interrogating the three
suspects on how they got hold them, one the thieves jumped out the car and
and took to his heels. The orher two including the driver were detained in a
container serving as temporal cell at the airfield.
Shortly afterward, the Hughes security men contacted UNAMSIL headquarter at
Mammy Yoko for reinforcement. The chief security officer, a Mr. Jessie
arrived later with some plain-clothes police detectives from the Kissy
police station Meanwhile, the two criminals are helping the police in their
investigation. UNAMSIL commended Hughes Security guards for their alertness
and bravery in their discharge of their duty.
+ + + +
Concord Times (Freetown)
November 13, 2001
Freetown
RUF men have said that they need 10 more days to mine in Kono
Although disarmament has officially ended in Kono district, RUF men are yet
to end plundering for diamonds.
Over the weekend, they told Kono chiefs that until the 10 days end, they
would not leave their diamond pits.
Hon. P.C. Mbawa Kongoba of Kono said "RUF appealed to local authorities to
give them that number of days in order to round up their mining activities".
Kongoba said the request was made at a meeting held between chiefs of Kono
and the RUF.
At the meeting Saturday, the chiefs are said to have raised four points with
the RUF.
Concord Times learned that one of the points was the need to end mining
activities in the entire township and the highway leading to it.
The RUF delegation was led by a Col. J.R. Sandy who is the RUF party
chairman, Kono district.
"We have spent a lot of money on mining so we need 10 more days to wash our
gravel," Hon. Kongoba quoted the RUF as saying.
Concord Times gathered that the chiefs agreed reluctantly with the RUF
pointing out that they do not want any confrontation with them for the sake
of peace.
Col. Sandy reportedly told the chiefs that they (RUF) were engaged in
illegal mining activity.
"The war has ended, all rights should be given to the people of Kono," Sandy
is quoted as saying.
Hon. P.C Kongoba said they would not allow the RUF to mine one minute after
the 10 days expire. Ask what action they will take if the RUF did not stop
mining, Kongoba who is a member of parliament paused for some seconds and
then replied "no comment".
+ + + +
Concord Times (Freetown)
December 13, 2001
Alhassan Spear Kamara
Freetown
87 child ex-combatants between the ages of 15-18 years have graduated at
Waterloo.
They graduated after undergoing an 11-month skills training in Gara dying,
tailoring, weaving, soap making, building and carpentry. They graduated
under the umbrella of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society Western Area
branch.
At a ceremony held at the Waterloo Animation Centre, different organisations
including UNICEF, IFRC, ICRC and the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and
Children Affairs read out their good will messages to them.
A drama skit on peace and reconciliation was demonstrated by the children .
Distribution of certificates to the ex-child combatants climaxed the
ceremony.
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
December 12, 2001
By Abdul Kposowa
Barely two weeks after the rank and file of the Revolutionary United Front
RUF had rudely brought the disarmament process to a snail pace in the
eastern region, reports reaching the Standard Times speak of how the rebel
outfit have resorted to mounting checkpoints in various areas of the north
region particular at Masingbi town in the Tonkolili district.
Eyewitness accounts say many of the disarmed RUF combatants now barricade
the high way and collect Le1,000 from motorists as well as passengers before
entering and leaving the Masingbi township.
A trader who recently traveled through that route described the behaviour of
the ex-combatants as unnecessary harassment of commuters. Reports say this
act extortion has worried residents in the area and called on government to
deploy the Sierra Leone Army in the area in order to instill sanity in the
area.
UNAMSIL spokeswoman, Margeret Novicki, has confirmed the report, adding that
the peace keepers in the Tonkolili area have been informed accordingly and
ordered to investigate the report.
She assured that the situation will be brought under control before the next
tripartite meeting scheduled to take place soon.
Meanwhile, further reports say a large number of disarmed RUF rebels have
flocked into Tongo and have been fully re-armed. All are engaged in active
mining.
+ + + +
Togo News (Lome)
PRESS RELEASE
December 7, 2001
Lome
With Air Afrique in its death throes, Sabena and Swissair bankrupt and KLM
on the back foot, African countries are the direct victims of this slaughter
in air transport. The problems to do with being hemmed in are all the
greater. To be sure, Air France is continuing its operations normally but in
an environment that has become quasi-monopolistic. This carries certain
risks for the states of the continent which are unable to imagine ever
becoming a hostage to foreign companies.
Currently, Togo relies solely on the French carrier for its links with
Europe. On the basis of three flights a week (with a stopover in Lagos), 8
hours are needed to reach Paris, instead of 6 hours by non-stop flight. The
introduction of an additional connection at the beginning of 2002 is only
scant consolation.
This worrying situation which is impeding development and trade in a country
so badly in need of them has led a small regional airline company to launch
courageously out into the operation of flights between Lomé and three
European cities. Aside from the feeling of pride at flying the Togolese
flag, the objective of "Transtel-Air Togo" (TGA), the initiator of the
project, is primarily economic, namely to extract Togo from its isolation in
airline terms, develop a business and tourist clientele and also enable
Togolese citizens to travel with greater ease and at lesser cost. As the
Belgian Jean-Pierre Moraux, the head of the private company explained, "It's
virtually a public service mission".
Starting from 11 December next, it will be possible to fly non-stop twice a
week to Paris, Marseille and Brussels in a comfortable Airbus. No longer
will there be those interminable stopovers and hours added onto the journey.
Arrival will be at Terminal T9, Charles-de-Gaulle Airport.
For its initial launch, the company has decided to offer promotional fares
both in economy and business class. As an example, a
Lomé-/Paris/Brussels/Marseille round-trip ticket in economy class will be on
offer from 360.000 FCFA to 576.000 FCFA ; in business class, from 720.000
FCFA to 972.000 FCFA.
What is the economic logic of the project developed by "Transtel Air Togo" ?
There can be no doubt that the charter flights offered in the past by
operators such as "Le Point Mulhouse" or "Nouvelles Frontières" were very
successful. In the present case, we are not dealing with charter flights but
with a scheduled airline company that owns its own aircraft and in a
position to retain customer loyalty in Togo and abroad (and even in
neighbouring countries like Benin or the Ivory Coast).
The collapse of the pan-African multinational company Air Afrique doubtless
represents an opportunity for national carriers and offers greater freedom
to the countries concerned. The example of Togo is not the only one in West
Africa.This desire to open up its skies is also to be seen in Senegal,
Niger, Mali or the Ivory Coast, with the recent formation of regional
companies with an international outlook.
One has then to salute the initiative taken by "Transtel Air Togo" and wish
it safe passage.
+ + + +
The University of Kinshasa has been closed down after three policemen were
killed on Thursday.
They were stabbed to death by students demanding a reduction in tuition
fees, according to the government spokesman.
The crowd pulled three policemen into the bush, stabbed them and took their
AK-47s
+ + + +
Chris Simpson in Bissau
In the past six months, Joao de Barros has spent time in prison and seen his
newspaper, the Diario de Bissau closed down by government decree.
But Mr de Barros is philosophical.
"I think you would have to say that at this moment in time there is no
freedom of the press in Guinea Bissau," he acknowledges.
"We've taken a big step backwards. But regimes don't last forever. We're
part of a struggle going on throughout Africa."
"Part of our job is to remind governments they are there to protect the
people, not to serve the interests of a small group of individuals," he
added.
Diario de Bissau was closed in October along with the independent weekly,
Gazeta de Noticias.
Mr de Barros says both papers were given 48 hours by the attorney-general's
office to come up with a series of registration documents, none of which had
been required previously.
"We had never had anything like this before. There was no way we could find
the documents in that time, so they closed us down. It was as simple as
that".
Mr De Barros and his editor-in-chief, Carlos Casimiro, say the documents
were simply a pretext and that the paper had antagonised Guinea-Bissau
President Kumba Yala by its frank coverage of the affairs of state.
In recent months, President Yala has been engaged in very public disputes
with parliament, the judiciary and trade unions.
There have been strong allegations of government corruption and financial
mismanagement.
"We cover all that because it's news, that's what we do," argues Mr
Casimiro.
"We have never been an opposition newspaper and we never will be," adds Mr
de Barros. "We are independent and the president wants to muzzle that kind
of press".
The Diario de Bissau proprietor's critique of the government's actions
receive strong support from Agnello Regalla, head of the independent radio
station, Radio Bombolom.
Founded six years ago, Radio Bombolom has a huge audience across the
country. The station was taken over by the military junta when civil war
broke out in Guinea Bissau in 1998.
But Mr Regalla says its listeners have retained confidence in its mix of
news, debates and phone-ins, particularly when the state media has to tread
so carefully, when there is so much self-censorship.
"They say we should change our name to 'Radio Truth'. In a country where
there is so much illiteracy people depend totally on the radio. It's what
keeps them going".
Mr Regalla too has been told to provide new documents by the attorney
general's office and is unimpressed by the government's requests.
He is highly disappointed in President Yala's attitude towards the media,
not least because he was meant to offer a change for the better after years
of one-party rule.
"When he was in opposition, he wanted us as a partner. Now that position has
changed and he wants to cut us down".
The other main independent radio station, Radio Pindjiguti, has faced
similar pressure.
President Yala has twice visited Radio Bombolom and held discussions with
journalists working there.
But Mr Regalla fears the president doesn't accept what a free press should
be about.
"It's a problem of culture. The government doesn't want us to transmit the
real opinions of people in the country and what is really going on.
"But our job is to be a mirror in which people can see the reality of Guinea
Bissau. If the government is bad, we will say so," he says.
Mr Regalla spent several days in detention in November last year after
giving a highly critical interview deploring the president's
authoritarianism.
Joao de Barros has also been arrested, but says he has nothing to fear.
"It's their mistake if they do that. It simply means that when organisations
like Amnesty International come to write their reports Guinea Bissau gets
mentioned as a place where journalists can't work freely."
+ + + +
SAO PAULO, Brazil, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A woman and three children were
crushed to death in Brazil on Saturday after crowds in the northeastern city
of Aracaju stormed a Christmas gift giveaway for the poor, police said.
When an exhibition hall where toys were being given away opened its doors,
hundreds of people surged forward in a bid to get into the building. About
45,000 people had gathered for the state-sponsored event, some since last
Sunday.
"There were lots of adults who were trying at all costs to get in through
the door," said military police spokesman Jose Carlos Tavares e Silva da
Cruz.
Television images showed scores of people crowded into a hallway as police
struggled to drag crying children out.
About 19 people were also injured at the event, which continued after it was
brought under control.
+ + + +
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger UK <LAWsL...@RidgelineWesleys.edu> wrote in message
:-)
May have to start one of these up locally!
btw seen Max?
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger UK
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 16, 2001
All security personnel from the warring communities in Tana River working in the
area will be transferred, Coast Provincial Commissioner Samuel Limo announced on
Friday.
Mr Limo said the decision to transfer security personnel from the Orma, Wardei
and Pokomo communities working in Tana River was meant to help improve security
in the area recently gripped by a spate of violence.
The PC said other measures would include the establishment of more police posts
and the on-going programme to disarm all police reservists in the district.
"The plan to disarm all police reservists is aimed at identifying people
possessing firearms illegally so action can be taken against them," he said.
Mr Limo was speaking to journalists in his Mombasa office after he received
South African musician Brenda Fassie who paid him a courtesy call.
"We are going to transfer all security personnel of Orma, Pokomo or Wardei
origin working in the district as one way of trying to combat insecurity in this
area," he said.
However, the PC admitted that the feuding in Tana River was complex and said he
would organise a meeting of various leaders from the district so as to look into
ways of solving the problem.
"Already, dialogue is going on involving elders, youths and women from the three
communities and we are going to involve other prominent leaders from the
district," the PC said.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
December 16, 2001
Until recently, almost all charity organisations in Kenya were from the West.
But now, some relief organisations from the Gulf and Middle East countries have
started to emerge on the scene, and some stand accused of being a front for
terrorists.
In the emergence of humanitarian agencies from non-Western states, some Kenyans
see necessity, the rising poverty and the stringent conditions the West have put
on their aid.
The shady charities could be stepping in to fill the gap created by retreating
Western agencies.
Dr Moustafa Hassouna, a senior lecturer at the Institute of of Diplomacy and
International Studies at the University of Nairobi, says: "There is definitely a
search for alternatives. Countries that had been ignored by the West had to look
for alternatives."
Dr Hassouna says the lesson that must be learnt is that marginalisation of
certain states "is not an option any more." He argues that failed states have
created a vacuum being exploited by non-state actors like al-Qaeda to spread
terror.
Failed states pose danger
"Somalia is thought to be harbouring terrorists because it has no government. It
is a failed state. So was Afghanistan. I think we must all learn that failed
states pose great danger. We must build bridges because if we don't, we promote
a dangerous option for ignored states."
The lecturer says poverty is fodder for terrorism and it is possible that people
join terrorist organisations in a desperate search for survival.
"We can no longer have islands of prosperity in the middle of poverty. The real
concern here is that the gap between the rich and the poor states has widened
and we must close it otherwise no one is safe."
A Nairobi lawyer, Mr Mohammed Nyaoga, does not entirely agree that there is a
void the terrorist organisations are trying to fill. But he concedes that
ignoring failed states is a dangerous undertaking.
"Bin Laden acted as a donor to Afghanistan. If a failed state is ignored, there
is chance for a terrorist 'donor' to come in with a lot of money and say 'I will
bail you out, then I operate from here,'" the lawyer said.
But he says the agencies that serve as fronts for terrorists are not filling any
gap. "Nobody has a monopoly over charity. The presence of Western donors never
kept out those from the Islamic world."
He sees as a contradiction the fact that some agencies can claim to be in
humanitarian activities and still spread mayhem.
"You cannot run a charitable organisation then at the same time front for
terrorists. What is the point in giving help to somebody only to kill him."
The financiers of terrorist acts are not poor, the lawyer says, ruling out the
suggestion that people are driven in to terrorism by poverty.
"It is possible that the rich with grudges can take advantage of the poor by
asking them to undertake acts of terrorism. But even that is hard to accept
because most terrorists are keen on suicide attacks. How does it benefit you to
take Sh10 million because you are poor when you know you are going to commit
suicide in the next minute? It is twisted logic."
The lawyer argues that what the world has witnessed are the fruits of extremism,
a situation he terms as bad whether religious or political.
A US embassy official close to the investigations agreed that there is a link
between failed states and the option for terrorism but rejected the idea that
the terrorist agencies are filling a gap.
Our analysis have shown that in Afghanistan, there is a strong sense of communal
identity and solidarity. The same is the case with Somalia. In both countries,
loyalty is expressed towards the family, then to the community, including
religious orientation, then to the city or province and only to the country much
later. That makes it hard to deal with them as states in the modern sense."
The embassy official said terrorist groups are not necessarily filling a void.
Most may just be taking advantage of Kenya's good communication network, coupled
by weak policing.
"We must also understand Kenya's location against that of states associated with
terrorism. There is evidence that throughout the 1990s, there were plans for
expansion by terror groups in Egypt, Sudan and Somalia. And Kenya is a good
ground for any group that wants rapid but secretive communications in the
region."
The US, the official said, thinks the states of Eastern Africa have managed well
to contain fundamentalists.
"The Islamic fundamentalists in Sudan, Egypt and Somalia would have dominated
here if Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia had not kept them at bay. I believe the
states will succeed."
+ + + +
Americans 'covered up massacre of 280 Taliban'
By Justin Huggler in Kandahar
15 December 2001
The Americans and their Afghan allies appear to be trying to cover up the
slaughter of more than 280 foreign Taliban fighters believed to be loyal to
Osama bin Laden in Kandahar airport.
Mystery has surrounded the fate of the foreign fighters since the airport was
captured last week, after intensive bombing by the Americans. Afghan
anti-Taliban forces acknowledged that more than 280 fighters had been holding
out in the airport, but claimed that only about 20 were killed. The rest, they
claimed, escaped alive.
But one of the Afghan soldiers who took part in the fighting said yesterday that
he was ordered to return to the airport a day after it was captured, where he
says he helped bury the bodies of about 280 mostly Arab fighters. The soldier,
who used the pseudonym Ahmad Gul to protect his identity, said the majority were
killed by American bombs.
Two other witnesses, Abdul Basir and Abdul Kadim, said they saw two bulldozers
dumping earth into what they believe was a mass grave at the airport.
Two Arab prisoners captured in the fighting – who should be protected under the
Geneva conventions – also seem to have disappeared. Mr Gul said he handed over
two ethnic Arab prisoners-of-war he helped to capture to some Americans,
presumably members of the CIA, who interrogated them on the spot, then took them
away. There has been no word on them since.
Reporters were allowed into the airport for the first time yesterday. More than
200 US Marines are setting up a forward base inside, and dozens of armoured
troop carriers were parked around the complex. A US Marine captain gave
photographers a guided tour.
The airport was devastated in the fighting. Huge craters lay in the runway, and
almost all the windows in the modernist terminal building had been smashed,
broken glass crunched under our feet.
But not included in the guided tour was the grave site, a short distance away,
where Mr Gul said he helped to bury the foreign fighters. The Americans have
sealed off the entire airport site, making it impossible to reach the alleged
grave.
Mr Gul said he was one of a small group of Afghan soldiers who were sent back to
the airport the day after the end of the fighting there to help bury the bodies.
He said that on the day he arrived, last Saturday, the soldiers collected about
30 bodies. The next day, he said, they collected as many as 250.
Mr Gul's version of events would strengthen the argument of those who say the
Americans prefer to kill the foreign fighters rather than take them alive.
It comes after the massacre at Mazar-i-Sharif, where American and British forces
fighting alongside the Northern Alliance killed more than 150 foreign Taliban
prisoners-of-war, when they quelled a prison rebellion using air strikes.
In Tora Bora, the Americans continued bombing despite an offer from al-Qa'ida
fighters to surrender to the United Nations or diplomats from their own
countries. The US would only accept an unconditional surrender which was not
forthcoming.
The clashes with the foreign fighters around Kandahar started three weeks ago,
as Afghan anti-Taliban forces backed by US air strikes attacked Kandahar
province. Anti-Taliban soldiers met the foreign fighters at the small town of
Takht-e Pul as they advanced north towards Kandahar. The anti-Taliban forces
later pushed the foreign Taliban back to the airport, and a nearby al-Qa'ida
training camp.
It was at Takht-e Pul that Mr Gul said he helped capture two Arab Taliban
fighters. "We saw a car coming and stopped it to search it," he said. "It was
full of weapons. The man inside spoke only Arabic and we didn't understand him.
He attacked us and we shot and killed him. Then we saw another car coming and we
took the two men inside prisoner. We took them to the Americans. They
interrogated them in Arabic, then they took them away. I have not seen them
since."
Several Afghan soldiers in Kandahar agreed that the Americans had taken away two
Arab Taliban prisoners. But David Romley, a US Marine captain at the airport
yesterday, claimed that American forces in Afghanistan were holding only one
"battlefield detainee": John Walker, the American Talib who survived the
massacre at Mazar. The two Arabs have disappeared.
After a while, Mr Gul said, the anti-Taliban forces pushed the foreign fighters
back to the airport. "We would run towards them and attack them, they they would
counter-attack, running out towards us," said Mr Gul. "The Americans bombed
whenever the fighting flared, but stopped whenever it died down. We offered the
Arabs a chance to surrender, but I don't believe they were ready to. When we
caught a few, they started fighting us. One even pulled out a grenade and killed
himself."
In the end, it seems, almost no prisoners were taken. There are believed to be
some foreign Taliban being held in Kandahar prison. It is not clear whether they
were fighting at the airport.
The day the fighting ended at the airport, Mr Gul and the other soldiers were
ordered to advance into Kandahar city with their commander, Gul Agha, now the
governor. On the way, he said, they were attacked by 18 more Taliban fighters
who they killed in the road. The international Red Cross was asked to collect
and bury some bodies by the roadside. These may have been the ones. But it was
Mr Gul and his comrades who were sent back to bury most of the bodies. Mr Gul
said: "Most of them had been killed by the bombing. Some had a leg or an arm
blown away. A few had been killed by gunshots from our men."
On Saturday, the first day Mr Gul spent collecting the bodies, Mr Basir and Mr
Kadim – their real names – passed by on their way to attend the meeting which
appointed Mr Agha governor of Kandahar. They stopped at the airport, where they
said they saw two bulldozers dumping earth into a large trench that looked like
a mass grave. They saw the bodies of two dead foreign Taliban lying by the side
or the road.
At the airport yesterday, the US Marines were busy clearing away the debris, and
checking the perimeter for mines, setting up the site as a forward base for
operations which Captain Romley said he did not "care to characterise".
Meanwhile, the site where Mr Gul claimed more than 280 massacred Taliban were
buried lies out of reach.
+ + + +
The Osama Sweepstakes
When you win, the whole world wins with you!
By Matt Richtel
Text of broadcast made by U.S. government to Afghanistan, as provided by
Department of Defense:
"Attention people of Afghanistan! Up to $25 million reward is being offered for
information leading to the location and capture of Osama Bin Laden or Aiman
Al-Zawahiri. These two terrorists of al-Qaida are responsible for the murder of
thousands of innocent people around the world."
*OFFICIAL "UP TO $25 MILLION" PROMOTION RULES
Reward will be administered at the discretion of promotion supervisor pursuant
to prevailing law of United States of America. Reward will be distributed under
terms and conditions set forth herein and are not subject to future amendment,
challenge, or arbitration. Supervisor will be referred to in conversation as
"sir."
The Fine Print on the $25 Million Bounty
HOW TO ENTER
Informant may apply for the offer by sending a 3-by-5 card with handwritten
name, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address (if any), gender, and
country of citizenship, to: I Helped Kill the Evildoer, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
Washington, DC, 20502-0001. No mechanical reproductions will be accepted. Card
must indicate whereabouts of Mr. Bin Laden, including country, region, and cave
number. Penmanship counts.
By mailing in card, informant will also be signaling he is registering to
receive from Sponsor a free e-mail newsletter about the progress of the war
against evil.
Cards originating from Tora Bora region may subject sender to scrutiny and/or
air raids.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Reward is open to legal residents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and adjacent nations
who are 12-years-old or of marrying age, whichever comes first.
Excluded are employees of al-Qaida, its parent company, subsidiaries,
fund-raising organizations, Ahmed's House of Anthrax, Honey and Shrapnel
Exchange, and Kandahar Rock-n-Bowl, and members of the immediate families and
individuals living in the same household as each of the above, or harboring
them, or making them tea. For these rules, "immediate" family refers to mother,
father, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, any of the Mrs. Bin Ladens, or
anyone who knows these people personally, or even through friends. "Household"
refers to cave.
California natives from Marin County: The legality of such a promotion is still
pending in California courts. Should a court ruling deem the promotion illegal
under state law, promotion will be terminated, as will the California native.
Recipient may also be eligible for airfare to, and accommodations at, military
prison.
REWARD
One (1) reward of up to $25 million will be awarded. Reward value will be at
discretion of promotion supervisor. In the event recipient is learned to have
been linked to Mr. Bin Laden as a business associate, colleague, or fellow
terrorist, the reward also may be "Down to Zero." Amount of cash reward is
final, and recipient may not substitute it for equivalent value in prizes, such
as virgins or life without possibility of parole.
Reward recipients will be notified by mail or "Prize Patrol." Prize Patrol
consists of U.S. Army Special Ranger Forces who will arrive on the doorstep in a
ceremonial fashion via helicopter and gunship. If reward recipient is not
present, an alternate reward winner will be chosen, but both will be presumed
guilty. Acceptance of reward constitutes permission to use recipient's name and
likeness in TV commercials, other promotions, and military tribunals.
DISQUALIFICATION
Any individual who tampers with process in any way—including, but not limited
to, double dealing, baiting and switching, hiding Mr. Bin Laden in a cave then
pointing elsewhere and screaming, "I saw him go that way"—will forfeit right to
future potential reward. Anyone who actually knows the whereabouts of Mr. Bin
Laden may be disqualified.
ADDITIONAL ITEMS AND CONDITIONS
Reward recipient may be executed.
+ + + +
Reuters
December 12, 2001, 5:45 p.m. PT
An FBI spokesman confirmed on Wednesday that the U.S. government is working on a
controversial Internet spying technology, code-named "Magic Lantern," which
could be used to eavesdrop on computer communications by suspected criminals.
"It is a workbench project" that has not yet been deployed, said FBI spokesman
Paul Bresson. "We can't discuss it because it's under development."
The FBI has already acknowledged that it uses software that records keystrokes
typed into a computer to obtain passwords that can be used to read encrypted
e-mail and other documents as part of criminal investigations.
Magic Lantern reportedly would allow the agency to plant a Trojan horse
keystroke logger on a target's PC by sending a computer virus over the Internet,
rather than require physical access to the computer, as is now the case.
Malicious hackers have been known to use e-mail or other remote methods for
installing spying technology, security experts said.
When word of Magic Lantern leaked out in published reports in November, civil
libertarians said the program could easily be abused by overzealous law
enforcement agencies.
When asked if Magic Lantern would require a court order for the FBI to use it,
as existing keystroke logger technology does, Bresson said: "Like all technology
projects or tools deployed by the FBI it would be used pursuant to the
appropriate legal process."
Major antivirus vendors this week said they would not voluntarily cooperate with
the FBI and said their products would continue to be updated to detect and
prevent viruses, regardless of their origin, unless there was a legal order
otherwise.
Doing so would anger customers and alienate non-U.S. customers and governments,
they said, adding that there had been no requests by the FBI to ignore any
viruses.
The FBI set a precedent in a similar case by asking Internet service providers
to install technology in their networks that allows officials to secretly read
e-mails of criminal investigation targets.
While the FBI requires a court order to install its technology, formerly called
"Carnivore," some service providers reportedly comply voluntarily, while court
orders are relatively easy to get, civil libertarians argue.
Given the hijacking attacks of Sept. 11, it is also conceivable that the U.S.
government would enlist the aid of private companies to combat terrorism and
help its war effort, said Michael Erbschloe, vice president of research at
Computer Economics, which analyzes the impact of viruses.
"In previous wars, including World War II, the government had the power to call
on companies to help; to commandeer the technology," said Erbschloe, author of
"Information Warfare: How to Survive Cyber Attacks."
"If we were at war the government would be able to require technology companies
to cooperate, I believe, in a number of ways, including getting back door access
to information and computer systems."
+ + + +
"THE REAL WAR HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN AND ITS REALITY SHALL BE DISCLOSED SOON" - Dr.
Ayman Al-Zawahiri
BERLIN(Radio Report): In a recent interview with an arab magazine,
'Al-Mujallah', Dr.Ayman Al-Zawahri said that the War against America and its
disbelieving allies has only just begun and that all the Mujahideen prefer
martyrdom in the Path of Allah over running away from the battlefield. Dr. Ayman
dismissed all the recent reports of the Mujahideen hiding in caves or fleeing
into neighbouring Pakistan as misleading and untrue. He stated with the utmost
of confidence that all the disbelieving nations will soon come to know the true
reality of this War. He said that 'Martyrdom is our desire and we will continue
Jihad and never will we turn our backs from it'. This interview dismisses recent
claims in the media that Dr. Ayman had been martyred.
ARAB MUJAHIDEEN RECAPTURE MANY PEAKS OF THE TORA BORA MOUNTAINS
JALALABAD(Radio Report): The Arab Mujahideen have recaptured several peaks of
Tora Bora due to successful operations and strikes on American and Eastern Shura
forces, which led to their retreat making way for the Mujahideen. This is all
despite continous US bombing supported by ground attacks from the forces of the
Eastern Shura. It seems as if the Arab Mujahideen are fighting with immense
courage, something even admitted by Commander Hazrat Ali who accepted that there
was intense fighting taking place with the Arab Mujahideen. Other Eastern Shura
commanders who had returned from front line positions reported that in reply to
last night's bombing, the Arab Mujahideen had advanced and recpatured some of
the mountain peaks. One of these commanders, Haji Ayyub, accepted that his
fighters had to retreat from several regions due to the retaliatory advance of
the Mujahideen. Meanwhile, the villagers of this region have been forced to flee
their homes amidst intense and barbaric carpet US bombing. One of the villagers
reported that his whole family were kept awake all night due to the sheer
ferocity of US bombing, to the extent that his child's ear began to bleed.
INCREASING TENSION AND VIOLENCE BETWEEN NORTHERN ALLIANCE COMMANDERS
BAJOR(Islam News Correspondent): Recent events around the province of Kumar
suggest increasing tension and disagreement between Northern Alliance
commanders. One such incident, involving Commanders Najm Ud-Din and Mullah
Jaleel took place recently, where it has been reported that Commander Najm
Ud-Din, wishing to take total control over Kunar Province, attacked Mullah
Jaleel's forces. Mullah Jaleel and the fighters under his command were forced to
leave the region by being beaten and having their weapons confiscated. Local
people of the region are fearful that bloodshed is about to ensue, for Commander
Mullah Jaleel and his men are apparently preparing to retaliate against Najm
Ud-Din's men. Predictably, Kunar province, like other provinces under Northern
Alliance commanders, is about to witness a return to the war and bloodshed so
characteristic of those who sold their Afterlife for this world.
+ + + +
THREE 15000LB BOMBS DROPPED ON TORA BORA
TORA BORA(Islam News): US warplanes continued their unrelentless intense bombing
on the high peaks of Melwa in Tora Bora for the whole day. This time they
dropped three 15000lb Daisy Cutter bombs from C-130 planes. Furthermore, US B-52
bombers carried out their heaviest carpet bombing over the high peaks of the
Melwa mountain ranges, to the extent that a nearby forest caught fire which
spread over a vast area. Casuality and loss of life has yet to be reported.
KHOST: SEVERE WAR EXPECTED BETWEEN ZAHIR SHAH'S TROOPS AND THE TALIBAN
MEERANSHAH(Special Correspondent): Reports coming from Khost say that Zahir
Shah's supporters have left to attack Bacha Khan's Jadran tribe equipped with
heavy artillery and tanks. The Jadran tribes are known supporters of Taliban and
they have also given shelter to some Arab Mujahideen. According to sources a
severe War is expected to break out in this region. US warplanes have also
carried out severe bombing on the mountainous regions of Jadran. Casualty
figures are not yet known.
TEN MILLION US DOLLARS OFFERED FOR INTELLIGENCE OF AMEER-UL-MUMINEEN
KANDAHAR(Islam News): The Americans have announced that they will give 10
million US dollars for intelligence that leads to the whereabouts of
Ameer-ul-Mumineen. Apparently, the most wanted figure presently for America is
Mujahid Mulla Umar. Therefore to strengthen the trap to arrest him, the
Americans have increased the price on his head.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF REGIONS STARTED AMONG NORTHERN ALLIANCE RANKS WITH
ASSOCIATED SEVERE FIGHTING BETWEEN GROUPS
PESHAWAR(News Desk): Severe fighting has begun in Palkhmari amongst Northern
Alliance figures. According to details Palkhmari, the center of Baghlan province
is where severe fighting has begun between two groups of the Northern Alliance.
Baghlan's former governor, Jaffer Nadiri's (Ismaili) fighters attacked Northern
Alliance member General Faheem's fighters to capture Palkhmari. Severe fighting
ensued. Jaffer Nadiri was also supported by US warplanes and they started heavy
bombing due to which 32 Northern Alliance fighters were dead and dozens were
injured. Jaffer Naidiri was able to get US air support by telling them that the
Taliban were present behind the Palkhmari mountains and the 'idiotic' Americans
started bombing.
It must be remembered that any Northern Alliance group that wishes to target its
opponent, needs only to raise the issue of Taliban presence and the Americans
will follow suit with air support. One example of this is Zahir Shah's supporter
Bacha Khan who blamed his opponent tribes of being Taliban supporters and was
able to seek help from American warplanes. Jaffer Nadiri, who was the former
governor of Baghlan before the arrival of the Taliban and is well known in the
region as the representative of Ismaili leader Prince Karim Agha Khan. He has
700 fighters under his command. A recent report says that General Faheem still
has control over Palkhmari, where it is believed over 350 Taliban prisoners are
being held.
THE AMERICANS DISTRIBUTE MONEY TO BUY THEIR OWN SECURITY IN DLABADEEN
DALBADEEN(Islam Correspondent): It has been reported that US soldiers are paying
off people with dollars in the region nearby to Dalbadeen airport. Highly
informerd souces state that initially US soldiers present at the Dalbadeen
airport, would stay within the confines of their safe camps because they feared
that if they come out then their lives would be at risk. However, they enjoy
almost complete freedom to roam around the airbase, because of them paying off
local tribal lords and other prominent figures. An official serviceman
positioned at Dlabadeen airport said that the Americans are still afraid when
they pass near to us because they fear that they may be targetted by Pakistani
Mujahideen.
THREATFUL NOTICES PASTED ON THE WALLS OF KANDAHAR FOR AMERICAN AGENTS:
KANDAHAR(Special Correspondant): Threatful notices have been pasted on the walls
of Mosques, shopping centers and several other places in Kandahar for the
attention of American agents. According to reports from Kandahar city last night
hand written notices were pasted in large numbers around the city. They state
very clearly that any person who is with Americans, must be killed for apostasy.
The notices also warn all people to stop their family men to be agents of
America otherwise all they will be killed. It is mentioned that such operations
will commence very soon.
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan
+ + + +
one for Swarve
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1705000/1705715.stm
;)
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Second Aussie al-Qaeda claimed
By Washington correspondent Roy Eccleston and Michelle Gilchrist
17dec01
US broadcaster National Public Radio was told by a doctor named Ali the
Australian had been abandoned in a Kandahar hospital by fleeing Taliban and
terrorist forces.
"One of the wounded al-Qaeda fighters is an Australian with blue eyes, says Dr
Ali," NPR's Sarah Chayes reported from Kandahar.
"They were left behind when the Taliban cleared the ward of their wounded just
after they surrendered the city."
But the federal Government said yesterday it had no reports of the second
Australian.
David Hicks, of Adelaide, has already been detained by the Northern Alliance in
a different part of Afghanistan.
On Friday the Government said Mr Hicks would be interviewed by Australian
authorities but it was not clear whether he had committed a crime under
Australian law.
Dr Ali told NPR about 300 wounded fighters had turned up at the hospital the
night before the city surrendered and most left the next day.
About 14 were left behind in three rooms and appeared to have hand grenades.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - Fourteen Colombian passengers and two crew members
were killed when a small, twin-engine airplane crashed into a mountain on
Sunday, killing everyone on board, authorities said.
The Czech-made Let 410 airplane crashed just five minutes after take-off from
the city of Medellin. An official at charter operator Heliandes, which owned the
plane, blamed the accident on heavy rains.
"We found the plane on a hill near the city of Medellin. There are no survivors.
Unfortunately, everyone on board died," the Heliandes official, who asked not to
be named, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
According to local radio reports, which could not be immediately confirmed, the
passengers were family members flying to the capital of Choco province to meet
other relatives for the Christmas holidays.
The reports counted three children among the victims.
The last major airline disaster in Colombia took place six years ago when an
American Airlines flight crashed near Cali, in southeastern Colombia, killing
160 of the 164 people on board. It was the worst air accident in Colombia's
history.
+ + + +
Military officials say at least 44 people are dead after days of fighting
between leftist rebels and ultra-right paramilitaries in Colombia's northern
mountains.
The army brigade commander in the area, Jaire Ovalle, said on Sunday that 30
members of the leftist rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces and 14 members of the
rightist United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia died in clashes in Taraza,
northwest of Bogota.
The Associated Press reports the fighting was over cocaine producing
plantations.
Both the rebels and the paramilitaries use the drug trade to fund their war
efforts. Colombia's 37-year civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Meanwhile, earlier Sunday, the Colombian government and the country's
second-largest rebel group, The National Liberation Army, agreed to hold talks
in January that could lead to a truce
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
one of the games me and Wraith play
is being developed for the USMC
http://www.virtualbattlefieldsystem.com/
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger UK
Armed commandos stormed Haiti's National Palace early on Monday, taking over
radio communications and killing at least four people before the building was
recaptured by police.
The attackers, reported to be former members of the Haitian military, were
pushed back in an intense exchange of gunfire by security guards at the palace,
which is President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's official residence.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
maybe he's out perforating another elk ;)
"Swarvegorilla" wrote
btw seen Max?
Swarvegorilla
DiMethylTryptamine
Maybe he is hunting donner or dasher... Hope so.
D*
Bah humbug
"Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK" <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote
in message news:3c1e557b$0$236$cc9e...@news.dial.pipex.com...
Archibald d'Arsenic
gangs already took the opportunity to destroy the offices of many
political parties and home of leaders all accross the country...
DO NOT TRUST THE CURRENT INFORMATION ON THE SITUATION IN HAITI
THE OBJECTIVE OF ARISTIDE IS TO ELIMINATE THE OPPOSITION !
THE COUP IS JUST APPARENT... IT IS A FAKE MADE BY ARISTIDE
73's
Rizla Ranger UK<LAWsL...@RidgelineWesleys.edu> wrote in message news:<9wpT7.1697$XC5...@www.newsranger.com>...
Swarvegorilla
:-)
DiMethylTryptamine <Ax...@amxiom.za.net> wrote in message
news:3c1e7253$0$2...@hades.is.co.za...
Rizla Ranger UK
A helicopter is reported to have crashed in Angola, killing about 40 people.
The French newsagency, AFP, says the helicopter came down in the province of
Bengo, north of the capital, Luanda, on Saturday while on a flight to the city
of Uige.
It quotes the vice-governor of the province, Mendes Domingos, as saying that
rescue workers have found the remains of some of the victims.
There has been no word about who was on the helicopter or what may have caused
it to crash.
+ + + +
At least nine people have died in gang fights in the northern Nigerian city of
Kano, local newspapers report.
The fighting erupted during the celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan.
Criminal gangs, known as yandaba, clashed in seven densely populated
neighbourhoods in a district known as Old Kano, on the outskirts of the city,
ThisDay newspaper reported.
Soldiers and police were deployed to prevent further violence, residents said.
First outbreak since October
The police would not comment on the reports and there was no immediate
confirmation of the nine deaths.
A foreign ministry official confirmed to the French news agency AFP that four
people had been killed.
"The fighting lasted more than two hours and four people were killed and many
others were injured," the official, Awwalu Mohammed, said.
It was the first outbreak of violence since October, when dozens were killed in
clashes between the Muslims and Christians after Muslim fundamentalists
protested against the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan.
Interethnic tension
In a separate incident in Kano, ethnic Igbo who live in the north of the city
have protested the killing last week of one of their men by angry Muslims.
The Igbo Community Association wrote a letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo
saying that the killing of Uche Nwama Ochukpue, a Christian, had been a
"symbolic act."
"We are persuaded that this latest murder was a symbolic act, a deliberate
message," the letter said.
"The message seems clear enough: the Igboman is not wanted in Kano and can enjoy
no protection in the state as he can be killed and dispossessed at will."
Ochukpue, a truck driver, was beaten to death by angry Muslims after driving his
truck over a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
Reports say the incident happened when he was reversing through a market and
accidentally ran into a religious study group, one of whose students dropped the
book while getting out of the way.
+ + + +
A Liberian general has been picked up as the capital, Monrovia, is awash with
rumours of an attempted coup.
General Jang is being questioned by security agents, Information Minister
Reginald Goodridge told the BBC.
Heavily armed troops have been sent to the area
Mr Goodridge denied that there had been a coup attempt and said that this was
not why the general had been picked up.
But he did not reveal why General Jang was being interrogated and said he was
still receiving his pay.
Monrovia has been buzzing with rumours that members of the elite Anti Terrorist
Unit, along with members of opposition parties have been arrested.
"No-one has been arrested," he said.
There have been reports that security checks in Monrovia have been stepped up
but Mr Goodridge said that the capital was in festive mood, ahead of Christmas.
The rumours come as Lurd rebels continue to battle with government forces in
Lofa country and elsewhere.
The government claims to have retaken the Kolahun district but has also warned
that the rebels are moving towards the Sierra Leone border.
Some 15,000 people have fled recent fighting and arrived in Sawmill, 100km from
Monrovia.
+ + + +
A British soldier has died in Kosovo after being shot, the Ministry of Defence
has confirmed.
The soldier, who has not yet been named, was serving with the international
peacekeeping force K-For.
He died on Monday after receiving a single bullet wound to the head in the
Yugoslav's province's capital Pristina.
The soldier was taken by ambulance to an Army medical centre where he was
pronounced dead.
K-For spokesman Captain Ollie Major said: "A British soldier was injured as a
result of a gunshot wound. The soldier later died."
He had been guarding a Serbian orthodox church in the regional capital along
with a small team of British troops.
Both United Nations police and British military police are investigating the
death.
But investigators have ruled out the possibility that the soldier was killed in
an attack on his post or that he was shot by fellow serviceman.
Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain said he had been advised that the soldier's
shooting "was not as a result of a hostile act".
Speaking on BBC Two's Newsnight programme he said: "Obviously this is a tragedy
for his family and for him clearly, but it doesn't appear to have been as a
result of a hostile act.
"He died as a result of wounds to the head but it wasn't in action or from a
sniper.
"The exact circumstances are still to be determined but I repeat it wasn't as a
result of a hostile act, so I'm advised."
The soldier was on duty protecting a Serb Orthodox church in the centre of
Pristina.
K-For have been involved in the protection of Serb Orthodox churches, because
they have often been targeted by Albanian militants.
Kosovo has been under UN administration since Serb forces were driven out by
Nato's 1999 bombing campaign.
The man is the sixth British soldier to die on duty in Kosovo this year and the
10th since Nato troops entered the province in June 1999.
The MoD said they will not give any more details until the next of Kin have
informed.
+ + + +
TORA BORA: FIGHTING ENDS BUT NO SIGN OF BIN LADIN; 589 ARAB AND 200 CHECHEN
MUJAHIDEEN DISAPPEAR
TORA BORA (Islam News/Radio Report/News Agencies): According to details received
from the Eastern Afghanistan region of Tora Bora, the intense bombing by
American warplanes which has been continuing since 7th October and ground
attacks which have been going on for the last 15 days came to an end on Sunday
evening when the American supported Commander Haji Zaman claimed that the war
had come to an end, Al-Qaid had collapsed and that they had taken control of all
the mountains and caves of Tora Bora and Melwa. He also claimed to have captured
Al-Qaida's and other Arab Mujahideen's weapons and documents. According to
Commander Zaman, 70 Arab Mujahideen were captured and 200 martyred.
Commander Zaman's claims have not yet been verified by independent sources.
Later on the Eastern Alliance fighters who were fighting against the Arab
Mujahideen in Tora Bora denied the news regarding the capture of 70 Arab
Mujahideen and said that so far only 11 Arab Mujahideen had been taken prisoner
who did not put down their weapons and had no ammunition left with them.
Therefore they were surrounded and captured. The Eastern Alliance also refused
to verify the news about the martyrdom of 200 Arab Mujahideen and said that they
had not seen martyrs in such large numbers. Whether Commander Zaman's claim is
verified or not, it is sure that the intense American bombing since the last two
months has resulted in vain as no Usama Bin Ladin has been found and no well
known Al-Qaida leader has been. Instead, 589 Arab Mujahideen and 200 Chechen
Mujahideen succeeded in withdrawing safely from the region despite a sustained
air and land offensive against them.
Commander Zaman's cease fire declaration is a great victory in his own right but
the Americans regard it as one of their worst defeats since neither Usama bin
Ladin nor any of the 40 top Al-Qaida leaders nor another 800 Arab and Chechen
Mujahideen have been captured or killed. Instead, they have escaped elsewhere to
fight another day. The Americans are depressed and worried where to find Usama
Bin Ladin and Al-Qaida now. The stress and fear can be seen on President Bush's
face because he knows that he is losing men but yet none of the leaders of
Al-Qaida have been captured.
The Americans have finished fighting on one front but on another front, another
series of battles have erupted yet the Americans do not even know where the top
Al-Qaida leaders are. Analysts say that the Americans can now spread their
search for Usama even in Iran and Pakistan. The way the Tora Bora batle came to
an end is surprising for the whole world since both the US and the Eastern
Alliance continually claimed that they had cornered Bin Ladin in a cave in Tora
Bora. Where did he disappear then? Highly informed and confidential sources in
Jalalabad who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Al-Qaida and the
Eastern Alliance Commanders managed to reach a secret deal without the knowledge
of the Americans, as a result of which all Arabs were allowed to evacuate
safely. Thus the Eastern Alliance fighters saved their lives and their honour by
ending the battle in this way. The source also claimed that all the Eastern
Alliance fighters present in the bunkers were sick of the intense winter and had
also been facing a hostile reaction from the local villagers, where the local
religious scholars gave a Fatwa that those who attack the Arab Mujahideen are
great sinners and other religious scholars have also given the fatwa that those
who fight against the Arab Mujahideen are disbelievers.
BRITISH TROOPS CONFIRMED TO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN OPEN EXECUTIONS OF UNARMED
PRISONERS IN MAZAR-I-SHARIF PRISON RIOT
LONDON (Internet News):British television disclosed that in the Qila-e-Janghi
prison incident in Mazar-i-Sharif, British soldiers had also been involved in
the cold-blooded executions of unarmed prisoners. The British television offered
a video casette as proof but the British Defence Minister rejected this.
According to a foreign news agency the British television station "Channel 4"
issued a video casette in which it is shown that British Commandos were firing
at unarmed captives. In the film, two civilian-dressed men were shown, who were
definitely British by the way they were talking and during the operation they
repeated the words 'FAC' in English which is an abbreviation of the command,
'Forward Air Control' which is British command terminology proving that British
Commandos were taking part in attacks against the captives along with the United
States Air Force. In opposition to this, British Defence Minister Geoff Hoon's
representative has refused any link of the Ministry of Defence with this video.
They say that spreading such news among British Army ranks is a crime by law but
human rights organisation have demanded an investigation and enquiry into this
incident.
EXPLOSION AT KANDAHAR AIRPORT: ONE AMERICAN KILLED AND THREE INJURED
KANDAHAR (Islam News/Radio Report/News Agencies): According to information
received from Kandahar Airport, a huge explosion resulted in the death of one
American soldier and injuries to three others. According to reliable sources,
this incident occurred at one end of Kandahar Airport due to the explosion of a
land mine. CNN said that three American soldiers were severely injured in this
explosion and were transferred to hospital later on. According to an eyewitness,
this explosion was very huge, bigger than normal land mine explosions, but until
now it has not been confirmed whether this was an attack or an accident.
Likewise, one American soldier was seen being taken away on a stretcher with his
face covered, indicating that he had been killed.
25 MUJAHIDEEN SUCCESSFULLY REACH KANDAHAR AFTER DISGUISING AS DOSTUM'S FIGHTERS
KANDAHAR (Special Correspondent): 25 Mujahideen who remained in Qunduz after the
evacuation of Taliban forces from the Northern Areas succeded in reaching
Kandahar. The same Mujahideen, instead of handing their weapons to Dostum's
forces, ran away and, taking advantage of the darkness of night, they managed to
move in the mountains and from there they managed to reach Kandahar on foot.
This is possible because mountains link many provinces. Highly informed sources
say that among the rest of Mujahideen, a few managed to move to the mountains
and deserts whilst some Mujahideen are imprisoned in Mazar-i-Sharif prison.
Regarding details on the whereabouts of other Mujahideen, reports say that they
are under the control of local commanders.
PAEDOPHILE GUL AGHA'S TROOPS FACED DREADFUL END; THEIR DEAD BODIES WERE BURIED
IN A LARGE DITCH
CHAMAN (Special Correspondent): The bodies of 25 fighters loyal to the
paedophile, Gul Agha, were buried in a ditch without a funeral cloth, in a
region of Kachlak. {Gul Agha, the new Governor of Kandahar is a well-known
paedophile, who once 'married' a young boy in well-publicised wedding in
Kandahar before the arrival of the Taliban regime.) According to reports, these
fighters were involved in fighting against the Taliban in return for American
dollars. They were buried in a large ditch by the citizens of Chaman city. The
citizens refused to bury them in their graveyard "Gulzar Baghecha" because they
said that their religious scholars forbade them to attend the funeral
proceedings of these men as according to their scholars, these fighters died on
disbelief and so it is not permissible to attend their funerals. Later, these
dead bodies were taken to Kachlak in the darkness of night and in a ditch near
Lora sewerage lane, these dead bodies were dumped and the ditch was levelled. A
truck driver who gave this report was an eyewitness of this incident.
Such rulings also go to Muslims in any country of the World who help with,
assist, support or help the disbelievers against the Muslims. This includes
passing information to the enemy intelligence agencies about Muslims. Whatever
their excuses, these people are disbelievers and apostates who cannot be buried
with the Muslims, for whom it is forbidden to pray the funeral prayer over,
whose wives must divorce them (since a Muslim woman cannot remain married to an
apostate) and whose children cannot inherit from them (for a Muslim cannot
inherit from a disbeliever).
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in
Afghanistan
+ + + +
A squad of former SAS and special forces soldiers has been recruited to guard
Hatton Garden, home to London's secretive multi-million pound jewellery and
diamond trade, after a spate of violent smash-and-grab raids.
Thirty-one shops have agreed to pay for the security firm to patrol the street
in the run-up to Christmas amid concern that police are failing to deter
raiders.
The move comes as Home Secretary David Blunkett has unveiled plans to give
private security patrols an increasing role in making Britain's streets safer.
The Government's policing reforms recognise that the public and businesses are
making increasing demands on over-stretched police and have cleared the way for
a new breed of private security patrols under police operational command.
Chief constables will also be able to endorse a further tier of private security
guards who would have kitemarks on their uniforms to let the public know they
are "police-compliant".
The Hatton Garden security guards who are "undercover" in dark full-length wax
jackets are there to reassure customers and staff and deter would-be thieves.
No-one on the street was willing to be named for security reasons, but Sally,
manager of one jewellery store, said: "We are worried about crime and not having
enough police cover. There is only one home beat officer, who works five days a
week. Hatton Garden is probably the most expensive street in London for the
amount of stock it has and there is also a terrorist dimension because of the
large Jewish community.
"We just do not have policemen here to meet the threat. This is a trade that we
love and if you are worried about coming to work every day then something has to
be done."
The firm carrying out the patrols is WK Security, a London-based company that
advertises a range of services from reception security to high-risk VIP
protection.
Among those on patrol yesterday was a Russian who claimed to be a former member
of a Soviet special forces unit and another who said he was an ex-Marine with
experience in Northern Ireland. Neither would give their names.
One said: "If a situation arises we will deal with it within the constraints of
the English law using reasonable force."
He explained that the security "operators" were in black with wax jackets so
they would not stand out to genuine shoppers but could be instantly recognised
by any criminals carrying out a "recce" of the area.
Each shop is equipped with walkie-talkies so they can contact the guards in case
of trouble.
One shop manager emphasised that crime in Hatton Garden was no worse than in
other parts of London such as Bond Street and Mayfair.
Police had told him that organised gangs of thieves were using high powered
motorcycles to carry out smash and grab raids using sledgehammers on jewellery
stores.
The manager said: "I am not blaming the police because they are understaffed but
we want to make sure our customers are protected and feel comfortable shopping
here and the staff feel safe. So far, everyone is very happy with the patrols."
In August, thieves smashed the windows of two shops in Hatton Garden and grabbed
gems including 1,000 wedding rings before escaping on high-speed motorcycles.
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 17, 2001
A plane carrying at least two senior members of a rebel movement operating in
the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo crashed on Friday in Geti, Ituri
province, a spokesman for the movement announced on Radio Candip.
"According to information we have received, there are no survivors," Wale Sombo,
spokesman for the Ugandan-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la
denmocratie/Mouvement de liberation, said.
However, he added that a team from the movement's executive council had gone to
the crash site to search for survivors. He said the movement's commissar for
education, the deputy commissar in charge for foreign affairs and "some
officers" had been on board. It is unclear how many people were on the plane,
owned by the Eagle Company. The plane, whose type was not identified, took off
from the northeastern Conglese town of Bunia for Entebbe, in Uganda, via Beni in
the DRC.
+ + + +
The Namibian (Windhoek)
December 17, 2001
* Chrispin Inambao
A 29-year-old woman was raped by a security guard who commandeered her vehicle
over the weekend, the Police said yesterday.
When the woman stopped her vehicle at the corner of Hendrik Witbooi Drive and
Hochland Road the suspect, who has since been arrested, allegedly forced his way
into her vehicle.
Police spokesman Chief Inspector Hophni Hamufungu said the suspect, who was in
uniform, then forced the woman to drive him to a residence along Fourie Street
in Pioneerspark, where he was supposed to be protecting the property of people
who are on holiday.
While at that residence the 26-year-old guard allegedly raped the woman. She
managed to flee from the house and summon the Police.
When the Police went to that residence they found the suspect busy removing some
goods from the house and taking them to a nearby riverbed.
The security guard was arrested and charged with rape and theft of goods.
* A 24-year-old man broke his leg on Saturday when he jumped from a bridge
shortly after he snatched a handbag from a 50-year-old woman in central
Windhoek, the Police reported yesterday.
The drama, according to Hamufungu, started at around 14h00 on Saturday when the
youth grabbed a handbag containing N$500 in cash and tried to run away.
Fortunately for the woman members of the VIP Protection Unit saw the crime and
gave chase. But the thief attempted to evade his pursuers by jumping from a
bridge along Mandume Ndemufayo Avenue breaking his right leg in the process.
The VIP Protection Unit managed to arrest the youth and the handbag and the cash
was "returned to its lawful owner," Hamufungu said.
The Chief Inspector said the suspect is now admitted at the hospital were he is
under Police guard.
+ + + +
Vanguard (Lagos)
December 17, 2001
Kingsley Omonobi
Lagos
WORRIED by the effect of the global crash in oil prices resulting from the
September 11 terrorists attack on the United States, the Federal Government has
intensified efforts to ensure a 24-hour surveillance of the nation's oil
facilities to check internal terrorism.
Chief of Naval Staff, Vice- Admiral Samuel Afolayan who made this known weekend
in Lagos, stated that the Navy has been directed to urgently repair its broken
down fast attack gunboats and on-shore patrol crafts in this regard.
Consequently, he said, "if you get to the Naval dockyard at Apapa you will see
the efforts we are making to ensure that we can sustain 24 hours surveillance of
our economic resources because that is the only solution to smuggling,
vandalisation and hostage taking."
He pointed out however that maintenance and repair of warships was expensive
adding, "we are trying our best to see that we get these ships back to sea even
though we had serious problems with our maintenance culture in the past."
"Though it would take some tune but if we can get out of the maintenance
problem, I can assure you that we have the confidence to take on any foe and
adequately protect those platforms," he added.
On NAFRC, the Naval Chief acknowledged the decapitation and obsoleteness of its
equipment and called on the federal government to assist in the repairs since
the institution prepares retiring personnel for Civil life.
"Actually, this place requires a lot of attention particularly when you consider
that those being retrained were earlier trained in the use of firearms.
Consideration has to be given to equipment updating here to really fulfil the
objectives of the centre."
Admiral Afolayan stated that there was also need for the centre to update its
curriculum to accommodate the first batch of officers expected to begin
resettlement training next year adding that, "the resettlement centre should
look into the programmes that they presently run that will be suitable for
officers and improve on it."
On his recent visit to Ghana the Naval Chief noted that it was intended to
strengthen existing training and other bilateral cooperation between the two
navies.
"Towards this end, both the Nigerian and Ghanaian Navies are to carry out joint
intelligence services as well as assist each other fight environmental pollution
which may threaten the West African sub-region," he said.
"The prospects of a joint Naval exercise between the two Navies as a way of
preparing for joint operations like what happened in ECOMOG was also discussed,"
Admiral Afolayan said noting that "an agreement was reached to extend technical
assistance to each other."
+ + + +
This Day (Lagos)
December 17, 2001
Three persons were allegedly killed last weekend following a renewed violence
between two warring communities in Bayelsa state.
The three, from Okordia community, met their death in a reprisal attack by their
neighbours from Biseni clan, because of an alleged killing of a youth from their
area by some members of Okordia community on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001.
A Biseni source told NAN that the people decided to launch the attack because
the leaders of Okordia reneged on their promise to hand over the killers of
their son, Nyinoweyesu Idoma.
The source further said that the clan embarked on the killings because, in spite
of the fact that they had reported the matter to the police, no arrests were
made. NAN also learnt that the Biseni clan is threatening to attack Okordia
community if the state government failed to wade into the matter. Meanwhile, the
police and the state government are yet not make pronouncements on the incident
involving the two communities which share boundary with Ahoada in Rivers state.
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 17, 2001
Armed Karamojong pastoralists on Thursday attacked guards protecting Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni at the end of his two-week mission to oversee a
disarmament programme in the Karamoja subregion, northeastern Uganda, news
agencies reported.
"The ambush happened yesterday and I saw the Tata lorry which was shot at. The
[helicopter] gunship has just flown the [three] injured officers to Kampala for
treatment," the government-owned New Vision newspaper on Saturday quoted Moroto
Resident District Commissioner John Abingwa as saying.
Museveni claimed that the guards, members of the Presidential Protection Unit
(PPU), had ignored his instruction to be on "extra alert", the reported stated.
"The Karamojong did good to wake them up because they were asleep," he added.
Museveni has been in the Karamoja subregion for much of the last two weeks
overseeing a disarmament programme aiming to remove some 40,000 illegal firearms
from the area.
The attack took place at Kamusalaba junction on the Moroto-Nakapiripirit road,
some 25 km from where Museveni was camped, the BBC reported on Sunday.
Museveni has now concluded his mission in Karamoja but will return to the area
in February to assess progress in the disarmament exercise, according to
reports.
The Karamojong have been widely criticised for carrying out armed cattle raids
against neighbouring districts in eastern Uganda, most notably in Katakwi
District where some 80,000 people have been forced into - and to remain in -
displacement camps.
The BBC on Sunday quoted [unnamed] Ugandan military commanders as saying that
the appeal to hand in illegally held guns had been met with an overwhelming
response, with 4,300 weapons handed in since the disarmament exercise began on 2
December.
The Karamojong had originally been given one month to surrender their weapons,
but the amnesty period was subsequently extended to six months following
consultations between Museveni and local tribal leaders, Ugandan Presidential
spokeswoman Mary Okurut told IRIN on 7 December.
The Ugandan government initially provided weapons to small groups of "home
guards" within the Karamoja subregion on the grounds that the Karamojong were
under threat from cross-border raids by the Turkana and Pokot pastoralist groups
from neighbouring Kenya.
In return for disarmament, Museveni has pledged to protect the Karamojong from
such attacks by deploying troops along the border.
Hundreds of Karamojong men have volunteered to join Local Defence Units (LDUs),
which the government is planning to place under the control of the Uganda
People's Defence Force (UPDF) to patrol the border with Kenya, according to the
BBC.
Museveni has also undertaken to start developing the marginalised Karamoja
subregion - by building schools, organising immunisation programmes and
rewarding all those that hand over their guns with oxen in the next financial
year - if the disarmament programme is successful.
+ + + +
The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
December 17, 2001
Ndola
POLICE in Mufulira have picked a body of a woman believed to be in her thirties
from a crocodile-infested sewerage pond near Kantanshi police camp.
Police spokesman, Lemmy Kajoba said in Lusaka yesterday that the body was seen
by a teenage boy who reported the matter to police last Saturday.
Mr Kajoba said police had difficulties fishing the body out of the pond which is
infested with crocodiles.
He said that most of the soft parts from the body were eaten by the crocodiles.
"The police have since appealed to the Zambia Wildlife Authority (Zawa) to crop
the crocodiles in the pond," he said.
Police would carry out a post-mortem to find out what caused her death.
The body has not been identified and police have appealed to the general public
to come forward and identify it.
In a related development a 47-year-old woman of Makululu township in Kabwe was
gang-raped by unknown men at the weekend.
And two aggravated robberies were reported over the weekend in Mazabuka and
Kalabo.
Mr Kajoba said the unknown men broke into a tavern in Mazabuka with fire arms
and got away with property worth K1.7 million on Sunday night after firing some
gun shots to frighten the bar owner.
In Kalabo, gunmen armed with AK47 rifles stole goods worth K800,000 and K100,000
cash from the house of a 50-years-old man of Keme township on Saturday.
Mr Kajoba said no arrests had been made and appealed to the members of the
public to help track down the culprits.
+ + + +
One of Afghanistan's largest bases belonging to the terrorist organisation
Al-Qaeda was discovered near the Kandahar airport.
Surrounded by minefields, antitank fortifications and anti-aircraft positions,
the terrorist camp occupied an aggregate space of more than four hectares.
The base was equipped with an obstacle course, a firing range, and a depot
stacked with explosives, weapons and ammunition. All in all, the camp comprised
70 military installations, including barracks, a three-story administrative
building /presumably with Osama bin Laden's personal office/, a library and a
small shop.
According to the Friday issue of the Saudi newspaper As-Sharq al-Ausat, the base
-- which went under the name of Wolf Border -- was destroyed by US aviation.
+ + + +
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (Reuters) - In a Texas contest to bag the biggest buck of
the hunting season, 88-year-old grandmother Viola Meckel is the best shot of
them all.
She is currently winning the competition in Comal County, north of San Antonio,
with a 98-pound deer she gunned down earlier this month from the back door of
her rural home.
Meckel said on Friday she spotted the deer and grabbed a rifle she keeps by the
door just for such moments.
``I'd had him in the scope several times, but it was too far away,'' she said.
``Finally, I saw the buck coming up into my yard, and I shot him and I got
him.''
It was the fifth buck she has downed in the past three seasons. Meckel said her
late husband taught her to shoot and she's been hunting for years.
``It's quite a sport. I do enjoy it,'' she said.
Unfortunately, the excitement of the hunt may have been too much because Meckel
later had a heart attack and is currently recovering in the hospital.
While the deer is small by hunting standards, it represents a growing population
in an area becoming a suburb of San Antonio.
The contest comes to an end in early January. The winner gets a new hunting
rifle.
+ + + +
Maxime Camirand
the email addy I post under (fatc...@hotmail.coom) is dead, so
completely flooded with spam that hotmail shut it down. My new addy is
max camirand at die you motherfucking spammers sympatico dot ca. Sorry
Swarve, your hilt WILL make it, even if I have to swim the fucking
oceans with it between my teeth. You gotta run how big a piece you
need by me again.
Good to see the cap'n back, safe and sound. I've been all over the
place the past few. I thought I was going to have a quiet season, but
I've been knee deep in shit from various parties (including but not
limited to a curious rcmp detective and a very eager young woman). I
actually got a job offer, of all things. Yeah, that kinda job, too.
Anyways that got lost in the shit storm as I had problems with my
email and NG capabilities (still on LRLP though).
This is life, you live on borrowed time and some days all the shit you
get away with catches up to you.
Swarve, glad to have you back, mate! Share the stories.
-max hoping to get his ng stuff back online
ultimate respec' in the finest riz tradition!
> > > btw seen Max?
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
The Federal authorities say order has been restored to the Island of Moheli,
where several dozen raiders, many of them white mercenaries, were reported
to have led a military coup Wednesday. According to the Defence Ministry, at
least two of the mercenaries were killed in the fighting. The coup came days
before a referendum on greater autonomy for Moheli. The Comoro Islands, an
archipelago off the south-east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, have had
20 coups since 1975.
+ + + +
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
December 19, 2001
A group of unidentified soldiers took control of parts of the Comoran island
of Moheli on Wednesday, news and diplomatic sources said.
According to the reports, the group including 12 to 20 white people
disembarked on Moheli, the smallest island of the troubled Indian Ocean
archipelago, and "neutralised" the gendarmerie and the police.
Electricity has apparently been turned off on the island and the telephone
lines cut. However, diplomatic sources told IRIN that the authorities on the
main island of Grande Comore had radio contact with the army in Moheli and
were "preparing a response".
The invaders, who have not been identified, reportedly distributed pamphlets
written in English linking Comoros leader Colonel Azali Assoumani with the
terrorist Al Qaeda network, and asking the population to remain calm. They
also asked to negotiate with the military commander on the island. Some of
the assailants reportedly spoke English and rumours immediately claimed that
they were Americans hunting for Osama bin Laden cells. But more reliable
sources said they spoke French.
Their demands are as yet unknown, but their action has been interpreted as
another Comoran coup attempt aimed at disrupting a referendum due on 23
December to approve a new constitution and end the archipelago's
secessionist crisis.
Comoros has endured more than 20 coups or attempted coups since independence
from France in 1975. There has also been a history of mercenary
intervention, led on three occasions by French national Colonel Bob Denard.
+ + + +
The army in the Comoro Islands has restored order after a group of
unidentified gunmen landed on the island of Moheli.
The gunmen seized control of the police station early on Wednesday morning.
Interior Minister Said Abdallah Cheikh Soilihi told the BBC that five men he
described as white, French-speaking mercenaries were killed after they
attempted to overthrow the government.
The men had reportedly claimed to be from the United States army, looking
for members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
The attack comes ahead of a referendum on Sunday which the BBC's Southern
Africa correspondent, Barnaby Phillips, says is expected to approve a new
constitution, designed to end recent political instability.
Some of the attackers were arrested, while others managed to escape.
Two civilians were also killed, reports the French news agency AFP.
A US embassy spokesman in Nairobi has denied that US forces were involved.
Diplomats said the raiders had been distributing leaflets linking Comoran
military strongman Colonel Azaly Assoumani with al-Qaeda.
Comoros, with an overwhelmingly Muslim population, has experienced more than
20 coups since independence from France in 1975, several of them involving
French mercenaries, such as the notorious Bob Denard.
On Wednesday, Mr Denard told AFP that he had nothing to do with the attack,
which he described as "more bizarre than usual" .
"For me, the Comoros page has been turned," he said.
+ + + +
The Liberian Government says rebels near the country's northern border with
Guinea have captured the town of Zorzor.
Defence Minister Daniel Chea told the BBC about 75 rebels had crossed the
frontier to carry out the attack.
Mr Chea said he believed the rebels were trying to take the pressure off the
district of Kolahun, where Liberian troops recently gained control.
This is the eighth attack on the town since 1999, which is effecively in
rubble.
Most buildings are levelled to the ground, vandalised or pock-marked with
bullet-holes.
The minister said that after taking Zorzor, the rebels had pursued
retreating government troops to the town of Socromu; at least two government
soldiers were missing in action following the clashes.
He added that Liberia thought Guinea would have done everything it could to
stop any dissidents on its soil crossing the border and causing trouble.
Guinea and Liberia, are conducting a proxy war with each other through rebel
groups.
Liberian leader Charles Taylor has not gone to the Senegalese capital,
Dakar, for the annual economic summit of West African states because of the
military situation at home.
+ + + +
Business Day (Johannesburg)
December 19, 2001
Vuyo Mvoko
SA is to play a leading role in a proposed Southern African Development
Community (SADC) initiative to get the world community to go beyond
sanctions imposed by the United Nations (UN), and declare rebel Jonas
Savimbi's Unita rebel movement a "terrorist" organisation.
If approved by the region's heads of state and more importantly by the UN
the move would cut all material and political support to Unita in a bid to
bring the organisation to its knees, eventually bringing peace to Angola.
Unita gets financial and other forms of support through a complex network of
organisations and governments officially and unofficially with diamonds
central to these relationships.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on his return from Angola, where the
proposal was made by the SADC organ on politics, defence and security
cooperation, that the step was among the first that were to demonstrate a
"heightened level of collective commitment" of regional governments to
resolving problems. "Linked to that is an increasing level of a very
determined and uncompromising realism when confronting issues," Lekota said.
Nations represented by their ministers at the two-day meeting where the
proposal was made included SA, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Lesotho, Namibia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
A communiqué issued after the meeting said: "Despite the sanctions imposed
by the UN Security Council on Unita, the ministers noted that the rebel
movement continued to enjoy assistance from various sources around and
beyond the region. Ministers also expressed concern at the continued
existence of offices, websites, publications and other facilities in support
of Savimbi-Unita around the world.
"Ministers pledged their commitment to doing everything possible to ensure
that national territories are not used for activities aimed at undermining
the implementation of the UN sanctions against Unita-Savimbi."
Lekota said Angola had reiterated its pledge to give Savimbi amnesty for
everything he had done. "What is happening in Angola is no liberation
struggle," Lekota said. "It's a terror campaign against the masses of
Angola".
On the Congo, the ministers "noted the efforts to find a lasting solution"
to the country's conflict. The Congo process was ready to move to "phase
three", Lekota said, with additional peace-keeping contingents to be sent
there, including at least 48 SA military police.
The SADC peace and security organ was also keeping a watchful eye on the
coming elections in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho, to the extent that these
would be "credible, transparent and disruptions-free".
A special summit was to be held in Malawi next month "to take a closer look"
at the election issue, Lekota said.
This was part of the SADC's commitment to "deepening democracy", he said.
+ + + +
An Indonesian military transport plane carrying more than 90 soldiers has
crash-landed in flames at an airport in the rebellious north-eastern
province of Aceh.
An Indonesian military spokesman Major Zinal Mutaqim said the Hercules troop
transporter caught fire when its brakes failed, after landing at
Lhokseumawe.
He said all of the crew escaped and only a few of the passengers suffered
injuries.
A spokesman from the Free Aceh Movement Amri Abdul Wahad said the Hercules
had been hit by ground fire from rebels trying to stop the Indonesian
Government flying reinforcements into the region.
Separatists have been battling for an independent homeland in the oil and
gas rich region of Aceh since the mid 1970s.
+ + + +
At least 26 people have been killed in five days of fighting between two
rival tribes in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Local media reports say clashes began at the weekend with Ujimap and Tugumap
tribesmen using automatic rifles, spears and bows and arrows.
Most of the fighting took place in the Southern Highlands provincial capital
of Mendi, about 540 kilometres (335 miles) northwest of the capital Port
Moresby.
Men belonging to the Tugumap clan burned down 50 Ujimap homes and a local
school.
The Ujimap then reportedly used the smoke as a cover to stage an ambush.
Fourteen bodies were later recovered from a river, and there are fears that
more people are still missing.
Staff at the Mendi General Hospital are reported to have fled in fear of
their lives.
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
December 19, 2001
Our Kenema Correspondent
On 17th October this year ten divers went down a mining pit to extract
gravel at Kpassalla Baama in Wonder Chiefdom, Kenema district. After three
hours under the water the ten divers came up to the surface with no
diamonds.
Sources say P.C. Henry Kenewa Fangawa, former APC Member of Parliament
Solomon Kamanda and Alhaji Yusufu Kamanda for whom these drivers were
working became suspicious.
Reports say a quarrel then ensued and when the ten divers were searched
about 23 pieces of diamonds where retrieved from them, the smallest weighing
about 1312 carats, candle colour.
The following day, 18th October, our source went on, the bodies of the ten
divers were found floating in a pit. It was later claimed that the dead
divers had drowned while diving at night.
This incident, according to our source, was concealed until recently when
another quarrel broke out, resulting in a fist fight between a miner, Maya
Kamanga and the Kamanda family including P.C. Fangawa after the former
realized that he had been cheated in a diamond deal.
It will be recalled that Kpassalla Baama is notorious for illicit mining.
The proceeds are sold to a Lebanese Khamal Shamal based at Baama who in turn
smuggle the diamonds out of the country.
The Kenema police are said to be investigating the drowning incident.
+ + + +
New Zealanders hoping for a drink this Christmas and New Year may have to
break the law after the government brought in prohibition by mistake.
Parliament has rushed through a controversial law aimed at preventing
drunken disorder on the streets over the festive season.
The bill was supposed to ban people from consuming or carrying alcohol in
designated areas or face a $206 (NZ $500) fine.
But a mistake in the wording means the ban could cover any public area in
the country.
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
December 19, 2001
Ibrahim Karim-Sei
It was the most colourful wedding that had taken place in many years in the
diamond mining town of Gendema. Sahr Pessima, a young man in his late
thirties had had his dream fulfilled by marrying the most beautiful girl in
Gendema town. The wedding, which took place in the festive season, became
the talk of the town for months.
Pessima, a graduate from Njala University College had returned home upon
completion of his studies and took up teaching employment in the only
secondary school in the town. He also did a bit of mining - his prime reason
for coming back to work in his hometown.
In school, a girl in the fifth form caught his eyes and began to court her.
Six months after her graduation, Pessima approached Finda's parents and
asked her hand in marriage. After a bit of wrangling, the parents
reluctantly accepted Pessima's marriage proposal. The parents wanted their
daughter to pursue a nursing career, but the husband-to-be assured that
Finda would pursue whatever course she wanted.
A date was set for the wedding. It was a fabulous ceremony, attracting
important local personalities from all over the mining district. Pessima had
just picked some pieces of diamonds, so there was enough to meet the demands
of the occasion.
Incidentally, long before the wedding, rumours had circulated that RUF
rebels had been sneaking into surrounding villages, mostly at night, and
carting away villagers' properties including money.
Gendema town was lurked between two valleys, far removed from the hustle and
bustle of life in the district-headquarter town, Moidu. Five miles into the
town there was a little river to cross. Feeling relatively secured, the
people of Gendema did not take the rumours seriously.
One night, barely four months after the lavished weeding, rebels struck the
town shortly after mid night.
How the rebels entered the small mining town remained a mystery to the
Gendema people up to this day. What a few could remember was that the
marauding rebels set fire on several houses, killed scores of civilians and
abducted many others.
One of the targets of the rebels was Pessima, a man much has been said about
and considered to be rich. He narrowly escaped that night but his young
bride Finda was not so lucky. As she slipped through the backdoor to hide in
the nearby bush she fell into the hands of the invaders. She was quickly
overpowered and whisked away. Pessima's house was later set ablaze.
It took Pessima three years to overcome his grief. All those years he
remained a subdued and delirious man, always wondering whether he will ever
set eyes on Finda. Each time he sat to think over events of that fateful
night tears flooded his eyes. He wondered what might have happened to his
young wife who was carrying a three months old pregnancy. Not sure whether e
she was alive he had resigned to fate, living in a permanent state of
despair. Life without Finda was meaningless to him.
All those three years he had resolved to have no affairs with other women.
Even though he was not certain that Finda was alive he had the instinctive
hope that sooner or later she would be set free by her captors and rejoin
him.
But four years on and no Finda, he began to lose faith. His hope of ever
seeing his wife started fading gradually. One night as he laid on his
makeshift bed in the displaced camp several thoughts ran through his mind.
"Am I going to remain like this all along," he said to himself as he felt
some strange feeling overcoming him. For the first time in four years he had
the urge to go into a woman. He woke up that morning a little restless.
Few days later, while walking across the camp he met a young woman sitting
outside her shack, a little girl by her. The lady had similar features as
Finda, beautiful but in her case she was visibly withdrawn. She too had been
nursing the loss of her husband who had been killed by the rebels.
After a few exchange visits, Pessima and Fatmata eventually reconciled their
minds and took each other into confidence. Two months later the two married
on a wet Sunday morning. The camp Pastor and a few camp mates were invited
to grace the occasion.
One morning, officials of the UNHCR visited the camp to inform both
displaced and returnees that the UN agency will soon resettle them in their
various place of origin. Most of the areas in the country had been declared
safe for resettlement and UNHCR in collaboration with the government and
other NGOs were working out modalities to return people to their original
homes.
That evening in their quiet moment, Pessima and Fatmata discussed their
resettlement plan. They both agreed that Pessima visits Gendema first before
their final return. . "It is better I go there and see what repairs to do on
the house before we finally return," Pessima suggested.
Few days later Pessima set out for his hometown, the first in four years.
He arrived Gendema shortly before nightfall. He was shocked by the scale of
destruction the rebels had inflicted on his town. Very few houses remained
untouched. The rest had been raised to the ground, others overgrown with
weeds.
Some of the earlier returnees had managed to rebuild the houses while
majority of the villagers occupied makeshift shelters awaiting government
assistance.
Pessima was however heartened by the massive number of returnees, all busy
doing one thing or the other to start life all over again. Since his own
house had been burnt he decided to stay with his uncle while he
reconstructed his.
That evening news had gone round about his arrival. He had just had his
dinner when he heard a knock on the door. He beckoned to the knocker to
enter.
The door opened. In the dimness of the room he stared at the figure before
him. He was slightly shaken by what he was staring at. He could not believe
his eyes. He was not sure whether he was staring at a ghost or his former
wife.
"Are you alive?" was Pessima's less heart throbing remark. Finda stood in
front of him trying to force a smile, a little boy stood by her side. For a
couple of minutes the two people gazed at each in silence. Tears streamed
down Finda's face. Pessima was lost for words. Was he looking at his real
wife or a ghost, he wondered.
"When did did you come here and how?" Pessima stammered, recovering from his
dreamy state.
"I have been here a month now," Finda replied, a little composed.
Pessima stole another glance at her. The woman he had married at age 20
appeared much older than her age. She had lost weight and looked slimmer but
the same beauty lurked in those dark little eyes was still radiant.
"So they did not kill you?" said Pessima, a little relieved.
"God protected me," she replied.
For the first time since they entered the room Pessima took a direct look at
the little boy beside his mother. He can discern the resemblance, the boy's
broad face and flattened nose, but he has to be certain. "Whose child is
this?" he asked.
"He is your child," replied Finda as she led the timid boy to his father.
She took a seat and sat near Pessima. "You know they took me away while I
was three months pregnant. The man who captured me took care of the boy
until he was killed in a battle last year. The man thought the boy was his
son." She paused, watching Pessima from the corner of her eyes, expecting
his reaction. But Pessima remained pensive, wondering as to where this
encounter with his lost found wife would lead to. As he sat there he thought
of the woman he had left behind in the camp. She too was three months old
pregnant when he left her.
"I thought I was not going to see you again. So I gave the boy your name -
Sahr- as a remembrance," said Finda in a more expectant mood, hoping to win
the sympathy and confidence of her husband who probably may have developed
other feelings about her.
All this while Pessima sat quiet. He was inwardly upset. As he listened to
his rebel-adducted wife several questions ran through his mind. Should he
tell her that he was now marriage to another woman? That she has been away
with a rebel and therefore she no longer matter in his life? Should he take
the boy and disown her?
"Where have you been all these years?" Finda broke the silence.
"In a displaced camp" was Pessima's apt reply.
"Did you ever think of me all these years?" Finda continued, adding more
pain to his dilemma. He must break the conversation, he said to himself. He
has to rest and think.
"Finda, I have just arrived, I am tired. We can talk better tomorrow. Give
me time to rest". He stood up and held the boy by the hand. "You are a lucky
boy," he said to him.
Finda remained rooted in her seat, not sure whether to stay and spend the
first night with her husband after four years or bade him good night.
+ + + +
More L8R. Have only now recovered
from the hangover of Tuesday night
8)
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
21 December 2001
http://www.azzam.com
PARACHINAR (Islam News): Daily Islam has heard this account from eye
witnesses who attended both the funeral of three of seven Arab Mujahideen
martyred during clashes with Pakistani troops on Wednesday, at Arrawli and
the remaining four of seven at Bagzai. Fazal-e-Syed, who attended the prayer
and burial ceremony told Daily Islam that the entire area where the bodies
were placed were filled with a pleasant scent, which was emitting from the
blood of these martyrs. This miracle was witnessed by large numbers of local
people. Fazal-e-Syed told Daily Islam that he has never before smelled such
a pleasant odour. He also said that a huge number of people attended the
ceremony and they buried the martyrs with great honour. Perhaps this lends
further proof as to which of the two groups: Arab Mujahideen or Pakistan
Army serving under America's orders, died on the Truth. We ask Allah to
accept the martyrdom of these seven Mujahideen and punish those of the Army
who died as apostates whilst taking up arms against the soldiers of Allah.
KANDAHAR: EYEWITNESSES SAY DOZENS OF AMERICANS' BODIES TURNED INTO PIECES
DUE TO EXPLOSION
KANDAHAR (Islam News): Another large explosion at an ammunition dump took
place at Kandahar Airport on Monday, causing loss of life and equipment to
US personnel. An eyewitness who came to Quetta from Kandahar told Islam
News's correspondent that this incident took place near the village of
Khoshab which is located in the southern part of Kandahar Airport and that
the sound of this explosion was so loud that it was also heard in the "Madad
Chowk" district of Kandahar city, which is 35 km away from the centre of the
explosion. According to information received by Daily Islam from trusworthy
eyewitnesses, several bodies of American Commandos had been shredded to
pieces by this explosion and a large number of injured were seen lying at
the scene of the incident. The US Marines immediately came into action after
the incident and started collecting the bodies of their men. Another eye
witness told Daily Islam that the whole day US helicopters were engaged in
collecting and transferring the bodies to an unknown destination. Before
this incident, American warplanes were attacked by surface-to-air missiles
but the planes were able to survive the attack because the missiles missed
the targets.
KANDAHAR: TWO US WARPLANES HAVE NARROW ESCAPE IN MISSILE ATTACK
KANDAHAR (Islam News): The Pentagon has confirmed that surface-to-air
missiles were fired on two of its planes near Kandahar Airport, including at
least one C-130 transport plane. According to reports, the positions from
where the missiles were fired were later intensely bombed by the US
warplanes and also ground search operations were launched, but no-one was
found or captured. No-one accepted responsibility for the attack, adding to
fears by the US Government that perhaps ordinary Afghans in Southern
Afghanistan are now turning against the Americans. Later on, the US
authorities denied that the planes were fired upon by missiles but that it
was celebratory fire for the Eid festival. Such ridiculous claims and
counter-claims further destroy the credibility of the Pentagon 'official'
war briefings.
FOREIGN MUJAHIDEEN ESCAPEES TAKE REFUGE IN MOUNTAINS
PESHAWAR (Islam News/Radio Report): Further to yesterday's news on the
clashes between Foreign Mujahideen prisoners and Pakistani Border Security
Forces, those Mujahideen still at large have taken shelter in the Ali Zai
mountains and they are heavily armed. The Pakistan Army, upon the orders of
its American masters, has sealed off the region and both Commandos and the
Pakistan Air Force is searching for them. This begs the question: where are
the elite Pakistani troops and Air Force when the third holiest place in
Islam (Masjid Al-Aqsa) is desecrated by the Jews?
Those re-captured were transferred to Ali Zai prison before they will be
moved back to Peshawar and handed over to the Americans. According to
reliable sources, an eyewitness told Daily Islam that fighting is still
going on in the region and the majority of the local residents are with the
Mujahideen but a few nationalists are against the Mujahideen and they have
participated in arresting some of Mujahideen again and handing them back to
the Pakistan Government. Reports from Sadda say that these Mujahideen
entered Pakistan in the belief that the trustworthy tribal people would give
them shelter but the Pakistan Government had already laid down a network of
inteliigence on the orders of their American masters and as soon as these
Mujahideen entered the region, they were taken away as prisoners by the
Pakistanis.
KANDAHAR:25 GUL AGHA'S FIGHTERS DIED 30 ARRESTED
KANDAHAR (Special Correspondent): Fierce clashes have taken place in the
Mewand District of Kandahar Province between the puppet, paedophile Governor
of Kandahar, Gul Agha, and the local commander Haji Bashar. According to
reliable sources, immediately after the evacuation of the Taliban from the
district, it was attacked by Gul Agha's local commanders and they killed and
looted people, due to which extreme anger arose among the local people.
Whenthe barbarism of Gul Agha's men did not stop, the local commander, Haji
Bashar, attacked the district headquarters and killed 25 of Gul Agha's men,
recaptured Mewand District and arrested 30 or more of Gul Agha's men. Haji
Bashar is known to be pro-Taliban.
KANDAHAR: FIVE AMERICAN AGENTS KILLED
KANDAHAR (Islam News): Among the people of Kandahar Province the anger and
hatred for the American agents is intensifying day by day. According to new
reports, the intensity of hatred for the American agents can be well judged
from the actions taken by the locals against these agents. The news from
Kandahar says that on the first day of Eid in the Deeha Bagh village of the
Dand district of Kandahar, the American agents were provoking the local
people to support Hamid Kirzai when the locals encircled these agents and
killed four of them. The locals of Char Darra village in the same district
killed one more American agent.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
+ + + +
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The widow of a New Hampshire man who was a passenger on
the United Air Lines flight that slammed into the World Trade Center filed
on Thursday what is believed to be the first suit against an airline
stemming from the Sept. 11 attacks.
The wrongful death suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges that
United breached its duty to care for the safety of the passengers on Flight
175. The suit filed by Ellen Mariani, whose husband, Louis, was killed in
the attack, seeks unspecified damages.
The Nolan Law Group, the Chicago firm that filed the suit, said it believed
this was the first action against an airline seeking to hold it liable for
the hijacking.
Louis Mariani, a 59-year-old retired sales coordinator at H.P. Hood, died
when the plane hit Tower Number Two of the World Trade Center. The suit
alleged that he suffered severe fright and terror before dying in the crash.
A spokesman for United said the airline does not comment on pending
litigation.
+ + + +
Swarvegorilla
that house, smashing the sliding door and breaking the couch I'm staying the
hell away. As far as stories..........
THE BAD
1 they fucking gassed me again
2 There are still numpty quarmby fucks in the army
3 TLOTR's is booked out
The GOOD
1 I just tracked down, met up with, took home the best woman Iv'e ever met
after not seeing her in 4 years.
2 Finished a year long game of SEIV by sending in armoured star destroyers
and raping all the enemies systems. The weight lifted off my brain is
immense.
3 Got a new house in Byron, gonna kick ass for New Years!
4 Time to relax now and lots of good shit ahead.
My ego's at like 150% and by the looks of things it's only gonna get bigger.
Hope everyones getting into party mode, or at least putting aside a special
batch of ammo for the big day.
:-)
Swarvegorilla
Maxime Camirand <fatc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:7c645735.01121...@posting.google.com...
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
+ + + +
The Post (Lusaka)
December 20, 2001
Narrated by John Maseka
I WAS a 29-year-old Angolan living in an area called Kuhemba in Huambo
Province, Angola. Kuhemba was an area controlled by rebels, for reasons that
I did not really understand, except that it was their home ground and a
place where they sourced diamonds.
It was a more peaceful area compared with other parts of the country, so my
wife and I concentrated on cultivating our fields for food. We had a
four-year-old son.
My mother-in -law lived in the north, in the diamond province of Lunda
Norte, which was always at war with regular massacres and communication was
difficult between us.
My wife had been on to me for a long time to visit her mother and finally I
agreed that we should go. After harvesting we made arrangements for the
journey and set off for Lunda Norte.
It was winter when we left Huambo for Lunda Norte hitch-hiking in military
trucks and the journey took a whole day.
We were welcomed by my in-laws and it surprised me that people seemed to
live in peace, contrary to the rumours about the place. When my
father-in-law arrived, though, a combatant who usually spent few days at
home and most of his life with the military, he warned us that it was not a
safe place at all. I understood what he was saying to us, but my wife was
not in a hurry to leave. The most important thing to her was to be with her
mother.
Before the end of the month he came to warn us not to move because the
rebels had closed all routes in and out of the province. It seemed that
whenever the rebels wanted diamonds, there was war. We were advised to wait
until the situation returned to normal. Our job, meanwhile, was to ferry
food to hiding places in the mountains. In war-time people fled there and
supplies were vital for survival. We lived in fear, like nomads, sometimes
spending days in the cassava fields expecting the rebels to attack. If we
slept in the village we would wake up at 04:00 hours to go into hiding.
Life was terrible.
One day while sleeping in the village, around 02:00 hours, I was woken up
and told to flee. People were running in different directions. I realised
that this was the time everyone had been dreading; the rebels had come.
I woke my wife, got my son and put him on my back with a chitenge as he
cried, "Daddy, please leave me, I want to sleep." My wife, who had grown up
in this place and knew the situation better than me, picked a knife and axe
for protection, and we started off for the mountains.
It was then that we heard a gunshot and a bright flame exploded in the sky
above us. It was a tracer. The place lit up and people could be seen
running. My mother-in -law shouted, "Take cover, they've seen us". We did,
but my wife kept running, she did not seem to have heard what her mother
said. I tried to call her but she kept on running. She ran fast, and was
gone. At about the same time gunshots were fired in the direction she was
running and we could hear people crying and screaming.
After a while it became dark again but I decided to wait a bit longer,
holding on to my son whom I had told to keep quiet. My mother-in-law took to
her heels, though, running in the direction of her daughter. Another tracer
was fired, followed by gunshots and I heard my mother-in-law screaming
before going quiet.
It was quiet again but I decided not to move, continuing to take cover with
my son. However, it was not long before there were more gunshots and bullets
passed over my head in the direction of the village. I panicked because I
thought I might have been seen, but I didn't move. The village was up in
flames behind us. Goats and chickens had been burned alive in their
enclosures because there was no-one to let them out. All I could think of
now was how I could get out of this situation without being seen before
dawn. I crawled to the nearby bush and hid there. Guns were still being
fired in different directions but I couldn't see who was firing them nor
could I tell where the bullets were coming from. They finally fell silent
about 04:00 hours with the villages behind us still on fire.
After a long silence I heard people approaching my hiding place. I became
very scared with adrenaline rushing to my head. The sound of combat boots
passing through the rocks was terrifying. I wondered what these people would
do if they caught me. I just held my son firmly. He asked, "What is wrong
daddy?"
"Sshhh, just keep quiet," I answered. The sound of boots were getting closer
and my heart was pumping faster. We held each other firmly. Luckily they
passed us, about 5m away, on their way to the village. I breathed a sigh of
relief, but that was not the end of our problems. There was much worse to
come.
At dawn I lifted my son, put him on my back, tying him to my body with the
same chitenge, and headed for the mountains. It took me four hours to get
there and people were surprised to see me. They were very inquisitive about
what had happened and as to the whereabouts of my wife and mother-in-law. I
couldn't find out whether they were alive or dead.
We lived with the people in the mountains for four days without any further
incidents.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, there was the sound of a helicopter
surveying the area. The villagers knew that a rescue team had come to help.
Some men took short cuts to the village where the helicopter had landed and
confirmed that the rebels had left and the aircraft had come to rescue us.
They returned with very sad news, though.
My mother-in-law and wife had been shot dead and had been found lying near
to each other.
I cried and cried and my son cried too . . . which stopped me crying any
further because I had to calm him . . . he didn't really understand what had
happened.
I mourned my wife and it was so sad because I didn't even know where she was
buried, but all the same, I said to myself, "May her soul rest in peace". It
seemed as if she had been prepared to die for her mother or to see her
mother before she died. Now she was lying dead next to her. It was a
tragedy.
Ideas and questions flooded my mind; the main one being how to get back to
my home before anything else could happen. But how? My place was far away in
the central highland area of Huambo and I was in the north of the country,
hundreds of miles away.
The rescue crew had come and gone, promising to send another plane to bring
food, clothing and bedding within a few days.
The rebels had gone and people were returning to the village where they
started building new huts. We also returned and I learned that my wife and
mother-in-law were buried near the site of the shooting that night. We held
a funeral in the village after going to see where they had been buried.
A few days later, my father-in-law returned with the supply plane.
Everybody was called to help off-load the plane and I learned that the
remaining supplies were to be flown to Kuhemba, my area. This was my chance
to get back home. I talked to my father-in-law about my wish to go back to
Kuhemba and he didn't object so the pilot agreed to take me. I gathered my
luggage in minutes and we took off.
It was a two-engine aircraft with the captain being a lady called Tina and
the co-pilot a man, Roberto. My father-in-law had told me that Tina was one
of the most courageous women he knew and was regularly sent on missions
others refused because they were too risky, and that she had rescued a lot
of people. He told me I was in safe hands and I felt relieved that we were
flying home. I had confidence in her and prayed we would reach there safely.
We flew for about an-hour-and-a-half and Roberto told me to fasten my
seat-belt as we were descending and approaching a rescue area. My heart
started beating hard and I said under my breath, "Lord, keep us safe".
I looked out of the window and tried to calculate the distance to the
ground, imagining what would happen if the rebels shot at the plane. Would
it be blown to pieces or could it land on rocky mountains, in a river, in
the bush or perhaps even in the arms of the rebels themselves? Only God
knew.
Tina and Roberto kept looking out of their side windows as the plane was
descending.
Suddenly, while we were still airborne, there was a strange sound, like a
bang, followed by a vibration and the plane started swerving violently. It
nearly flipped upside down.
Roberto looked at me sadly and said, "Hold your son firmly, we are making an
emergency landing. One of the engines has been blown off and we are on
fire."
The vibration worsened, the speed increased and I could see that the captain
was struggling with the landing gear.
The plane crash -landed, skimming the tops of bushes before hitting a tree.
The entire front part of the plane was ripped open.
My son was thrown from my arms and fell near Tina, in the cockpit. She
removed her seat belt, picked up the child and found her way out through an
emergency door, shouting, "Hurry up, get out of here".
I was in shock and still sitting with my seat-belt fastened when Roberto
stood up and shouted harshly, "You bloody old fool. The plane is burning."
He removed my seat-belt and ran to the emergency door shouting, "Let's go,
let's go." I came to my senses and followed him out of the emergency door as
Tina beckoned to us to run for our lives. She was clutching my son as she
ran and we followed her. Before we could get far, though, she looked behind
and shouted, "Take cover, the plane is about to blow". As we went down the
plane blew up. There was a huge fireball and I imagined what would have
happened if it had blown up while we were still in it. We were deep in the
African jungle, I had no idea where we were or what would happen next as I
sat silently watching the plane burn.
Tina heard people cheering in the distance and said, "You guys, did you hear
anything?" We replied that we hadn't. "You have to be good listeners in
war", she added. I listened again and also heard the cheering.
"They must be celebrating that they have shot down the plane and will
definitely come to check so let's get the hell out of this place.
We are in a trap," she said. We moved about a kilometre and found a place to
hide and Tina told us to stay there while she went to find out what was
happening and who was in the area. She gave me a pistol and asked, "Do you
know how to shoot?" "Yes," I replied, "I can't fail to use a gun having
lived in a country at war for a long time."
"That's fine then, " she said, but added, "Don't shoot unless absolutely
necessary. I will be back soon."
And with that she set off, looking right and left, walking and crawling
until she disappeared. She came back about an hour later confirming that the
plane had been shot by rebels whom she had seen near the crash site.
She told us to leave the place before we were captured.
Tina took a compass, put it on the ground, chose a direction, and our trek
began. We walked in the bush with no path or sign of villages and without
food or water, but at least we did have guns. I was carrying my son and we
walked until late afternoon. I asked Tina if she had any idea where we were
going and she said that before the plane was shot down, we'd had about
another ten minutes flying time south before reaching Kuhemba. We were
walking in the same direction and she said she hoped we would meet up with
friendly forces.
We walked for some time and I was tired so I asked if we could stop to rest
for a while.
"And what will you do when you stop?" Tina asked angrily.
She was not the kind of woman to tolerate lazing around when your life was
at risk. All she could think of was getting herself and everybody else to
safety. I answered that we could look for food, as my son was hungry, and
she allowed us to rest for about 20 minutes to allow my son to eat. After
that, Tina put him on her back and trekked off again. Roberto and I followed
behind.
The sun had now set and minutes later it would be dark but thank God at
least we were walking in bright moonlight. Tina insisted we kept on walking
but it was scary because it seemed as though there were animals or people
hiding everywhere in the bush. Tina didn't seem to be afraid, though, and
the trek continued until we found a path.
Roberto lit a cigarette and we saw the imprint of combat boots which had
passed by recently. We decided to follow the boot-prints and reached a place
where the path seemed to reach a dead end.
We would spend the night there and carry on the following day. We planned to
light a fire and Roberto looked around for a place where we could camp
safely. We gathered some firewood but the moment Roberto lit a match a big
snake rose level with his head. I had seen it and screamed, "Watch out," but
it struck at the same moment, biting Roberto on the neck. He leapt into the
air and screamed like a child who had been stung by a bee. The snake stuck
to him. Tina pulled out a knife and cut off its head, managing to remove it
from Roberto's neck, but it was too late.
Roberto dropped dead and within a few minutes his body was turning black. I
was shocked and didn't know what to do.
Tina told us to move before another person was attacked and she carried
Roberto's body. Tina lay next to him at our new camp, weeping, and later
promised to take him home so his wife and family could bury him. She also
cared for me, cautioning me to keep calm in tough situations and not to
panic. I felt sad over the death of our co-pilot who had shown me such
concern.
It was towards the end of the wet season in April and it rained heavily that
night during a thunderstorm, as if washing away evil spirits. Our fire was
extinguished by the rain and we were cold.
Tina was wearing a special combat jacket, like a raincoat, and kept my son
inside it. It was so cold and I could only marvel at the courage of the
woman I was with. Tina said, "When you're in trouble rain is a sign of
peace." The rain stopped at 02:00 hours and the sky cleared, enabling us to
see. Tina said we should start off and I agreed,
She said she would carry Roberto and told me to take my son. I replied that
I thought it would be better if she carried my son and I carried Roberto
because he was so heavy.
"What do you mean? Supposing you were not with me, who do you think would
carry Roberto?" she replied harshly.
She lifted Roberto, put him on her shoulders and began to walk and I
followed her, carrying my son.
We wandered in the bush for about half-an-hour before reaching a gravel
road. We stopped and Tina put Roberto down to consult her compass with the
help of a cigarette lighter. After that she lifted Roberto again and the
trek continued. Instead of following the road, though, we crossed and
carried on into the bush again. I was worried.
What kind of a woman was Tina? Was she a ghost or a human being? What kind
of person carried on walking in the jungle at night, carrying a dead body?
She never seemed to feel the weight of Roberto for a moment while I was
struggling with my son who was a fraction of his size.
We approached a camp-fire in the distance at about 04:30 hours and Tina told
me to stay where I was with Roberto and my son while she went to find out
whose camp it was. I lay flat on the ground holding my hungry and thirsty
son, covered by Tina's combat jacket. She was away for nearly half-an-hour
and returned with food and water just as I was falling asleep.
I began to eat and drink, but as I did Tina said, "You bloody fool. You are
eating and forgetting your own child." And with that she woke him up and fed
him with the care of a mother. He was very weak.
After eating she said, "We are in big trouble. I stole this food and water
from a sleeping soldier who was away from the others at the camp-fire. They
are with the rebels."
She said we should move on quickly and lifted Roberto on to her shoulders
again. I picked up my son and we continued the trek until dawn. As the light
dawned she checked her compass again and told me that we should be in my
home area, Kuhemba, and asked me to think carefully to try to establish
where we were.
I looked around and at about 07:00 hours recognised a hill. We walked for
another four hours, reaching my village at 11:00 hours.
My parents greeted us but were shocked and saddened to hear about the
deaths, especially that of my wife. My grandfather was involved with
witchcraft and when I told him about Roberto he said, "Roberto is not dead.
As long as rain soaked his body he is still alive."
He took the co-pilot's body, put him in an isolated hut and prescribed
medicines for three days. Nobody was allowed in there except Tina.
On the third day Tina asked for a pot to cook porridge for Roberto, and I
couldn't believe what she was saying.
Porridge for Roberto? A dead man? Two days later Roberto left the hut as
though nothing had happened to him. We chatted and ate together and I could
only marvel at his miraculous recovery.
After a few more days Tina and Roberto travelled to an airstrip under the
control of friendly forces and were airlifted to Luanda.
Tina left me a gold neck chain which I still wear to this day. I will never
forget that brave woman.
+ + + +
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
+ + + +
A cargo ship travelling from Mauritius is at the centre of a security alert
in the English Channel.
Anti-Terrorist Branch and the Royal Navy took part in a joint security
operation on Friday morning.
BBC correspondent Robert Hall said it was understood the ship "posed a major
threat to national security".
The 500ft ship was boarded by the Royal Navy, HM Customs and Excise and the
Metropolitan Police's Anti-Terrorist Branch officers at about 0800GMT.
"The crew is co-operating fully and are currently being interviewed and the
ship inspected", a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
No details have been given about what prompted the joint operation.
The ship was reported to be off the Sussex coast near Beachy Head.
Police said it was boarded in international waters in accordance with
international law.
Police said there was no immediate danger to people living in the area.
The ship had sailed from Mauritius, stopped off in Djibouti, and was
believed to be carrying a cargo of sugar.
Police said it was not possible to say how long officers will remain aboard
the vessel or how long the inspection will take to complete.
Inquiries are ongoing and no arrests have been made.
HMS Sutherland was involved in the operation, the Ministry of Defence said.
"It was travelling from east to west through the Channel," said an MoD
spokesman.
The crew of the ship were understood to be Indian.
+ + + +
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote in
> How The Other Half Live
>
> + + + +
>
> The Post (Lusaka)
> December 20, 2001
> Narrated by John Maseka
>
>
> I WAS a 29-year-old Angolan living in an area called Kuhemba in Huambo
> Province, Angola. Kuhemba was an area controlled by rebels, for reasons
that
> I did not really understand, except that it was their home ground and a
> place where they sourced diamonds.
>
Nice but definitely ficton, surely. I don't not believe it could happen just
that it seems almost to run to a formula......
Maybe too much beer.....
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
;)
reality also sometimes runs according to Hollywood formula,
re: the latest warflick we've all been watching on CNN or Al-Jazeera
;)
Riz
---
Ewwww! New apartment
and a (old)new chick....
Shhh, nobody mention
"old flame" around Swarve!
It could mean the end to
the kitchen!
Awwww, and we were just
so getting used to you telling
us about the funny stuff you'd
do to Justin!
Max Respec', m8!
"Swarvegorilla" wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
there if you're on the ground or maybe post
some handy links regarding any likely scenarios
Respec'!
Riz
"Archibald d'Arsenic" wrote
This is a frame-up to justify more killing of opponents. aristide
gangs already took the opportunity to destroy the offices of many
political parties and home of leaders all accross the country...
DO NOT TRUST THE CURRENT INFORMATION ON THE SITUATION IN HAITI
THE OBJECTIVE OF ARISTIDE IS TO ELIMINATE THE OPPOSITION !
THE COUP IS JUST APPARENT... IT IS A FAKE MADE BY ARISTIDE
73's
Rizla wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
Don't try Hushmail, they've
began to start charging, although
they are very cheap at the price!
Newsranger is a good web based
newsreader, found it very reliable,
just use a ziplip acct to get started
and you're away!
Anyway, hope Life has calmed down some ;)
Max Res, Max!
"Maxime Camirand" wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
BuaNews (Pretoria)
December 21, 2001
Thabo Mokgola
Pretoria
Even though they won't enjoy Christmas in the comfort of their homes with
their families, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members
deployed in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will
definitely welcome the special treat coming their way.
They will be presented with Christmas gifts collectively worth R31 500 on 27
December.
The SANDF contributed R27 500 towards the cost of the 900 gifts and Spar
Supermarket sponsored the balance.
The gifts consist of two packs of biscuits, potato fries, fruit cocktail,
two packs of sweets, biltong, a sports drink and two packs of peanuts.
Speaking in Thaba Tshwane near Pretoria today, SANDF Chief Siphiwe Nyanda
said the aim of sending the gifts was to illustrate that 'the top structure'
cared for them.
No mention was made of whether the delivery would include
the infamous "FireAnt ThaiMex Rat Pack"(tm) produced by
SwarveGorilla(c), Inc of Australia
+ + + +
The Perspective (Smyrna, Georgia)
December 21, 2001
The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) has made some
gains in recent days .. According to Liberian government Defense Minister
Daniel Chea, the dissidents overran government forces on December 19 in a
battle for the control of Zorzor. Mr. Chea told BBC on Wednesday that,
"About 4:00 a.m. this morning [December 19], about 75 well-armed LURD
fighters crossed into Liberia from Guinea through the border town of Yeala
and attacked Zorzor". He said that government forces were driven from Zorzor
into Sukromu, a nearby village. Zorzor has changed hands several times since
the war started about two years.
LURD is fighting to unseat Charles Taylor after waging a brutal seven-year
civil war that killed about 250,000 people.
Government officials recently claimed successes. They claimed that Kolahun,
the dissidents' stronghold, had been captured. But military experts doubt
that the government forces are still in control Kolahun.
Speaking on behalf of the dissidents yesterday, the spokesman for the
dissidents - Charles Bennie, said: "We have captured towns including
Salayea - that is in central Liberia, Bong County. We have also captured
Zawolo, that is of course [in] Lofa County, Camp Alpha (Bomi)".
The dissidents also claimed to have killed some senior Liberian military
officers including Sgt. Maj. Harris (Border Task Forces - ID # 5280), Lt.
Col . Patrick Borpaye (from Taylor's Special Security Service - SSS), Lt.
Col. Anthony K. Gaye (Advance Team Commander, Executive Mansion), Maj. Isaac
K. Paye (SSS), and Capt Andrew Paye (Anti Terrorist Unit). Mr. Bennie also
claimed that 50 of the government troops have surrendered to LURD.
Acknowledging the gains made by the dissidents, President Taylor said, "Well
enemy forces entered Zorzor and Salayea - out of Guinea. There are attempts
now being made at Juah from the Guinean side - I did raise it with President
Obasanjo. And Liberians must prepare for this kind of crisis for a long
time. And what do I mean? It is evident that President Conte is using the
war in Liberia to perpetuate himself in power. By continuing this crisis in
Liberia, he makes the case in Guinea that only he can keep Guinea from
crisis."
Mr. Taylor also said, "ECOWAS is condemning the violence in Liberia by the
LURD, the wanton murder of our people and rape of our young children and
women and all of that."
+ + + +
This Day (Lagos)
December 21, 2001
Hammed Bodunrin
Osogbo
Ile-Ife in Osun State yesterday witnessed another disturbance following the
Wednesday night murder of the legislator representing the town central
constituency in the State House of Assembly, Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju.
Consequently, politicians loyal to the state Governor, Chief Bisi Akande,
and his deputy, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, engaged themselves in a violent clash
that disrupted economic activities for several hours. In a swift reaction,
Akande imposed a dusk to dawn curfew.
Olagbaju's death and the subsequent disorder was the second of such
incidents in recent days in Ile-Ife. Last Saturday, Attorney-General and
Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, was attacked by protesters who removed his
cap and smashed his glasses.
As at press time, the circumstances that led to the death of the legislator
were not clear as the police could not give any official account. The state
Police Commissioner, Mr Ganiyu Dawodu, was said to have gone to Ile-Ife for
an engagement.
However, the lawmaker was reported to have been attacked in front of his
residence in the Moore area of the town by hoodlums who fled the scene in a
bus after the deed.
Olagbaju's death triggered off reactions from various quarters in the state
and it took the quick intervention of the Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo
Univer-sity (OAU), Professor Roger Makanjuola, to calm down the students of
the institution who were mobilising to storm the town to protest the
assassination.
Also in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, tension mounted as many workers in
the secretariat had to vacate their offices in fear of violent reactions to
the event in Ile-Ife.
Meanwhile, the national Vice Chairman of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the
South-west, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, has described the development as unfortunate,
charging the police to expedite action in bringing the perpetrators to book.
Fasanmi recalled that the 1962 crises that led to the Nigerian Civil War
started the same way, adding "we cannot afford such an experience". He
appealed to all sides to be law-abiding. I know Olagbaju very well, he was a
very powerful debater.
Also, Osun State Chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji
Fatai Akinade Akinbade, said "the culprit must be fished out before this
state is turned to the state of anarchy, adding "it was a bad development."
Akinbade, who posited that "nobody should accuse the PDP of part of this,"
maintained that the state government needed to act fast now while "all the
Yoruba elders and well-meaning Nigerians must wade into the crises."
The feud between Akande and Omisore took a dramatic turn a couple of weeks
ago when the Assembly attempted to debate the issue, a development led to an
exchange of blows by the lawmakers.
Also, armed men invaded the Assembly the following week, vandalising
vehicles at the premises as well as the state secretariat of AD in addition
to the physical assault recorded last Saturday in Ile-Ife involving Ige.
+ + + +
This Day (Lagos)
December 21, 2001
John Iwori
Yenagoa
No fewer than 10 persons were yesterday feared dead in Okordia/Zarama/Biseni
Local Government in Bayelsa State in a renewed hostility between the people
of Okordia and Biseni clans.
Though the cause of the killing could not be immediately ascertained,
impeccable sources told THISDAY that it was not unconnected with the alleged
killing of a Biseni youth on December 1.
It was also gathered that in a bid to avenge the death of the Secondary
School II student, the people of Biseni clan who laid ambush for their
neigbours at their common boundary and reportedly attacked some persons from
Okordia who were returning from the farm.
"The victims, who were taken unaware, met their death before help could come
their way from their kinsmen," it was further gathered from eyewitnesses in
the troubled area.
In a swift reaction to the escalation of violence in the area, the Acting
Governor of Bayelsa State, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has ordered an immediate
deployment of two units of mobile policemen to maintain law and order even
as the state House of Assembly rose from its sitting on Thursday setting up
a five-man adhoc committee to investigate the incident and report back to
the Assembly within one week.
A statement by the Press Secretary to Jonathan, Mr Okpoitari Diongoli,
warned the two warring clans to maintain peace, noting that the state
government would not spare anyone who took the law into his hands.
According to the statement which was made available to THISDAY, the security
operatives have been given specific instruction to ensure that there was no
further breakdown of law and order in the council.
The decision of the House followed a motion moved by the chief whip of the
Assembly, Hon. Samuel Boy (Ogbia, Constituency II) who said that he was
worried by reports of attacks and counter-attacks by the two warring clans
in the council.
The adhoc committee is headed by the deputy speaker of the House. Hon.
Jephthah Foingha.
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
December 21, 2001
Several persons were reported injured during skirmishes that took place in
Koidu town, Kono District, between rival diamond miners. The clashes began
when an unidentified group of people gathered to protect mining activities
in the town.
The group that was involved in mining at the time responded by throwing
missiles, which resulted in injuries. UNAMSIL Peace keepers of the Pakistani
contingent swiftly intervened, deployed troops to the scene and created a
buffer zone between the 2 groups, bringing the situation under control.
The injured are receiving medical care from UNAMSIL Sector 5 personnel. The
incident is being investigated.
+ + + +
Standard Times (Freetown)
EDITORIAL
December 21, 2001
Reports monitored from the Eastern provincial district of Kono indicates
that certain elements of the Revolutionary United Front on Wednesday
December 19, attacked personnel of the recently deployed Sierra Leone Police
Force. According to impeccable sources one senior police officer was
seriously injured by the stone throwing rebels while some police vehicles
suffered extensive damage.
Our investigations revealed that the ugly incident was sparked off by the
police attempt to curb the indiscriminate mining in the district especially
Koidu Town, spear headed by the RUF. It is common knowledge that before the
presence of the SLPF, the rebels have been digging foundations and main
streets in search of diamonds. This practice had left the entire district in
utter ruins with the miners paying little or no concern about the possible
environmental disaster that follows such irresponsible behaviour.
This is what the police attempted to minimize when they appealed to the
rebels to desist from mining the streets. But the RUF, which have been
having a field day, believe that they are above the law and in their usual
intransigence and savagery started pelting the police with stones and other
missiles.
This disturbing news comes at a time when the United Nations peacekeepers in
this country and the war weary masses are beginning to breathe a sigh of
relief following the relative calm that has prevailed over the past several
months.
It is definitely not the kind of news peace loving citizens and UNAMSIL
would be expecting at a time like this. The suffering endured by our people
over the last decade of needless bloodshed cannot be exaggerated.
And the time, effort, commitment and resources invested by the international
community in securing the calm we now enjoy are too great to be wasted. We
need to commend and appreciate all those who have done so much to help us
out of a mess they did not create, and one way of doing so is to stop all
the callous and unruly attitudes that lead to social unrest.
This admonition is for us all but more especially the RUF rebels who have
become the epitome of lawlessness and strife in this once peaceful nation.
No nation can prosper in the absence of law and order. It is only when
people desist from foolish pride and arrogance and submit to the rule of law
can there be order and progress.
We have on several occasions reiterated that nobody is above the law, not
even the RUF. The primitive days in which might was right are over. Our
submission is that the rebels have been pampered enough to be able to see
reason now and quit their mischievous conduct but if they refuse to
understand then they must be helped to do so by any means necessary.
Let us hasten to say that this is not in any way suggesting that we revert
to full-scale war. Our concern is that if one group of citizens continuously
flout the law with impunity, it will attract others to crime.
But when stringent measures are enforced to discourage law breakers, crime
becomes less attractive, as a result, sustainable peace reigns.
+ + + +
New Vision (Kampala)
December 21, 2001
Fearing a repeat of the Kanungu Kibwetere murders, the Police yesterday
stormed two camps of the mysterious Ndawula cult and arrested 92 members
including their leader, John Musoke Ssemanda, reports Anne Mugisa and
Solomon Muyita.
The simultaneous dawn raids on the camps in Buwali village in Kakiri,
Wakiso, and Rubaga in Kampala near Tal Cottages, caught the believers
unawares.
The Police surrounded the camps, which the members call "Lubiri" (palace),
at 4:00am as most faithful slept. Forty-four women, 48 men, a six year-old
girl and a baby. Many of the believers appeared sickly and mad.
Central regional Police chief Chris Bakesiima said the cult has been under
investigation by the National Security Council.
Ssemanda is referred to by his followers as "mukongozzi" Jajja Ndawula who
claims to be possessed by the spirit of an 18th century Buganda king, Kabaka
Ndawula.
Police chief Maj. Gen. Katumba Wamala said the group, which claims to be a
cultural organisation, is not registered.
He said even the Buganda government had not cleared the group.
"There has been concern. Not long ago we had the Kanungu Kibwetere
incident," Katumba said.
Kibwetere's cult killed 800 members. Bakesiima said the Police have also
deployed at the camps.
He said there are also people chosen by the cult members to keep watch over
the property.
He said the cult has around 6,000 followers believed to be from different
tribes and others come from as far as Tanzania.
Earlier, Ndawula said at the Police that people are attracted to spiritual
powers. "Some people come when they are mad and I heal them," he said.
Godfrey Ssebakijje, one of the arrested, said, "Nobody forces us to go to
Ndawula. We go for spiritual healing."
Katumba said it was surprising that some ministers in the Mengo
establishment have been going to the cult though there was no indication
that Mengo authorised it.
He said unconfirmed reports said central government ministers have also been
visiting the cult. The Police said families were breaking up as wives and
young women claiming to be possessed by the spirits ran to the camps.
They said promiscuity in the camps could not be ruled out raising questions
of HIV/AIDS spread.
Katumba said the people who go to camps are told as a must to put sh1000 in
each of the 25 baskets laid out, per visit. He said the followers display
yellow and green flags, wear leopard skins and walk on ice during their
rituals claiming that the spirit Jajja Sebanakitta walks on ice and
everybody must do the same to be cleansed. Katumba said the group wants to
re-establish African traditional religion, plans to train an army and
promises every man three wives.
+ + + +
The Post (Lusaka)
EDITORIAL
December 20, 2001
IT is necessary for Zambians to be very clear about what they are expecting
from their new governors who will emerge from next week's elections.
In life it is necessary to be clear about things. Bearing in mind that one
cannot know politicians completely, their character, principles, sense of
judgment, not till they have shown their colours, ruling the people, making
laws - experience, there's the test! There's no parliamentary or
presidential candidate in these elections who is a messiah for this country.
They are all ordinary men and women.
And as Professor Michelo Hansungule has observed, these elections will not
put into government women and men who are truly committed to improving
Zambians' quality of life.
These elections will put into power men and women who are seeking public
office because of ambition, pleasure or ego. They are not joined in a single
purpose to fulfil their duty.
People shouldn't be cheated that these unscrupulous politicians who have
divided themselves into numerous petty political parties that bring no
guidance to the nation, spending their lives' business earnings or pensions
will deliver them from poverty, injustice and abuse.
Nothing that the poor people, the humble people of this country have
attained was given to them graciously. Anything they have attained was
achieved only after a gruelling struggle - and there's no alternative to
waging such a struggle.
They give their votes with generosity, but to them nobody ever gives
anything with generosity. What they don't do for themselves, nobody would
ever do for them. They are the majority but they don't govern - others
govern in their stead and govern against them.
And what can one expect from these elections - filled with trickery, fraud,
demagogy, dirty politics - which have been prostituted in all sorts of ways
to falsify the will and the interests of the people and used to put into
office the most inept and shrewd, rather than the most competent and the
most honest? In a truly democratic process, virtue opens a way for itself,
merit prospers, and conniving, greed, and cheating fail.
However, this is not to say we are opposed to multi-party elections. In our
view, the single party state, except at rare moments in history, is a recipe
for tyranny. What we have learnt from the African experience is that the
concept of the party as a vanguard which has the right to rule by virtue of
calling itself something and which is entrenched in the constitution as a
godfather of this society, is a disaster. But multipartism to be of value to
our people, it must promote honest politics and unity in the nation - it
must promote the unity of all our forces.
Otherwise multipartism will only be a mechanism that serves as a tool; a
system that includes not only the political but also the economic and social
ideas of imperialism.
The abuse or exploitation - political or otherwise - of one human by another
must disappear before you can have real democracy. And as long as there is
enormous inequality among human beings, there isn't - there can't be - any
real democracy to talk about. We can see that money is a decisive factor in
the kind of electoral propaganda going on. In our country today, those who
don't have resources can't set themselves any political goals, because they
are excluded and eliminated. Millions or billions of kwacha have been spent
on advertising. What kind of democracy is this, in which they use the same
methods in seeking votes as in trying to get consumers to drink Coca-Cola,
to smoke a certain brand of cigarettes, to use a certain kind of perfume or
to use any other product? That's how our campaigns are run.
+ + + +
wakey wakey, Africa!
+ + + +
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has described as
propaganda a recent announcement by Rwanda that it has pulled out half its
troops from the country.
A government statement said the false declarations by the Rwandan President,
Paul Kagame, were aimed at delaying the effective pullout of Rwandan forces
from Congo.
President Kagame told a press conference on Wednesday that Rwandan troops in
the DRC - which it says were only sent to attack Rwandan rebels who have
taken sanctuary there - had been halved to about 10,000 men.
Earlier this month, the United Nations envoy in Kinshasa, Amos Namananga
Ngogi, accused Rwanda of increasing its military presence in the eastern
part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
+ + + +
The government of the Central African Republic says it is reinforcing its
border with Chad following an increase in tension over the past few days.
Earlier, CAR officials accused Chadian troops of crossing the border and
occupying part of its territory.
Military sources in Chad confirmed that their forces did cross the border
briefly.
They said the aim was to push back Central African forces they thought had
come too close, but had now withdrawn; there was no fighting.
A BBC West Africa analyst says the tension appears to have been caused by
supporters of the sacked Central Africa Republic army chief of staff,
General Francois Bozize, who fled to Chad.
Many of his supporters are still operating in the border area, raising fears
among neighbouring countries of a wider conflict.
+ + + +
The Exxon oil company in Indonesia says gunmen have killed one of its
contract workers - and wounded a number of others.
The workers were travelling to a gas field in the troubled northern province
of Aceh.
An Exxon spokeswoman Julia Tumengkol said a convoy transporting them was
fired on near the south Lhoksukon pipeline.
The Indonesian military have blamed separatists rebels of the Free Aceh
movement.
Exxon temporarily closed its operations in Aceh earlier this year, following
a series of rebel attacks, which included arson and kidnapping.
+ + + +
The United States and Kazakhstan have signed an energy agreement aimed at
boosting oil exports from the former Soviet republic to the West.
The new deal was reached after talks in Washington between President George
W Bush and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Correspondents say that the agreement will prompt the construction of a
pipeline linking Kazakh oil fields to western markets via Turkey.
The project had been supported by the United States for a long time but
opposed by Russia.
+ + + +
Anti-terrorist officers are expected to take several more days to complete
their search of a cargo ship suspected of carrying terrorist material.
Scotland Yard confirmed that no illegal substances had so far been found on
the vessel, MV Nisha, despite a detailed two-day search.
The ship, which was carrying thousands of tons of raw sugar, was intercepted
by the Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Sutherland in international waters on
Friday morning.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the ship will be moved to a military base in
Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon.
It is currently moored half a mile off the coast at Sandown Bay in the Isle
of Wight.
Police said the probe was a "major security operation" and security sources
said they were acting on intelligence that the vessel was carrying
"terrorist material" - but there was no suggestion anthrax was involved.
HMS Sutherland, which had remained alongside MV Nisha throughout the night
on Friday, left the area on Saturday.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The crew continues to be fully co-operative
with police and they currently remain on board.
"It is not possible to say at this stage when the crew will be allowed to
leave the ship.
"We do not believe the overall level of threat to London or the UK as a
whole has increased beyond the heightened levels since the events of 11
September."
Andrew Linington, of the National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping
Transport Officers, warned that it was "frighteningly easy" for ships to be
used to transport terrorist material.
Intelligence services were monitoring at least 20 suspect ships, he said on
BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The Nisha, which is owned by the Bombay-based Great Eastern Shipping
Company, was intercepted at 0800GMT on Friday in international waters off
the Sussex coast, about 30 miles south of Beachy Head.
Dramatic footage of the interception showed HMS Sutherland trailing the ship
by a few hundred yards.
Four rigid-inflatable boats then went after the merchant vessel, zipping
across the waves until they pulled level on the starboard side.
The Nisha had been heading for the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery in Silvertown,
east London. It was due to arrive at 0400GMT on Saturday.
The Scotland Yard spokesman stressed there was no danger to people living in
the area.
While the owners of the ship are reputable, on its voyage to the UK it
stopped in Djibouti, next to Somalia, which has been linked with Osama Bin
Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
The chairman of the British Arm of the Great Eastern Shipping Company,
Sudhir Muliji, said the stopover in Djibouti had been made before the
current journey and was to drop off American grain as part of a food aid
shipment.
He said the ship then went on to Mauritius to pick up the sugar and
transport it to Britain on what was a "pretty standard voyage".
"Obviously there must have been some information that went to Scotland Yard
and they decided to make double sure that there was nothing bad on board,
which I think we must be very grateful for."
During a news conference on Friday, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the
interception demonstrated the "top-level vigilance" of the security services
over the coming weeks.
He said: "Even if the risk is only a potential risk, we will not hesitate to
take any action that we think necessary in order to investigate any
potential threat."
+ + + +
meanwhile, maybe in the chaos, three container ships
loaded with cocaine, weed and Yardie man weapons
passed thru unopposed ....... who knows?
+ + + +
The Russian warplane manufacturer, MIG, has reported a big increase in
business over the past year.
The company's general director, Nikolai Niktin, told the Tass news agency
that MIG was now working on military contracts worth more than $900m.
He said there had been two years of intensive marketing, with the main focus
on selling MIG-29 jet fighters.
This had now paid off and the number of countries that were clients for the
plane had doubled from six to 12.
+ + + +
BREAKING NEWS: BIG EXPLOSION IN MAZAR-E-SHARIF, 100s OF NORTHERN ALLIANCE
MILITIA DEAD
There has been a big explosion in Mazar-e-Sharif, which has reportedly
killed hundreds of General Dostum’s Northern Alliance militia. The exact
number of dead has not been confirmed yet, but according to reliable sources
they number in their hundreds with countless more injured. It is being
assumed that this incredible operation was carried out by Taliban special
forces. This fearsome attack on General Dostum's stronghold, which has been
the center of US terrorist activities, clearly marks the capability of the
Taliban forces. This attack also verifies the utter falsity of the claims by
the disbelievers who are continually stating that the Taliban have been
defeated and that they are being routed. Rather, the reality of the
situation is that the US led coalition are being hunted down by the Taliban.
NORTHERN ALLIANCE FORCES BUTCHER US AND UK SPECIAL FORCES IN KABUL
According to the latest reports, Northern Alliance forces have revolted
against their American masters in Kabul. Reports state that the streets of
Kabul have been littered with many US and UK special forces and personnel.
Kabul is currently controlled by the Northern Alliance faction led by
General Fahim, which is being backed by Russia. They had gained control of
Kabul after the Talibans' peaceful withdrawal from the city. This revolt
comes in the face of the oath taking ceremony of the American administered
puppet government, which was bound to take place on the 22nd of December.
Northern Alliance militia had been commanded by the puppet Prime Minister
and American agent, Hamid Kirzai, to leave Kabul. This was a key part of the
American plan to get the influence and power of the Northern Alliance out of
Kabul and to install a CIA administered puppet government by the 22nd of
December, backed by the so called international ‘peackeeping’ forces. In an
unexpected and sweeping move, the Northern Alliance turned on its masters
and savagely butchered a large number American and British forces present in
the city. The exact number of US and UK casualties is yet to be confirmed.
TALIBAN REGAIN CONTROL FROM SPIN-BOLDAK TO TAKHTAPUL - GUL AGHA'S
MERCENARIES ON THE RUN
It has been confirmed that Taliban forces have recaptured Takhtapul. They
initiated their attack on the 19th of December and consequently regained
complete control from Takhtapul to the border town of Spin-Boldak. Most of
the American agent Gul Agha's ragtag army has been routed from the area and
a large number have deserted. Gul Agha's forces mainly comprise of drug
addicts and paedophiles. These people are so unpredictable that Gul Agha
remains under the security of 50 US commandos all the time.
In an interview with the BBC Radio Service this week, Taliban official
Mullah Abdur-Razzaq said that the Taliban forces are capable of regaining
control of Afghanistan at their own accord and would only require 15 days at
the most to do this. Every day that passes, Taliban forces are getting more
organized and strong as their detachments are making way back to the south
from the northern areas. (Kunduz, Mazar-e-Sharif, Takhar etc.)
100s of US SOLDIERS CONFIRMED DEAD AT JACOBABAD AIRBASE.
There will be no Christmas cheering for the 100s of famlies of US
servicemen, whose mutilated charred bodies remain littered around Jacobabad’
s airbase, accompanied with the most horrid stench. Reports have come in
that the Americans have been supplied with truck loads of wooden planks to
make coffins for their dead in Jacobabad. It must be pointed out that the
American Government is not just lying to the whole world but also to its own
people, whose sons have been butchered in the deserts and mountains of
Afghanistan by the Mujahideen. The worst part is that these poor families in
particular and the American public in general have been kept in total
darkness about American casualties throughout this war. So many more
American lives will be lost in vain for Bush's terrorist campaign. So many
American mothers will be left without their beloved sons for a war that is
being fought for and bankrolled by the Zionist Jews. American families will
suffer in the end and a defeated Bush Jr. will simply go back to his
business, with his own family alive and well.
DESPITE SOPHISTICATED EQUIPMENT, US MILITARY INTELLIGENCE FAILS TO LOCATE
USAMA BIN LADIN
KANDAHAR (Internet News): American Intelligence has failed to find Usama bin
Ladin and have not succeeded in obtaining even a clue about his whereabouts
after interrogating imprisoned Arab Mujahideen. At the completion of search
operations for Usama bin Ladin and his companions in the Tora Bora
mountains, the defence minister of the puppet government, Muhammad Faheem,
stated that Usama Bin Ladin along with some of his companion had apparently
left Afghanistan. The American Intelligence agencies have said that the
arrested Al-Qaida members have told them nothing about Usama Bin Ladin or
Ameer-ul-Mumineen. As a result of this it is thought that Usama Bin Ladin
was not present in this region in the first place.Analysts say that US
bombing together with their use of the latest sattelite based tracknig
equipment have all failed in trying to find Usama Bin Ladin.
ARRESTED MUJAHIDEEN KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHEREABOUTS OF AMEER-UL-MUMINEEN OR
USAMA BIN LADIN
KANDAHAR (Islam News/Radio Report): The Northern Alliance have handed over
two important Taliban leaders to America. According to details the vice
minister of defence for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Mulla Fazal, who
had been arrested one month ago by General Dostum, broke an agreement with
Mulla Fazal and arrested him along with thousands of his men. They were then
handed over to US forces, whilst vice president of Taliban intelligence,
Mulla Abdul Haq Waseeq, has handed to over to US forces by General Faheem.
Mullah Abdul Haq Waseeq was betrayed by local commanders who handed him over
to General Faheem, for the millions of US dollars promised to them by US
forces. The US authorities have confirmed that Mulla Fazal and Mulla Waseeq
have been shifted to the new American prison in Kandahar along with 15
Taliban and Al- Qaida members. This prison has been built at Kandahar
airport. According to American authorities an eight member FBI team has
reached Kandahar where they will interrogate these members about
Ameer-ul-Mumineen and Usama Bin Ladin.
A very close companion to Ameer-ul-Mumineen informed Daily Islam’s
correspondent by satellite phone from an undisclosed location that the US
investigating team will not be successful in this interrogation with these
members. He further added that Mulla Fazal had been in North Afghanistan for
more than a month and he was unaware of Usama Bin Ladin and Ameer-ul-
Mumineen’s whereabouts. As far as Mulla Waseeq is concerned, then he was pri
marily attached to the Department of Intelligence in Kabul and was never
involved in planning activities or movements of Ameer-ul-Muminee. He added
that Mulla Umar is safe and Insha-Allaah the Americans will never find or
capture him. He added that even Mulla Umar’s close companions do not know
where he is, so what help will Mulla Waseeq be?
WESTERN JOURNALISTS FAIL TO GET STATEMENTS FROM RESIDENTS OF KANDAHAR OF
THEIR OWN WILL
KANDAHAR (Islam News): Nowadays more than 70 journalists are seen roaming
the streets of Kandahar and they are interested in reporting anti- Taliban
comments from the people, young and old. According to one of the
journalists, most of the number of old people who have been questioned about
the period of Taliban rule, have termed it as being the most peaceful time
where their wealth and lives were protected and safe. Furthermore, the
people seeminly denied the fact that Hamid Karzai could implement peace and
justice in their land. After hearing all this, the journalists got into
their cars and left disappointed. Hence, anything broadcasted on the
international media always show anti-Taliban rhetoric and we advise the
Muslims to boycott all of these media outlets, for witholding the truth and
propogating falsehood is a major weapon always used to demoralise the
Muslims.
Will then the Muslims take heed of this?
http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews about the Jihad in
Afghanistan
+ + + +
no-one posting these days?
;)
DiMethylTryptamine
"Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK" <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote
> + + + +
> BuaNews (Pretoria)
> December 21, 2001
> Thabo Mokgola
> Pretoria
>
> Even though they won't enjoy Christmas in the comfort of their homes with
> their families, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members
> deployed in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will
> definitely welcome the special treat coming their way.
>
> They will be presented with Christmas gifts collectively worth R31 500 on
27
> December.
>
> The SANDF contributed R27 500 towards the cost of the 900 gifts and Spar
> Supermarket sponsored the balance.
>
> The gifts consist of two packs of biscuits, potato fries, fruit cocktail,
> two packs of sweets, biltong, a sports drink and two packs of peanuts.
>
> Speaking in Thaba Tshwane near Pretoria today, SANDF Chief Siphiwe Nyanda
> said the aim of sending the gifts was to illustrate that 'the top
structure'
> cared for them.
>
> No mention was made of whether the delivery would include
> the infamous "FireAnt ThaiMex Rat Pack"(tm) produced by
> SwarveGorilla(c), Inc of Australia
>
region, Burundi and Rwanda, have this weird white condiment that they like
to refer to as chilli sauce. Under no circumstances eat this. It is made
from radioactive elements undiscovered by man and reported to have been seen
fallen from the sky in a great ball of flaming gas millions of years ago...
I shat superheated liquid through the eye of a needle for days after
sampling a small bit of this on my "unidentified meat source"
cheeseburger...
D*
Wondering if I was a test subject for the rwandese biochem warfare
project...
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote in
> reality is sometimes stranger than fiction though, no?
>
> ;)
>
> reality also sometimes runs according to Hollywood formula,
> re: the latest warflick we've all been watching on CNN or Al-Jazeera
true. Damn that was some great live TV though...... i mean old JFK getting
shot was pretty good but jeez!
>
> ;)
>
> Riz
> ---
> Ewwww! New apartment
> and a (old)new chick....
> Shhh, nobody mention
> "old flame" around Swarve!
> It could mean the end to
> the kitchen!
:-)
Insurance hasn't contacted me.
Mmmmmmm........ guilt free carnage.
heh heh
> Awwww, and we were just
> so getting used to you telling
> us about the funny stuff you'd
> do to Justin!
>
> Max Respec', m8!
>
>
>
> "Swarvegorilla" wrote
>
> Nice but definitely ficton, surely. I don't not believe it could happen
just
> that it seems almost to run to a formula......
> Maybe too much beer.....
>
If any of you knew just how well i did the other night you'd understand that
the whole 'old flame' comment is a bit freaky.
Managed to hook up with perhaps a genetically perfected woman who, get this,
is actually quite sane. I mean the odds are astronomical, I feel like
writing into Playboy 'I never thought it would happen to me.........' Now
add in a bit of stand down and place yourself in a town full of beautiful
international women and even sexier beaches. Bring the beer chilled though
as it is hot. The old morning hangover can get nasty in this weather. Spent
today digging but, a garden and playing with some barbed wire to fix a
fence. Another day, another life.
As for Justin that bad baby boy is back in Tassie. The actual big island is
free of him......... of course now the bills start coming in.
Damn I'm looking forward to new years. Terrorists attempting to violate my
good night had better have a fucking good cause.......
As for everyone out there unlucky enough to be on duty or otherwise employed
during this period all I can say is it'll be even better next year. That and
the $$$$ is always handy.
Swarvegorilla browning nicely
>
Swarvegorilla
BTW can you get abola from bushmeat?
thats fucking freaky as hell.......
I mean I haven't actually eaten a monkey so I can't knock it. But when you
eat something that looks a bit human and it makes you bleed through your
skin, well. Thats saying something right there.
I mean imagine the crazy diseases you could get from eating people.
I think primates are off the menu for me. Although it would be hard to knock
back a sample.
Swarvegorilla
DiMethylTryptamine
I remember reading a book a while back that perpetuated a fringe theory that
ebola was caused by bushmeat.
I reckon it's highly plausible.
"Swarvegorilla" <endh...@locall.aunz.net> wrote in message
news:8xcV7.26$3x5....@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net...
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
;)
LIVE ACCOUNT OF CHILD SOLDIER EXPERIENCE WITH THE REBELS.
My name is Ernest Foday Mannah, and a student of the Services Secondary
School. I am now 16 years old and this is my true story.
I was born in Kailahun in the Eastern provincial town of Sierra Leone which
was the cradle of the rebel war in Sierra Leone. The rebels had first made
their base and stronghold in the outskirts of this kailahun District called
Koindu, that borders Sierra Leone and Liberia.
In 1991, when the rebels first attacked kailahun, that was at the same time
the war began, my friends and I were captured by the rebels. I was just 8
years old then. There were awful signs that they will attack our township.
They eventually came at a time we did not epect, and I was captured at a
playing field together with my playmates and friends. There was no moment o
see my family and grand mother.
Just as we were caught by the rebels, they instantly seperated us so that we
were given to different commandos, as the rebel leaders were called. I was
assigned to the command of a fierce rebel leader called 'Black Jesus'. His
was a Bukini by nationality, which means that he and others were hired as
mercenaries. My friends were destined to be sent to another village far off
from where I was held captive.
days later I heard that two of my captured friends have already died. I did
not stop to think what means they faced their death. I wept seriously, and I
could not put back the tears that streamed from my eyes. I felt instantly
that I shall be the next to die. The 'commando' had to give me words of
encouragement and I later partially calmed down. A week after, the commando
decided to send me on a mission as spy. My risky role was to spy at the
position of the Government Soldiers about three miles off the rebel's base.
I had no power to reject this command and had to abide and went on this
deadly mission. I was told that if I do not return, I my entire family,
which the rebels and their commando claimed to know all too well, will be
killed. I dearly loved my grandma, and sisters and had no intention to loose
them for my own safety.
On aarriving at the Government base, I was accosted by at the Government
Military Garrison by a soldier who manned a check point. I was halted and by
this army personel who interrogated me vigorously about my whereabouts and
where I was heading to. I began to cry even though the officer pretended
not to mean any harm. I had to lie that I was a pupil and just roaming to
find some food for my family trapped beind rebel lines, hiding in the bush.
I told the military man that we have gone for more than a week without food,
and my youngest sister will hardly endure, let alone my grandma. He
immediately felt pity for me and gave me some of his rations of food that
he hoped will help to sustain me.
When I felt composed to speak further, I told him that they must try very
hard to get rid of the rebels as the people are really suffering in the
bush, having abandoned their homes. He told me in confidence that their was
no need for me to worry as they have a determination to carry out an
operation to flush out the rebels within a week. I had to later tell him
that I ought to leave and see my family. He gave me an additional two
packages of food from their rations to sustain us for some time. I had
courage to inquire about his name before I left. He said when ever I wanted
to see him, I must just ask his colleagues for a man called 'Scorpion'.
I left my friend and returned to the rebels base. On arrival, the rebels
told me I did not carry out their assignment of spying for them. That I must
say the fact or else they will killed me. They further threatened that one
of my family members have already been killed. I showed the rebels the food
which was given to me as a sign that I actually made it to the opposing camp
of the government troops. I even told them that after speaking with a
military officer, he confided to me that they will launch an attack within a
week. On hearing this crucial news, the rebel commandos immediately summoned
a meeting in which I was forced to witness. It was in that meeting that I
was made a Special Task Force Commander heading the spying force comprising
mainly children. The rebel Field Commander incharge of the entire rebel-held
Koindu base was instantly summoned.
This rebel Field Commander, a woman, was asked to come prepared, meaning to
come along with lots of ammunitions. The ammunitions arrived but we did not
see her. The ammunitons were sent together with about hundred fighting
rebels who were not part of the Kailahun rebels, so as to reinforce their
ranks. When I saw these ammunition, my mind strucked me in different angles.
Firstly, I thought of my friends who had been killed, then myself, my life,
my friend the soldier who gave me food, and last though not least, my
family. I thus planned for the worse. I must escape!
At about 2:00 Pm, I attempted escaping but it was a wrong judgement. I was
captured, given severe beating with hands tied behind my back. Then they
took me to 'the blasphemous 'Black Jesus' who further gave me severe
trashing. I was beaten to a point of weakness that I thought I will finally
die. I was further tied to a branch of an ant-infested tree, with head down
and feet upwards. I stayed for about two hours in that painful up-side-down
posture. Then the woman whom everyone was waiting for arrived in Kailahun!
She inquired who brought the information about the planned military attack.
'Black Jesus' pointed at the tree where I was hung and had to tell her that
I planned to escape in the afternoon. The woman approached me where I was
being purnished and had to command Black Jesus to released me. I was untied
and dropped down like a fruit from it's branch. My head was whirling but
noticed that the woman's private part was adorned with animal skin that had
a dere's horn tied to it. At his back, she had a similar animal skin, an
egg to cover her buttocks. She spoke with me briefly, and I explained as I
did to the rebels. She asked 'Black Jesus' permission that I must stay with
her. She led me to a place where I underwent some treatment. I was left to
spend the rest of the night at her place.
In the mornng hours, five rebel body guards were ask to be by my side,
watching me closely. They were all children, well armed to the teeth. As
special task force training was underway, the guards and I roamed and
patrolled in the sorrounding area to detect any possible movement of
enemies.
On the third day within that week, noticing the serious training that the
rebels undertook, I made up my mind to make another escape. Indeed, I sensed
how deadly it will be. Even with the body guards, I ask black Jesus'
permission for three body guards to accompany me to a small village to know
what the junior men I have asssigned to the region along Guinea border were
doing their work. It was in that area that my grandma, brothers and sisters
have escaped to and gone hiding.
I was given the go ahead. On reaching the place, I spoke secretly with my
grandma to leave the place immediately, as their were bad plans of rebel
attacks. I secretly gave her some money to use whilst escaping.
I asked the children who were my body guaards that we must see some other
men in the next village. It was unknowing to them that I was planning to
escape with them all. Two miles away from the rebel zones, I ordered them to
handover their weapons to me. One of the children asked me why and was
defiant. I told him that we are close to the government soldiers and it is
not advisable to hold weapons. One of the boys instantly decided to put me
under gun-point. This particular boy was not a native of Kailahun, whilst
the other two boys and I were from the same town. These two boys decided to
inturn put this offensive child under gun point. I have to walk towards him
and said that 'you are a little boy and you need to go to school, your
parents have all been killed, and your future will be awful if you continue
to hold these gun'. The defiant child and the two others handed me their
guns and I threw them in the bush. I kept a small pistol hidden in my
pocket , for I had in mind that one of them will be tempted to escape back
to the rebels and lick out our secret of escape. In an attempt, I will break
the feet of any one who dares to escape.
We reached at the government soldier's base, and at the post of the soldier
who gave me his food ration. We were instantly held because the boys were so
much in panic. We were beaten serious and called spies, and that we must
speak out. I requested for Scorpion the soldier who gave me the food. I
stressed that even if I was beaten to death, I will say nothing until
Scorpion was around. I had of course already informed the boys before our
arrival that they must keep mute and say nothing. The captain (P.L. Foday),
requested the presence of 'Scorpion', to know why I have stressed about his
presence. At last Scorpion came, from a mile and half away from the other
post. When I saw Scorpion, I sighed with hopes that he will not stand by and
allowed his colleagues to kill us. The boss (P.L. Foday), then asked me to
say what I planned to say in the presence of Scorpion. I explained now that
the rebels had captured us but we escaped, and that they had plans to attack
the Government soldiers two days before their own week's plan of engaging
them. I spoke of the terrific weapons in the possession of the rebels, like
machine guns and RPG, grenaded launcher, etc. I mapped out the route they
planned to take. This convinced the leader of the batallion to release us
and made preparations immediately. He called for military and man power
reinforcement at once. We asked them to join us in the combat against the
rebels and they accepted. We were given a day's hectic training to know how
to dismantle a weapon, fix it up, aim and shoot neatly. Our measurements
were taken in preparation for military fatigues to be given us. The uniforms
and boots were brought immediately, and the four of us dressed up to join
the battle for liberation of our land. We requested for four 'magazine' and
were given sub machine guns, {SMG}, as our personal rifle. The captain asked
all of us to be assembled and went on to address mostly his government
military men. He turned to us with a special warning that if we decide to
play any trick with them, we will certainly die. That was on the forth day
of the week, in which we were ask to be on stand-by. At eight p.m, we were
bound to leave for the battle at hand, with 80 men. Their were 100 military
men who will follow the 80 men with whom we were assigned. The 100 men
will have to stop at the place where we should lay the ambush. Three of us
children were with the group of 80 soldiers, whilst one of us the boy who
placed me under gun point was assigned with the group of 100 soldiers.
We reached the point where we should make the ambush at about 9 p.m, and
layed the ambush of a full moon. At about 10 p.m the rebels appeared and
fell within the range of our full moon ambush. We didn't make a single
sound, or any noise so far. We overheard them making confusion amongst
themselves, indecisive as to whom should lead the different patrol groups
comprising some 40 rebels per group. At 2 a.m, in the morning we decided to
lanch our attack, firstly by sending a glowing tracer splashing light in the
air. This made us to see the rebel's position clearly and so began to launch
heavy weapons n their directions, namely; RPG and greenade launcher. In a 3
hours battle, we overpowered them , leaving so many dead whilst a hand full
of their remnant forces fled for cover, cursing and swearing as they ran for
their lives. At 5 a.m we went with Government troop and moved towards
Kailahun with 150 strong soldiers. At about 6 a.m, we again laid a half
moon ambush, half a mile off the point where the first battle took place.
The remaining number of government soldiers were asked to retreat half a
mile to the base in a bid to protect it from any by-passing rebel troops.
The rebels approached us with a strong force having gone to reinforce after
their first defeat. We patiently allowed the rebels to enter well within the
half-moon ambush before we began launching our heavy artillaries. 50 men
chased them, whilst the remainder 100 men went towards their main base,
cutting them off completely. It was during this time that one of the
children who had escaped with me from the rebels, had to face his death. He
was fired in the heat of the battle. I had to cry for the death of this boy,
and what came to mind was that if I don't fight hard, I shall be the next
victim. About half an hour later the government forces succeeded in pushing
the rebels towords Kailahun. 15 big rebels were then captured together with
3 child rebels, not mentioning all the rebels who died in battle. On our
side, we lost six soldiers including the boy, amounting to 7. A fitting and
respectable burial was given to these dead soldiers including the little
boy. 21 gunshots were fired in the air as a sign of respect for these dead
warriors.
The following morning, we retreated back to our base, Because we had already
ran out of ammunitions. The government soldiers were now in total control.
In this state of victory, I was bestowed a title 'Las Corporal', Captain P.L
Foday, in a special ceremony of military parades and marshal.
This is a kind appeal to super powers of the world to stop rebel movements
in Africa, and bring to justice all the rebel leaders who have contributed
to so much blood shed in this continient....
(I shall continue in the next issue to narrate how I became known amongst
several batallions in different parts of the country, because of my skillful
role played as a child-soldier). I shall also recount my feelings for living
amongst rebels in details having no access to family and friends, treated
like a beast.)
By: Ernest Foday Mannah
Services Secondary School, Juba Barracks, Freetown.
http://www.childsoldier.net/writing.html
;)
"Swarvegorilla" wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
a family of 11 people eating bushmeat. Didn't
say which type of meat it was though, and they
hunt a lot in that thar bush ;)
And, re Dimeth's comments, I heard that AIDS
was a mix of monkey and human blood!
;)
Max respec'!
"Swarvegorilla" wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
+ + + +
Martin Bright, Paul Harrisand and Nick Paton Walsh
Sunday December 23, 2001
The Observer
British and American intelligence services are hunting the world for at
least 20 ships thought to make up a terrorist fleet linked to Osama bin
Laden's al-Qaeda group, The Observer can reveal.
Security and shipping sources said British, US and European intelligence
services have been desperately searching for bin Laden's 'phantom fleet'
amid fears the vessels could be carrying poisons, explosives or weapons.
The ships were identified at least three months ago as a result of a joint
intelligence operation thought to be led by the Norwegian security service
and America's CIA with the help of international shipping registries.
The search has been hampered by the controversial 'flags of convenience'
system, under which many ships are registered as Panamanian, Liberian or
Cypriot to avoid stringent checks on their crews and cargoes.
News of the hunt broke as British anti-terrorist officers continue to search
the London-bound MV Nisha, seized off the south coast of England on Friday
in a dramatic raid by Royal Navy units, including the Special Boat Service
(SBS). The ship, which lay off Sandown Bay in the Isle of Wight last night,
was flying the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines, in the West Indies.
The tiny Caribbean nation has a population of just 111,000, but 1,336
vessels fly its flag.
The boat was initially thought to be the first of the 20 ships to be
boarded. No explosives or ammunition had been found by last night. The
vessel was carrying raw sugar to a Tate and Lyle refinery on the Thames when
an intelligence tip-off warned British authorities that it could be carrying
'terrorist material'.
Whitehall sources moved to play down links between the Nisha and the
worldwide search for the other ships, saying the boarding was a 'belt-and
braces job' at a time of high alert.
The dawn raid on the ship by the SBS and the Metropolitan Police Special
Branch came after the tip off from a foreign intelligence service that a
ship like the Nisha, carrying explosives, was due to dock in London.
Shipping experts have expressed fears about the vulnerability of targets in
the City of London to attack from the river. The Nisha would have passed
Canary Wharf, the capital's highest building.
Shipping unions last night said the system of controls for the international
merchant shipping fleet was ripe for abuse by terrorists.
'We warned about this right after the 11 September attacks. There is a
complete lack of regulation in the industry. Perhaps now people will start
to listen to us,' said David Cockcroft, general secretary of the
International Transport Workers Federation.
Andrew Linington of the British National Union of Marine Aviation and
Shipping Transport Officers called on the Government to tighten the UK port
regulations.
On almost every level, the system is open to abuse,' he said. US ports now
demanded 96 hours notice before any ship docks and a full list of crew in
advance. Britain should do the same, he said.
+ + + +
Paul Harris and Martin Bright
Sunday December 23, 2001
The Observer
A huge ship, packed with explosives or carrying a cargo such as oil or gas,
docks in the centre of a large city. It has been hijacked by terrorists and
explodes. Thousands of civilians are killed.
It sounds like sick fantasy - but so did bringing down the World Trade
Centre. Now, after the raid on the MV Nisha and news of the hunt for at
least 20 boats linked to Osama bin Laden, it is a prospect being taken
seriously.
'It could make a terrible mess of a city and would be relatively easy to
do,' said David Cockcroft, general secretary of the International Transport
Workers Federation. 'It is perfectly possible and there are clearly people
who want to do it.'
Targets would be cities where large residential areas are sited near to
docks, ideally docks that carry gas or oil. Cities that fit the bill could
include Boston, which has a large liquid natural gas trade, San Francisco
and Sydney, Cockcroft said. Despite the bridges across the Thames, London
would also be vulnerable as large ships could easily penetrate as far as
Canary Wharf - which has been the target of IRA terrorist attacks. Terrorism
experts believe the ships could even be fitted with primitive radioactive
'dirty bombs' or hijackers could take over boats carrying nuclear or
chemical waste.
Spies across the world are hunting the world's oceans for the flotilla of
terror ships, dubbed 'bin Laden's phantom fleet', that are suspected to have
been chartered or bought by people linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
They have been looking for them since the end of September, working closely
with international maritime organisations and scouring log books and cargo
registers to try to trace their movements. The ships' names are known, but
have not yet been disclosed out of a fear of forcing them into hiding.
The existence of the ships is a new chink in the armour of security
precautions thrown up in the wake of the 11 September attacks. In America
strict regulations governing ship movements near ports have been rushed into
place. Ships must now give at least 96 hours' notice before docking and the
identity of every single member of crew must be passed on to the security
authorities.
However, that such a threat is now posed to the world's ports has not come
as a surprise to campaigners for reforms in the way the international
shipping industry regulates itself. It is a murky world of corruption,
bribes, law lessness and flags of convenience. It is an industry ripe for
penetration by hardened terrorist cells bent on finding new ways of wreaking
havoc. Central to the problem are the states that shipping firms use as
flags of convenience. 'A lot of the industry itself is based on quite a lot
of corruption and deceit that fosters anonymity and allows unscrupulous
operators,' said Andrew Linnington of the National Union of Marine Aviation
and Shipping Transport Officers.
The world's largest fleets belong to the Bahamas, Panama and Liberia.
Liberia alone maintains a fleet of 1,557, despite the fact that it is a
country devastated by civil war with a barely functioning infrastructure.
But, of course, the ships are registered on paper only. That allows them to
avoid taxes and other costs and lines the pockets of corrupt port officials.
Tiny island nations, such as the Marshall Islands and St Vincent & the
Grenadines, also maintain huge registries, having fleets much bigger than
Britain or the United States.
Industry sources also point to the practice of 'flag-hopping', whereby ships
will be taken off the registry of one country at the first signs of a
crackdown by authorities and re-registered under a different flag with no
threat.
Some countries' regulations are shockingly loose. In the case of Cambodia,
ship owners can even register their vessels online, meaning there is an
absolute minimum of regulation. It ensures that vetting of cargos and crews
is kept to a minimum. Shipping sources say that most boat owners often have
little idea who is manning their vessels. On many badly-run boats, crews are
brought in from developing countries and paid low wages and housed in poor
conditions. It would not be hard to infiltrate them.
Fake papers for boats and crew members can also be bought and sold easily.
Several investigations by industry bodies have proved that licences for even
senior crew members can be quickly obtained with no security vetting.
Cockcroft said that he bought a senior mate's licence from Panama for just
$4,000 and two passport photos. 'I am not qualified for that, but it was
easy,' he said.
Piracy is also endemic and on the rise. That raises the real possibility
that al-Qaeda cells would not have to infiltrate a crew, but could simply
hijack the boat, take it over and steer it to their target. It would be a
grim water-borne mirror image of the hijacked planes crashing into New York
and the Pentagon.
The International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre has logged 253
attacks on ships in the first nine months of this year. So dangerous is the
Strait of Malacca, between Indonesia and Malaysia, that many companies now
refuse to send vessels there unarmed or without an escort.
If hijackers took over a small private yacht it would be unlikely to come to
the attention of the authorities. It, too, could be turned into a floating
bomb and piloted down rivers or through docks and into large Western cities.
Despite US naval patrols stopping traffic in the Mediterranean and Arabian
waters, such craft could easily evade capture. They are already widely used
by international drug-smuggling rings and other criminal organisations.
+ + + +
"Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK" wrote
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
isn't sugar one of the prime ingredients
in those 'home made' bomb flava's which
the Brothers and Sisters (of both sides of
the Community) like to use in Northern Ireland?
A tanker packed with raw sugar explodes
at a refinery in East London. With the right
wind, the sky over London would go black
and blot out the Sun (not that there's any
here this time o'year).
Clearly the intended target was to laugh out loud
at the infamous British Tea Sippers Assoc,
(Motto: "Tea, Milky, Sugars Two")
LOL!
I'm Isle of Dogs born n' bred, which is not far
from Silvertown as the crow flies, I grew up
playing 'war' in old "vintage of '41" ack ack
gun emplacements and pill boxes. Happy days
There was a Tate&Lyle sugar refinery opposite
my house and it caught fire one Summer.
The smoke was horrendous but the
smell was somewhat sickly sweet
hehehehe
flashbax
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
by Hisiaka A Sesay, age 15,
Government Model Secondary School
Freetown, Sierra Leone
I heard the crouching of their footsteps,
They knocked at my door.
' Open up'! They back like a barrel dog
Thirsty for my blood.
They say they are the expected uest
They took me away
My stars were down
As I lift up my feet towards them
'O my star'!
When shall we see again?
When shall we play again?
Soon I became victim of circumstance
'O it is a joke !'
' O it is sweet game to play'
I killed and raped,
'O it is a joke!'
Now I realised I have done wrong
' O my star'
' O my star'
When shall we meet again?
My hopes are down!
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
by Mohamed Bangura, age 17,
W. A. M. Collegiate Secondary School SS(II) ARTS
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Sunshine is the state of hope
Sunshine is the state of grace
But why have you departed from me
Now is darkness around
I was arrested and carried away by strangers.
O they are my brothers
I was forced to danced to the beat of their music
We ate all the food left behind by my mother
And destroyed my very house
Now I know they are not my brothers
The strangers said they have gone to settle in peace
In their home town
Where would I hide my self against nightfall?
That these child soldiers have made.
O sun-shine o sun shine why have you departed from me
It is darkness around here,
My hopes are down
Never to meet sunshine again.
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
by James Pessima, age 19,
Boys High School, Freetown, Sierra Leone
My name is James Pessima a Boys High School leaver and I am 19. On the 6th
of January a terrible thing happened to me which has affected my life till
date. I was dwelling at a place called Calaba Town when rebels of the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF), mostly child soldiers attacked the place
we lived. It was during a very unholy hour of the morning 2 am. They were so
many as if their mothers have no control over them. Indeed they have no
parental control as they were under the supervision of elderly rebels and
the influence of hard drugs.
These rebels who were actually child combatants held us hostage in that
besieged vicinity for two terrible weeks with barely any food or drink. On
the 18th of January ECOMOG attacked the base of these child combatants
(rebels) and their adult rebels and the latter dispersed into the nearby
hills around the East -end of Freetown and others disappeared down the
peninsula. Allen town, Calabatown, Porty Areas were then under ECOMOG
stronghold. We never knew that this was just for a while ((as we were
already praising ECOMOG for our redemtion.
On Friday 22nd January, about 1 PM the child combatants (rebel) the fiercest
amongst the group who were still lurking around the hills regrouped and
attacked ECOMOG positions.
My family and I ran for safety to a new location in the same eastern of
freetown.exchanges of gunshots rang and we have faith thatthe little boys
(childsoldiers) will be easily thrashed by ECOMOG. they were underrated and
these tiny guirella fighters beat ECOMOG back.
My father, mother, sister, brother,cousins melted away for safety and none
of us knew where the others where at those various locations of hiding
The child solider eventually met us at our hiding as they were desperating
searching for food. they first sportted one of us as they were desperately
searching for food. they threatened an individual to show where the others
were hiding. The man who was asked to show our location was too slow in
answering the child soldier and so he was shot at.
We were all then captured, threatened to expose ECOMOG position.The elder
rebels as well as the child soldier began to beat us wiand the bottom of
there guns.
One of the child solider (rebels)emphasized that we must be pushed out of
our hiding places to the compound and tied in groups so as to kill us all
in a body.
I brandished any school I.D. card and showed it to the child rebels. I
was in fright and so could not talk to anyone of the rebels. I later
desired their entire audience. rebels said they were not intrested in my
I.D. card or any school business. I implored that insted of my been killed
let them join their ranks.
They all refused and one of the rebels volluntered that he will take the
task of killing me.
By that time rebel who op ted to chop off my head had been attracted to
the spot where his colleagnes were busy burning houses and cars. Soon the
child rebel odered me to open my mouth to shoot in. I refused, scolded
him firmly up on his wrist. I was asked by his colleagues whether I
intended making a fight. During the scuffle the rebel child soldier I
scolded shot at me at my right jaw and I fell. By then our house was still
in flames. One of the child soldiers who initially over heard me pleading
to join them was unhappy because I pleaded but his colleagues could not
listen. He dragged me to a new location where I crept away from our
burning home rough the back door. The house collapsed under the pressure of
burning flames. I continued to bleed seriously and made desperate attempts
to crawl pass the flames into the streets and a search for safer zones. I
stumbled at a place called K'-Step', where I passed the night in horrible
pain.
At dawn my head became more swollen and I felt weak to move any further. I
managed to move and a bit to 'Congo Town' where I was lucky to meet with my
elder brothers.
They placed me in a push cart since there was no vehicle and we headed for
the hospital. There were corpses all around, litred in the Cannaught
Hospital and the place was stinking. ECOMOG had regained their strength and
there was no fear any longer but the damage of lives and property was so
visible that I thought nothing was actually accomplished. Yet we have been
rescued in pain and at the point of death. The Red Cross officials could
give me only dry first aids with no medicines. Not out of wickedness but it
sounds they have ran out of drugs.
Thanks to a kind man, Dr Boima who single handedly helped me with a drip and
prevented the blood to continue oozing from my head. dr Boima X-rayed my
head and noticed that their was a bullet hiding in. My neck was put on POP
because for weeks it became unsteady. My relatives and others who visited me
feared I will not survive. I was later transferred to the ICRC office where
war victims were treated. I was there for three months and they removed the
bullets from my spinal cord that was detected by Dr Boima's X-ray. Although
I recovered gradually, I am still suffering from Persistent head aches and
have not been able to go to school for the past three years. I can even not
open my mouth as I used to in the natural way or to its normal size after
the child combatants (rebels) and their elders attacked. When the sun is hot
I often loose my eye-sight and psycho. Up till now, I cannot forget my
ordeals. when I sit down alone I feel frightened that I am being chased.
When I see smaller boys playing with toy guns, I catch cold and even
sometimes collapse.
I can no more play football or excersise with friends. My health is no
longer the same. I cannot read for even 25 minutes or else my neck will ache
seriously.
I appeal for help and continue to ask for assistance here in Sierra Leone
but to no avail. I want some body to take me away from this setting so that
I will not even see these ex-child compatants who have damaged my life. I
want a setting where there is love, peace and hamony. When I sleep I dream
of the violence and when I awake I see it as if it has occured again and my
health deteriorates. That is the consequence!
Youth Arise!!
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
I huddled over patches of human blood that has formed a pool right in
front of Papa's little dented thatched house. The scorcher, was that
glowing march sun that has began to melt the thick spillage of blood
like butter over the fire. Fresh from my hiding nook, it did not
strike my confused mind that the pool of blood was a costly
contribution of all the people I cherished in life.
The sun's rays that sprang from above stretched its claws
indiscriminately upon everything, everything my ravaged village could
show. In almost every sunset, I imagined real darkness. The only
thing that separated these two advertisers of nature's day and night,
was that the darkness of the day, had its camouflaging rays whilst
the darkness of night maintained its normal dark, true colour of
gloom. Yet, in these two darkness, the incessant rain of gunshots,
were of the same heavy down-pour.
For the entire gun-raining night, I wrestled with unconsciousness.
When I overcame her the next morning, he became truely apologetic to
have kept me unaware of my impending woes. But it were better for
unconsciousness to have maintained its masculine fibre, and out-beat
me for good, instead of me championing him and face the gloom
reality. I then spotted every member of my family lay strewn to the
ground, right infront of our mud-built abode. The ignition to burst
into tears was yet too cold in my system. Out of shock, an agape
mouth, plus series of shudderings atoned for my lack of expressing my
bereavement in the form of a clanging cry. First came the horrid
sight of my younger brother's hands, hacked and dismembered from his
body. Two little twisted hands, wrung and flung in the far corner of
the veranda, as if it has done an abominable wrong. as though the
rebels begrudged those little hands that were always in motion,
sweeping and tidying up our big compound, fastidiously picking the
sweet fruits from the guava tree. Soon, more and more ungainly
spectacles came in view, torturing my sight. Next, I spotted Papa's
chopped ears, aloof from his bulleted forehead. That head that used
to pump sweat after a diurnal day's labour for the household's daily
bread, now pumped blood profusely than all the sweating it has done
in the world. In Mama's wide-open mouth, I could imagine the last
warnings that sprang from it just yesterday. 'Becky' she called me,
'please do not forget to take the mortar and the pestle back into the
store after pounding the husked rice okay?' The strange, cruel, and
unwelcome visitors that pounced upon our village that very morning,
prevented me from carrying out Mama's instructions. Close to the
corpses of my loved ones, the house-hold paraphenelias dotted
everywhere, now lifeless as Mama who once yielded them. It would be
grossly improper to lift a mortar and a pessle when mortals lay still
and motionless.
I stooped to pick up my younger brother's twisted little hands. At
this point, my hands stiffened about an inch away from his damaged
body as if the resuscitation of fear has casted a spell upon my
hands. When the monotony of such dismal scenes casted fear at bay, I
flopped down on my knees, gathered the mangled limbs and placed them
beside the blood-drenched head. The narrow forehead that I had often
scrubbed till the soap lathered and its white froth changed to
mustard yellowish- brown. I would continue to scrub on Mama's
instructions. Mama will say, 'scrub him more severely' for she
thought such scrubbing would be a deterrent for my younger brother's
bespattering in the mud. I will scrub, and rub and wash, till the
brown froth is rinced away. I wish the thick blood upon his forehead,
were only the mud and his tiny set mouth will plead for me to lesson
the scrubbing.
I was revisited by a sudden grief, and the first salty drop of
compassion wetted my eyes till it whetted my appetite for shedding
more tears. I then took his tiny body in both hands whilst his
dismembered hands, lay trapped between my bent neck and left
shoulder. I then raised his body gently, aloft upon my right shoulder
and carted him into the house like a new hero. I did the same for my
parents until the deceased trio was carefully placed in Papa's
sleeping room, hoping that some relations of ours shall someday come
across their bones and bury them at least. I had no time to perform a
fitting ritual now. All I had time to do was simply wrap Mama's white
'lappa' around them until my beloved kin were enshrouded in the white
clothe that Mama often wore to church. I hurriedly shut the door
behind me and instantly realised that I have been forever shut-off
from their world, the incomprehensible unknown world of the dead; the
quietude of that sombre world.
Whispers of gunshots eavesdropped in my ears that those who fed on
havoc were not yet sufficiently satisfied of their atrocities. I
docked to the floor and creepped to next room where I hoped the
wandering bullets would never discover me.
The mud-bricked house, riddled with bullet holes on all sides,
provided me with a spying device. I then gradually began to peep
through one of the hollows designed by the way-word bullets. Soon, I
discovered to my discomfort that the gunshots that I heard moments
ago were the harbinger of masked faces.
When I got their bearings clearer, just as they drew nearer, I again
noticed that there heads were tied with a previously white, but now,
red head bands that was the result of a thorough immersion in human
blood. I realised that their charcoal painted faces interpreted
gruesome stories of death and massacre. The gang stopped in front of
my house as though they have breathed one more soul to devour. I shot
my eyes instead of moving it away from the pinhole that has served as
a reliable spying device. All my acts and gestures and thoughts now
were prayerful. I began mumbling prayers to myself that I hoped would
tempt the heartless gang of rebels away. I then started to open my
eyes gradually, gradually, like one who has dipped his face in
lukewarm salty water to remove the irritating sand in the eyes, but a
little hesitant, lest the peppery of burns be felt again. Like a
stubborn vision, the gang of rebels then lingered. They pointed
fingers at my house now instead of rifles. I was fearful of the fact
that their masked faces had the magic of seeing through the house. I
then felt trapped. I made up my mind,and sauntered towards
them,instead of they striding towards me, albeit, with heavy
hearthrobs. As I started to work with stiffened steps towards the
door, my shivering feet and disjointed steps, rattled at every step.
Then suddenly, one of the rebels guessed someone was still lurked
behind one of the shattered rooms.They nodded in affirmation as if
they have all to one cruel conviction. A gruffy voice rang..."come
out of the house you... Becky! get out right now or if found you will
be thouroughly raped and killed." More husky voices repeated this
verdict. I stopped moving abruptly, not out of fear this time, but
shocked and bemused to hear such hoarse voices pronounce my name. I
wondered how they could have known it. Groomed for death already, I
knew I must face it with eyes tightly shut, and breast projected to
make the bullets travel easily. I made this deadly preparations,
opened the door and waited. I heard a voic, sharper than the sword
that pierced Papa's ears.' No shooting' the voice commanded. Yet a
shot came aiming at me but missed my head an inch or two away. Almost
simultaneously, another shooting trailed the first which did not miss
the defiant rebel who attempted to get rid of me. I realise that the
teenage rebel who gave commands was the commando leader. He then
crave the permission of the rest to kill me single-handedly away in
the thicket of the bush, as though there was a kind of pleasure
derived from killing me that he did not wish to share with the rest.
The others allowed him to gratify himself . They leaped to their
feet, hooted and raised their guns skywards in revels and approval.
Instantly, my 'lappa' was stripped off my waist to chain my hands and
feet, as though I might stray away if they fail to fetter me. My
ripened feminish features of adolescence now exposed to the sordid
expectation of rape.
As daylight loosened its firm grip on the lifeless and the living
alike, along the path we took for our undoing, twilight merely
mimicked her predecessor. It portrayed the leaves as having stood on
edge like the scattered hair upon my head. I felt dizzy with fear
when his scrubby little hands began to play with my bare breast. He
pulled me to the side of the stream and left me half- naked, lying on
the grass. He squatted on the side of the flowing stream and dipped
his bloody hands into it . Soon, the clean, glassy stream immediately
turned into a dark opaque flow of filth and blood. He waited till the
dark stream has regained its clearness, and again disturbed its
natural whiteness by throwing the sword that he has unhitched from a
sheathe by his side and threw it in the farthest part of the stream.
With his back still turned towards me, I noticed that he has untied
the headband that has been masking his face and lend him a terrifying
bearing. He deposited the bloodstained scalf into the stream and
observed the same result of a thick flow of blood. It seemed as if
the blood that was right in front of my deserted house has been
scooped into the stream all of a sudden. He again waited till the
untidy red dark colour has been swept away by the over-powering tide
of water. He began to gradually wash his body, starting with his dark
face. Throughout all this ritual of cleansing, I lay motionless,
shivering in the cold cloudy dusk. He hoisted himself from his
stooping position, and turned round with a grin. I recognised his
face at once. With a stuttering low voice, I cried out his name;
"Sammy"! Sammy instantly knelt down with his eyes pleading. "Yes
Becky, it's me Sammy". I recalled immediately how he used to play
'stone-ball' at our village school. He wooed me once or twice then in
that childish playful way but I had turned him down on every try. He
disappeared since our school was attacked. He threw his gun away and
in a condescending tone that was no longer tinged with barbarism,
expressing sorrow for all he has done. "With your help alone Becky, I
will abandon the rebel movement. I have harmed my family, your
family, and those of my friends." I encouraged him to do just that.
"We better find a hide out and keep out of the way or else the gang
will find us and that will be the bane of our lives ", I suggested.
He nodded gently as he untied my hands and feet. He said he longed to
live a new life, away with me. "Becky, I wish to marry you". There
was palpable sincerity in his tone of voice. I needed days to be
orientated to such a life of trotting through narrow paths of twigs
and thorns. He waited for an answer, but I said nothing, waiting and
hoping that silence could relieve me of my troubles, and whispered to
him what ingrained in my mind. Yet I could look straight into his
eyes for they were not the fires that I saw earlier in the day.
---
Happy Xmas, all
:(
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
20 December: DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources in Washington have learned of
a secret conciliatory messaged delivered by Iraqi military intelligence to
US Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni when he visited the Jordanian capital of
Amman last week. The Jordanians tried to persuade the retired Marine Corps
general to meet military intelligence officials, who came especially from
Baghdad to see him. He refused and met instead with a businessman from Abu
Dhabi who handed over the message from Baghdad.
DEBKAfile’s sources reveal its high points:
1. Iraq forecasts a dangerous wave of radicalization being touched off in
the Arab world by the capture of Taliban and al Qaeda leaders or the
elimination of their operational capabilities. This wave could unseat Saudi
Crown Prince Abdullah, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King
Abdullah II. With this threat in store, Iraqi military intelligence advises
Washington in its own interest to preserve the stability of Saddam Hussein’s
regime and abandon the preparations to depose him.
2. Saddam has secretly offered Yasser Arafat a safe haven in Baghdad with
the entire PLO leadership and an unlimited number of security and
intelligence personnel, plus the resources for continuing his political and
military activities. This gesture, Iraqi military intelligence insists, is
not hostile to the United States, but an escape plan to retrieve Arafat from
the corner he has painted himself into.
3. Iraqi military intelligence chiefs are making every effort to dissuade
Saddam from engaging the United States in a military confrontation which
Iraq has no chance of winning. They warn him a U.S. attack would destroy
Iraq’s economic infrastructure and push the country 20 years back. They
propose instead that they use their good offices in Moscow to discreetly
arrange for international monitors to be allowed access to Iraq’s arms
industry, including missiles and other weapons of mass destruction.
4. Iraqi military intelligence, with its wealth of information about
terrorist networks in the Muslim world and the West, can be of enormous
service to the United States in its war against global terrorism. Such
assistance would be conditional on a US understanding with Saddam.
5. Saddam, the message adds, is beginning to listen to his military
intelligence advisers, but faces opposition to contacts with Washington from
Iraq’s Baath party, the strongest political force in the country. They are
strengthened in their resistance to any dealings with Washington by the
almost unlimited US support for Iraqi opposition groups.
Zinni promised to pass the message on to his superiors in Washington.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources add: The approach to envoy Zinni in Amman
was not Baghdad’s only attempt to engage Washington. Several days earlier,
Iraqi military intelligence officers also went to Ankara and asked Turkish
intelligence chiefs to deliver a message on their behalf to the Bush
administration. It said Saddam had tired of fighting with America and was
asking to deal, preferring peace to war. The Turks passed the message on to
Washington.
DEBKAfile ’s sources find it noteworthy that Baghdad chose to relay its
messages to the United States through two countries with a potential role in
a future military campaign against Saddam.
+ + + +
KANDAHAR (Islam News): After the evacuation of Taliban, the people of
Kandahar city have started taking safety measures for the Arab Mujahideen.
According to reliable sources, three Arab Mujahideen were on their way to
Jamiah Umar in an area where they were uunaware of the presence of hostile
forces. Paedophile Gul Agha's fighters surrounded them and were about to
kill them so the Arab Mujahideen took out pins of their hand grenades and
started reciting Holy Quran. They managed to escape the encirclement of Gul
Agha's men after fighting. During this incident, one Arab Mujahid was
martyred by Gul Agha's troops. When they wanted to kill the other two Arabs,
workers at a nearby motor workshop stood infront of the Arabs and warned Gul
Agha's troops from touching the Arabs. The crowd then took the two Arab
Mujahideen to safety. This incident dispels the claims that the Afghans are
fed up of the Arabs or hate them.
PAKISTANI TROOPS DISHONOUR ARAB MARTYRS' BODIES BY THROWING THEM INTO
DITCHES.
MIRAN SHAH (Islam News): Fierce fighting continues between Arab Mujahideen
and Pakistani Army troops, before which nine Arab Mujahideen escaped. From
them, five Mujahideen remain at large, whilst four were martyred by the
Pakistan Army. Three of these bodies were dishonoured by the Pakistani
troops and they were thrown into a ditch with their legs facing the Qiblah.
Local religious scholars tried hard to bury these martyrs in the proper way
in the same way they had buried three more a few days ago, but the Pakistani
Police and Army did not allow the scholars to do so. Therefore, the scholars
turned away silently but the local young men became annoyed. When
negotiations failed the young men raised a slogan and moved to take out the
martyrs' bodies from the ditch. The Pakistani policemen began firing at them
for 20 minutes or so but the brave Muslim young men took out the bodies
calmly, carried out the funeral rites on them and buried them with honour.
The local residents told Daily Islam that the martyrs' bodies were fresh and
scent was emitting from their blood similar to the incident reported a few
days ago.
This incident proves that the apparent harm inflicted on the Taliban and
Foreign Mujahideen in Afghanistan is primarily due to the policies of the
Pakistan Government, which is itself engaged in fighting the Mujahideen
under orders from its American masters. The Pakistani people and military
who refuse to do something about this should fear Allah's Anger and His
Punishment, for He is on the side of the Mujahideen. It seems like this
punishment may be coming already with India preparing to attack Pakistan.
On the authority of Yusuf bin Yaqub from his scholars who said: The
Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said: "Beware of causing harm to the Mujahideen
for indeed Allah displays anger on behalf of the Mujahideen as he displays
anger on behalf of the Prophets and Messengers; and He answers their
supplications as He answers the supplications of the Prophets and
Messengers. The sun has neither risen nor set on anyone more noble infront
of Allah than the Mujahid." [Related by Ibn Asakir, Mashir-ul-Ashwaq by Ibn
Nuhaas, Vol. 1, P. 157]
TORA BORA: AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ROBBED IN THE PRESENCE OF AMERICAN TROOPS
KABUL (Internet News): US soldiers ordered Northern Alliance troops to loot
their fellow countrymen journalists and take away their cameras and
computers when they reached Tora Bora to report on the destruction caused by
the fierce bombing of US and coalition warplanes. The US troops succeeded by
hiding the truth in this manner. According to Al-Jazeera, US forces have
banned the entry of media representatives into Tora Bora, but three American
journalists (one from Associated Press and the other two from the New York
Times) managed to reach Tora Bora by putting their lives at risk to cover
the destruction caused by the inhuman and barbaric bombing by the US Air
Force. These journalists were then robbed by Northern Alliance men in the
presence of US soldiers and the Northern Alliance men took away their money,
cameras and computers.
The victim journalists said that when they called the US soldiers for help,
they did not move from their place. Perhaps if the journalists were Israeli
Jews, the US troops would have bowed down to them, but they were ordinary
Americans. Speaking to a French News Agency, the Associated Press
journalist, Dever Getten Fielder, said that the US soldiers did not bother
to help us and we think that the Northern Alliance men did this on the
orders of US forces. All three American journalists say that they took
pictures of US soldiers from distance but as soon as they moved closer to
the place the Northern Alliance men stopped them, took them to a place and
kept them there for an hour, confiscating their cameras, computers and other
valuables. During this incident, when they called the US soldiers for help,
they replied, "We are aware what you journalists are doing here and that is
why we are forced to do this to you."
UNITED NEW GOVERNMENT HAS SEVERAL FLAGS
KABUL (Islam News): The new Afghan government which is supposed to be the
unified and broad-based government for the Afghan people is actually a farce
as the swearing in of the new government was held under three different
flags. Out of these three flags, one flag was representing Hamid Karzai, the
Ibn Saud of Afghanistan, and the other two were representing the Northern
Alliance. The BBC questioned Hamid Karzai that Afghanistan has only one flag
but here three flags are displayed, what is the reason for this? Hamid
Karzai had no answer to this so he told the BBC correspondent that he reply
to this question later on.
+ + + +
KANDAHAR: SURPRISE ATTACK ON AMERICAN FORCES IN IRGHISAN - SEVERAL KILLED
AND INJURED
KANDAHAR (Special Correspondent): Since the withdrawal of the Taliban, US
forces have been struck by the first Taliban guerilla operation independent
of the Arab Mujahideen, which resulted in the deaths of several US soldiers
and injuries of others. US soldiers disguised in Afghani dress were
travelling in two vehicles accompanied by Gul Agha's men in Irghisan, which
is a region between Spin Boldak and Takhta Pul. As they were travelling, the
Mujahideen launched a surprise attack on this convoy and eyewitness accounts
report that scores of US soldiers were killed in this operation.
100 INJURED IN AN EXPLOSION IN MAZAR-E-SHARIF SHOPPING CENTER
MAZAR-E-SHARIF(Online): Approximately 100 men were injured as a result of an
explosion at a shopping centre in Mazar-e-Sharif. Six people have been
reported to be in a very critical condition. The local Minister of Health
suspected that this explosion was a result of 'terrorist' activity from
those who are not sincere in keeping peace in the country. CNN also reported
the explosion confirming casualties of around a 100 men, but there has not
yet been any confirmation of US injuries.
200 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED AND INJURED DUE TO AMERICAN BOMBING IN KHOST AND
PAKTIA 24 HOURS BEFORE OATH TAKING CEREMONY OF THE PUPPET GOVERNMENT
KHOST (Islam News): 25 men were killed and several others were injured when
US warplanes bombed a convoy of Zahir Shah's tribal supporters, which was
heading to Kabul from Khost to attend the oath taking ceremony of American
agent, Hamid Karzai. Ten vehicles were completely destroyed. This contingent
of tribal elders and supporters was heading towards Kabul without King Khan
who is disliked by these people and they were to request Hamid Karzai not to
make him a representative of their people. The convoy was stopped by King
Khan's men between Khost and Gardez and told to turn back. Instead, they
took an alternative route through Zarmat, where they were pounded by US
warplanes. Our sources report that King Khan was the reason why this
happened, for he contacted US forces via satellite phone stating that this
was a convoy consisting of Al-Qaida and Taliban's top leaders. As a result
of this botched attack, the tribal lords of the Zardan tribe, Haji Abdul
Rehman; Mangal Qaum tribe's Lord Wazeer; tribal lord of Niazi nation,
Marjaan; tribal lord of Garbaz nation, Wali Marjaan and Lord of Kochi
nation, Haji Naeem, were killed in this bombing.
In another report, we have received information that those people who had
gathered in Khost to see off the tribal lords, were subsequently bombed by
US warplanes, because King Khan had told the US military that these men had
been gathering in order to capture Khost. In this heavy bombing, 60 Afghan
citizens were martyred. In all 85 men died in these two separate operations
and 115 were injured. Will the people of Afghanistan then take heed of these
warnings from Allah that the disbelievers cannot be trusted with the lives
and affairs of the Muslims?
AFGHANISTAN REGAINS FIRST PLACE IN DRUG AND POPPY CULTIVATION SINCE THE
WITHDRAWAL OF THE TALIBAN
KABUL (Internet News): Since the withdrawal of the Taliban, Afghanistan has
once again regained first place in drug cultivation. An International News
Agency reported from US radio station "WTOP", that the Afghan people were
once again engaged in cultivating drugs. The Taliban had banned drug and
poppy cultivation, which had led to a 90% reduction of drug produce in the
world. According to a report before this ban, the yearly production of drugs
from Afghanistan was 1100 tons.
GUL AGHA'S FIGHTERS ATTACKED IN KANDAHAR; SIX KILLED AND ONE VEHICLE
DESTROYED
KANDAHAR (Islam News): According to the latest reports, unknown armed men
attacked Gul Agha's fighters in the Sanjri region, which is 15-20 km away to
the west of Kandahar city. Six were killed and a car was destroyed. The
attackers succeeded in escaping unharmed. Gul Agha's men were later seen
recovering the dead bodies of their comrades.
US RELEASES 'NEW TRANSLATION' OF BIN LADIN TAPE WITH MORE 'EVIDENCE'
WASHINGTON (Special Report): It seems like the US Government considers the
Muslim World as ignorant and gullible as the American people. In a 'new
translation' of the so-called 'Smoking Gun' Bin Ladin video, Bin Ladin is
said to have named some of the WTC attackers. Next, we will be hearing that
in a newer than new translation, Bin Ladin actually claimed to be
controlling one of the aeroplanes from an Afghan plane and thus he is
guilty. People with basic knowledge of Arabic have dismissed this tape as a
poor attempt at false propaganda. Sheikh Hammoud Al-Uqlaa Ash-Shuaibi from
the Arabian Peninsula has also dismissed it as false propaganda.
Unfortunately, some 'Muslims' still persist in believing the US Government
over Sheikh Hammoud Al-Uqlaa, but unfortunately not much can be done about
these 'Muslims'
CLARIFICATION OF 7 NOVEMBER 2001 SHOOTING IN QATARI AIRBASE
QATAR (Special Report): On the 7 November 2001, the media reported that a
Qatari with deranged mental problems fired at some guards at a US airbase in
Qatar, injuring some guards before being killed in the process. The reality
of this incident is that three US Air Force personnel were killed in this
shooting by the martyr, Abdullah Mubarak bin Tishal Al-Hajiri, may Allah
accept him amongst the martyrs and raise his ranks.
According to a close relative of Abdullah Al-Hajiri, he was neither an
officer in the Qatari Intelligence and nor was he deranged as claimed by the
media. He used to be a soldier in the Qatari Army before leaving it to join
a governmental administrative position. He was a righteous man who strictly
guarded his five times Salah. All those who know him testify to the goodness
in him. In the Soviet-Afghan War, he attempted to go there but was prevented
from doing so by his family. In the second American-Afghan War, he again
attempted to travel to Afghanistan but was prevented from doing so by his
family. He was an intelligent, righteous man who was fully aware of what he
was doing, not a deranged mental patient. His jealousy towards Islam and the
Muslims and his inability to accept the humiliation of Muslims led him to do
what he did. May Allah accept his martyrdom and raise his ranks in Paradise.
+ + + +
A senior United Nations official in Sierra Leone has said that five people
were killed and about 40 wounded during two days of clashes in the east of
the country, in a dispute over diamond mining.
The deputy commander of the UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, Major General
Martin Luther Agwai, said several hundred rebels and pro-government
militiamen fought each other with knives, axes and stones in the town of
Koidu on Wednesday and Thursday, but the situation was now under control.
He said both sides had agreed to halt illicit diamond mining earlier this
month, but a disagreement over the date led to the rioting.
+ + + +
apparently, it only costs £90,000
;)
Financial Gazette (Harare)
December 20, 2001
Staff Reporter
THE Zimbabwe government is involved in talks with the Angolan government to
look at the possibility of setting up a joint company to manufacture weapons
of war, it was learnt this week.
Official sources this week said the talks started in September this year
when Zimbabwe's Defence Minister Sydney Sekera-mayi went to Angola on a
two-day visit.
Sekeramayi and Angolan defence chief Kundi Pahyama held the talks under the
theme of regional defence and security cooperation.
The sources said the two ministers apparently discussed the same issue on
the sidelines of the Southern Africa Development Community meeting for
defence and foreign ministers held in Angola earlier this week
"The minister has held talks with his Angolan colleague Kundi Pahyama but
talks are still continuing on the possibility of setting up a joint venture
company that will be manufacturing arms," one source said.
According to the sources, the joint Angolan-Zimbabwean weapons manufacturing
firm would be based in Harare and manufacture weapons to be used by the two
countries while the larger share of the weapons would be exported.
In the last three years, Zimbabwe's weapons have been heavily depleted since
President Robert Mugabe unilaterally sent troops into the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) in August 1998 to support the regime of the late
DRC president Laurent Kabila.
Zimbabwe's allies in the war are Namibia and Angola.
Last year the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), a state firm, tried
unsuccessfully to enter into a joint venture with a Namibian company to
manufacture arms of war.
The sources said the latest arms talks had been necessitated by Zimbabwe's
failure to legally secure arms from European nations because most countries
have now slapped the southern African nation with arms embargoes.
Last year in August, South Africa - which used to supply ZDI with weapons -
temporarily slapped an unofficial embargo on arms sales on Zimbabwe to try
to pressure its neighbour from any further involvement in the DRC.
It is however believed that the DRC and Namibian governments are helping
Zimbabwe to circumvent the arms embargo.
Harare is also said to be amassing an assortment of guns at army bases in
the country and importing arms in preparation for next year's presidential
poll in March.
The DRC war is estimated to be costing Zimbabwe more than $1.5 billion every
month - enough to run a modern provincial hospital for more than six months.
Efforts to get comment from Sekeramayi yesterday were unsuccessful. He was
said to be in meetings the whole day. Although his secretary promised to
phone back, she had not done so up to the time of going to print.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 23, 2001
One of the Mai Mai rebels, Emmanuel Tiganegula who is suspected of
involvement in the killing of the RCD-Kisangani Chief of Staff, Col. Jean
Baptise Wishango Nuluahali Mbutsi on Nov.27 has been arrested in DR Congo.
Tiganegula 23, who is originally from Kirumba - DRC was arrested last week
after an exchange of fire in which his legs were shattered with bullets. He
is currently undergoing treatment at Beni hospital under tight guard.
Talking to Sunday Monitor, the naked Tiganegula admitted that though he was
in the group which killed Mbutsi, he is not the one who pulled the trigger.
"We were just ordered by Col. Rummi and Ndejje to fight the RCD-Kisangani
soldiers. We had no choice but to obey the order. Soldiers shot my legs and
arrested me," said Tibanegula.
The RCD-Kisangani rebel President and the Commander in Chief, Mbusa Nyamwisi
told Sunday Monitor from his Beni State House that his soldiers will leave
no stone unturned in the hunt for all those who participated in Mbutsi's
murder.
Meanwhile, 18 suspected ADF rebels, 12 of whom are Congo nationals, have
been arrested in DR Congo. The remaining six - all Ugandans are awaiting
deportation back to for trial.
Fifteen of these rebel suspects were arrested at Lume, a place about 35 Km
from the Ugandan border.
Displaying the half-naked suspects to the press Dec.18, the RCD-Kisangani
Commander, Kakole Bwambale said 15 rebel suspects were arrested as they were
undergoing training by the ADF.
"These Congolese had joined the ADF rebels to be trained and fight both the
RCD and UPDF. We're now taking them to Beni for indoctrination and
thereafter, our High Command will decide on what to do to them".
+ + + +
South African Press Association (Johannesburg)
December 22, 2001
Johannesburg
Well-known local television actor Randall de Jager was shot and later died
at the Johannesburg Hospital after an armed robbery at a home in River Club,
Sandton, in the early hours of Saturday morning, police said.
De Jager was an actor on the SABC 2 soapie "7De Laan".
Superintendent Chris Wilken said the incident occurred when the actor, who
is about 30 years old, and a woman friend were sitting on the patio of the
house they were looking after while the owner was away on holiday.
"The couple were suddenly confronted by two unknown men. De Jager apparently
ran into the house and closed the glass sliding door.
"One of the suspects allegedly produced a firearm and fired a shot through
the glass door, hitting the actor in the face. He was treated by paramedics
on the scene and rushed to the Johannesburg Hospital where he later died,"
Wilken said.
De Jager's friend was not injured in the attack.
The suspects took a handbag and cellphone before fleeing on foot.
No arrests have yet been made.
+ + + +
Robert Jablon, Associated Press, 12/22/01
LOS ANGELES -- Even a small amount of C-4 -- the explosive that may have
been in the shoe of a passenger aboard a diverted jetliner -- could have
been enough to destroy the plane, an expert said Saturday.
But it would have been hard to set off.
An ounce of the plastic explosive could have been enough to blow out a
window or wall of an airliner at altitude, and then "the air pressure would
rip the plane apart," said Jack O'Keefe, a bomb technician with the Boston
police bomb squad.
However, O'Keefe said he doubted that the C-4 could have been set off
without a blasting cap, and walking around with one would have been very
dangerous for the passenger.
The explosive was used in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen,
killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding 39.
In October, a third of a pound of C-4 was found in an abandoned suitcase
inside a Philadelphia bus terminal. Police said that was enough explosive to
level the building.
Used extensively during the Vietnam War, C-4 is prized because it is easy to
shape and relatively hard to set off by accident. C-4's main ingredient is
RDX, which is also used in fireworks.
Authorities say RDX was found in the car trunk of an Algerian man convicted
in April of plotting to detonate a bomb at Los Angeles International Airport
during the millennium celebration. Authorities say Ahmed Ressam was trained
in Afghan terrorist camps linked to Osama bin Laden.
C-4 is a puttylike substance that can be easily molded by hand. Its shape
can dictate the force and direction of its blast.
It is relatively insensitive to impact, friction or fire, although large
quantities can explode if burned.
For smaller amounts, "if you set it on fire, it'll just burn, unless you hit
it with something," O'Keefe said.
That made it popular with American soldiers in Vietnam, who would break off
a small piece to quickly heat water or C-rations.
"It wouldn't go off. It's very safe," O'Keefe said. "That's why the military
uses it. It could take a bullet from a high-powered rifle without
detonating."
C-4 does not deteriorate over time but can crumble in cold weather, O'Keefe
said.
Occasional thefts of military C-4 have been reported, and O'Keefe said some
Vietnam War veterans kept small amounts as souvenirs.
C-4 recipes are available via the Internet and in books. Amazon.com, the
giant Web book merchant, offers used copies of an out-of-print book called
"Homemade C-4 : A Recipe for Survival."
But cooking up the explosive at home is a tricky and dangerous process,
O'Keefe said.
+ + + +
So, the war is officially over. But who won?
BY JANINE DI GIOVANNI (The Times)
Tora Bora may have fallen to the Mujahidin, but there is still no sign of
bin Laden
THEY brought the corpses down from the mountain in a green and blue lorry,
their fingers and toes frozen from the cold. They were meant to be among the
last al-Qaeda fighters on Tora Bora, the rest having fled through snowy
passes to Pakistan or having surrendered to the Mujahidin of eastern
Afghanistan.
Their corpses were intended to prove that the fighters pounded by American
bombers and the Mujahidin for the last campaign of the war in Afghanistan
were finally gone.But are they? Three days ago, Mujahidin commanders
declared that their men had totally defeated the remnants of Osama bin Laden
’s troops in the region. Earlier, they had paraded captured fighters before
journalists, pushing the barefoot, filthy and humiliated men before the
cameras to prove that al-Qaeda was finished in Tora Bora.
The three rival Mujahidin commanders who controlled the region declared it
free of al-Qaeda forces. Around 200 al-Qaeda fighters had been killed, but
perhaps between 500 and 1,500, perhaps more and possibly including Osama bin
Laden himself, had fled into the forest beyond Tora Bora and then into
Pakistan.No matter that Pakistani troops are on the border and that the
Americans are continuing to bomb exit routes, the Afghan-Pakistani border
cannot be totally sealed. And bin Laden is still at large.
Tora Bora was the final push in the war against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan,
with US and British special forces — backed by aerial bombardment and
Mujahidin fighters — trapping the remnants of al-Qaeda between two valleys.
It was a battle that combined high-tech American aircraft with the primitive
skills of the Afghans. The assault was guided in part by Washington and in
part by local commanders, who knew the crevices, footpaths and hills of Tora
Bora and the cave complexes used by the Afghans during the Soviet
occupation.
The US dropped rockpenetrating bombs and laserguided bombs in the Wazir and
Agam Valleys. The bombing was backed by heavy Mujahidin raids, with troops
moving south from Jalalabad and from the east to trap the terrorists. The
bombing first concentrated on positions in the north of the Wazir Valley,
known to house several large bunkers.
Al-Qaeda positions were pounded relentlessly and, as the days went on and
the resistance of the al-Qaeda appeared to grow stronger, the bombing became
heavier. Bunker-busters were used to destroy the caves in which the fighters
hid; 15,000lb “daisy-cutters”, which ravage everything within a 600-yard
radius, were also deployed. In the aftermath, cluster bombs lay unexploded
on the ground.
The campaign spread south, to an area in which caves and tunnels are
widespread. Pakistani forces were posted along the border to prevent
al-Qaeda forces from moving down the footpaths and mountains passes south of
Wazir. In the final days they were pushed into a corner southeast near the
Agam Valley.
The battle was fought for different motives. For the Mujahidin, it was the
money, the promise of the $25 million (£17 million) bounty for bin Laden.
For the Americans, it was justice and vengeance for the September 11
attacks.
The campaign did not run without blips. There was a bizarre, staged effect
to the battle, from the first day that the Mujahidin “announced” the ground
offensive, gathering journalists to a crest overlooking the valley and
firing off tank rounds to the delight of the television cameras. From then
on, front lines, ceasefires and surrenders all appeared to be “managed” as
though they were taking place on Broadway, not on the battlefields of
Afghanistan.
It was clear that deals were being made by radio between al-Qaeda and
Mujahidin commanders, many of whom retained loyalties to the terrorists. In
Afghanistan, it is common practice of warfare to switch sides several times,
almost always because the lure of money is stronger than that of allegiance.
“Most of my men pray for Osama’s health every night,” one commander said.
“They are Muslims and the al-Qaeda are Muslims. If the Americans weren’t
paying, no one would be fighting to get rid of fellow Muslims.”
Initially, the bombing was not enough and the Mujahidin push was lacklustre.
Ceasefires came and went to no avail; on the afternoon of December 11,
standing at a hilltop Mujahidin position, I listened to Commander Zahir, one
of the three Mujahidin leaders, declare a ceasefire by radio with the
al-Qaeda fighters. Even as he stood on a peak surrounded by his lackeys and
gloated over his military prowess, al-Qaeda fighters sprayed the area with
machinegun fire.
The enemy grew more fanatical as it appeared that they were being cornered.
One commander spoke of al-Qaeda fighters planting bombs on themselves. As
the end grew near and they began to be captured, some were taken with a
grenade in one hand and a Kalashnikov in the other.
Next came a phoney “surrender” plan on December 12, negotiated by Commander
Zaman, the Mujahidin closest to the Americans. An offer by radio by al-Qaeda
to come down off the mountain turned out to be stalling for time to allow
the terrorists to escape. It also caused more rifts between the three
Mujahidin leaders.
All three denied being involved in the battle of Tora Bora for the bounty
money, but as time went on it became obvious that there were financial
interests at stake. Commander Zahir’s father, Haji Abdul Kadir, the Governor
of the province and a man linked to the opium trade for years before the
Taleban drove him out, commanded the weakest of the three militias, but was
armed with the most weapons.
Commander Zaman, who had lived in exile in France and the United States for
years, was a fluent English and French-speaker. He had allegedly been given
$100 per soldier in addition to food and clothes. But he was also rumoured
to have had close links with both the Taleban and al-Qaeda and therefore
sympathies and interests to let them escape as bloodlessly as possible — an
option that went against American policy.
Hazret Ali, a former Northern Alliance commander, was thought to be the best
fighter with the best militia, but he seemed to be drawn out of the circle
involving the Americans. After Commander Zaman negotiated the faux
surrender, Mr Ali was furious: he wanted his men to continue fighting and
not to waste time with surrender plans that he knew would never come about.
The three Mujahidin groups deployed heavily, but it was not until the
Americans and the British arrived three weeks ago that the battle began to
shift. Breaking into small units and dressed in local garb but armed with
M16s and grenade-launchers, the special forces drove up and down the
mountains in four-wheel-drive vehicles, spreading out and trying to flush
the remnants of al-Qaeda from the caves. While the bombs dropped, the
Mujahidin moved into the area haltingly, capturing and searching some caves
while al-Qaeda held the high ground, mounting stiff resistance.
Gradually, there were small victories. Mujahidin soldiers claimed that a US
raid may have killed al-Qaeda’s strategic mastermind, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and
its financial advisor, Ali Mahmood. After the wife and children of
al-Zawahiri were confirmed dead, they widened their forays into the canyons
and captured low-elevation caves used by the terrorists to store ammunition.
That day we were allowed into the valley. As we trudged towards the caves,
watching for booby traps, the aftermath of the battle was hideous: shoes had
been blown off limbs, pieces of uniforms were stuck to the trees, there were
half-finished tins of food.
But there was a curious lack of bodies. Had they been vaporised by the
bombing, or had they escaped? If they had fled, they would have gone one of
three ways: via the Khyber Pass, which winds down the mountains from the
town of Khogiani to Torkham on the border with Pakistan, or via the Afghan
town of Azrow, then to Parachinar in Pakistan, or they might have escaped to
Pakistan through and over the mountains.
The battlefield, the commanders said, was littered with terrorists’ bodies.
There were guts and intestines on rocks. We were not allowed to see it, but
as a reward, the captured prisoners would be paraded the next day.
When I finally saw the faces of the al-Qaeda men, it was an anticlimax. They
did not look like the Devil. They just looked tired and hungry. The hated
villains who had been holed up in the hills were young men, except for one.
They hid their faces, they did not meet the eyes of the cameras and the
spectacle of parading the prisoners was sickening.
The Mujahidin grinned and said that Tora Bora was over, that al-Qaeda was
finished. But as the days pass, it is clearly not over. The rival Mujahidin
have begun to fight among themselves. There is still a smattering of
al-Qaeda around.
And despite the fact that everyone declared it a victory, it is an ending
without closure. Where are all bodies? Where is bin Laden? And why, most of
all, was it so chilling when one of the al-Qaeda prisoners held up two
fingers in a victory sign as he was led away?
+ + + +
THE WAR PROFITEERS:
HOW ARE WEAPONS MANUFACTURERS FARING IN THE WAR?
by Frida Berrigan,
December 17, 2001
"Afghanistan hasn't had a direct impact on sales yet."
Peter Simmons, Spokesman for Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Georgia plant
Companies like General Electric and IBM, which cashed in on the tragedy of
September 11th through tax breaks in the Economic Stimulus Bill, have drawn
the ire of fiscal conservatives and progressive corporate watchdogs alike.
But scant attention has been paid to the biggest war profiteers, the weapons
manufacturers and the Pentagon.
Congress is debating a Bush administration defense budget of $343.2 billion,
an increase of $32.6 billion over last year. This increase would mean that
military spending would account for more than half of all discretionary
spending (money that Congress must allocate each year).
This is good news to the weapons industry and while pink slips and hiring
freezes are spreading like an epidemic from sector to sector, the top
weapons manufacturers are awaiting new orders, holding job fairs, planning
Initial Public Offerings, raising new capital and gaining new attention on
the stock market.
As Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, remarked
"the whole mind set of military spending changed on Sept. 11. The most
fundamental thing about defense spending is that threats drive defense
spending. It's now going to be easier to fund almost anything."
So, what better time to be Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman or
even the beleaguered Boeing? The war in Afghanistan is an unequivocal
success- despite friendly fire incidents, bombing accidents, mounting
civilian casualties and the recent crash of a $280 million B-1 bomber- and
the Bush administration is already listing new countries targeted for
military action, with Somalia, Yemen and Iraq topping the list. It is a good
time to be in the war business.
"For a long time-- [the defense industry] just didn't seem like a sexy area
that has a lot of legs to it," said a partner at one options trading firm.
Well look again, because these former "wallflowers" are ready to go.
Responding to investor interest, stock exchanges are thinking about creating
a new Defense Index. The American Stock Exchange has its 15- stock index up
and running, Philadelphia and Chicago are not far behind.
That is music to the ears of weapons manufacturers. And they have not wasted
any time capitalizing on Congress' new generosity. As a lobbyist for a major
defense contractor boasted, "There are 150 programs on Capitol Hill that we
are actively working."
Congress is still working out the wrinkles of their versions of the military
budgets, but weapons manufacturers and their supporters are confident that
it will be big. "With the [Bush] administration, we'll see a rebuilding of
the military to bring it back to where it was eight years ago," said defense
analyst Paul Nisbet. "We'll see a considerable appreciation in defense
stocks, as we saw in the Reagan years."
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
This Los Angeles-based company manufacturers planes and bombers dropping
munitions on Afghanistan, including the B-2 bomber, the F-14 fighter. The
company also makes the much-praised unmanned Global Hawk. The $10 million
per copy Global Hawk has been deployed to Afghanistan despite the fact that
it had not completed its testing requirements.
The company boasts that it has the capability to "meet current and emerging
national defense needs, including anti-terrorism and homeland security." And
analysts like Loren Thompson agree, "the most immediate hardware demand that
this crisis will generate is for intelligence gathering and command and
control. Those are Northrop's strengths."
In addition to its planes and bombers, the company's Maryland based
Electronic Systems division makes high tech systems like the Airborne
Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), a control center and a huge radar disc
mounted atop a Boeing 707, which serves "as the airborne nerve center for a
military air campaign." Northrop Grumman is also responsible for ALQ-15
jamming device, used to protect jets from enemy radar-guided missiles. As
David Steigman, senior defense analyst for the Teal Group, boasts, "Northrop
Grumman's role is supplying the command control communications and the
intelligence surveillance systems to find the bad guys and bop them in the
head."
When Wall Street opened again on September 17, 2001, Northrop Grumman was
ready to bob those bad guys and its stock had risen 16% to $94 a share in
anticipation of the coming war. Two days after bombing in Afghanistan began;
Northrop Grumman's stock had reached a three-year high of $107.60 a share on
the New York Stock Exchange. The future looks bright and the company has job
openings from more than 1,000 employees. According to a recent article in
the financial magazine Barrons, Northrop Grumman is now seeking $2 billion
in loans and equity investment to expand business opportunities and
acquisitions.
It doesn't hurt that Northrop Grumman has friends in high places, like
Secretary of the Air Force James Roche, former Northrop Grumman Electronics
Systems chief. Since September 11th, Roche has emphasized the need for more
spending on intelligence systems, specifically mentioning Northrop Grumman's
AWACS plane. Not content to rest on its laurels, the company is lobbying
Congress for a $300 million to upgrade the $1.3 billion B-2 Stealth Bomber,
which has successfully completed bombings run in Afghanistan.
RAYTHEON
The Lexington, MA based company is best known for its Tomahawk missile.
About 100 of these million dollar land-attack cruise missiles have been
lobbed at Afghanistan from U.S. Navy ships since October 7th, fifty in the
opening salvo alone.
Orders for Tomahawk missiles are already coming in from allies like Britain,
which signed a contract for 48 Tomahawk missiles in a $87 million deal. And
Raytheon is confident that significant Pentagon orders will follow. As David
Polk, Raytheon spokesman, proudly said, "we are prepared to meet the urgent
needs of our customers."
Raytheon also makes the "bunker buster" GBU- 28, a 5,000-pound bomb and
missiles like the TOW, Maverick and Javelin, all being used in Operation
Enduring Freedom. In addition to missiles, Raytheon also builds sensors and
radars used on unmanned and manned reconnaissance airplanes used extensively
in Afghanistan. This diversity is part of what makes Raytheon the biggest
stock percentage gainer since the war began; on September 10th the company's
stock stood at $26.85, now it is holding at about $32.80. Raytheon is
looking to hire 1,400 new college graduates this year.
The company has been raising money recently. In mid-October, the company
doubled its equity sales program with a major offering. The company raised
about $1 billion by selling 29 million shares. Raytheon says the money will
be used to reduce debt and for general corporate purposes.
In the never ending quest for more contracts, Raytheon has been pushing its
agenda on Capitol Hill; $677 million to work on the next generation of
Patriot cruise missiles and an undisclosed amount to upgrade Tomahawk cruise
missiles.
LOCKHEED MARTIN
Lockheed Martin is the world's largest weapons contractor, a major player in
the areas of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile defense. The company was
recently awarded the world's largest weapons contract ever, a $200 billion
deal to build the Joint Strike Fighter, a "next-generation" combat jet that
eventually will replace aircraft used by the Navy, Air Force and Marine
Corps.
Lockheed Martin did not win the contract on force of personality alone, or
fighter plane design. During the calendar year 2000, Lockheed Martin spent
more than $9.8 million lobbying members of Congress and the Clinton
administration, more than double the $4.2 million the company spent during
1999. Among the company's newest lobbyists: Haley Barbour, the former
chairman of the Republican National Committee. During the 1999-2000 election
cycle, Lockheed Martin contributed just over $2.7 million in soft money, PAC
and individual contributions to federal candidates and parties. More than
two-thirds of that money went to Republicans. Lockheed Martin spends more on
lobbying Congress than any of its competitors, spending a whopping $9.7
million last year. Only General Electric and Philip Morris reported more
lobbying expenses last year.
Since September 11th, the weapons giant has been steaming along. Stock
prices rose almost $10, from $39.39 on September 10th to a high of $48.11 on
November 12th , the stock is now steady above $46. Lockheed Martin makes the
ubiquitous F-16 fighter plane, the Hellfire missile, "bunker buster"
munitions and the massive C-130 transport plane. The F-16 plant in Ft.
Worth, Texas expects to hire as many as 1,200 factory workers to increase
production. They have more than 200 orders to fill from foreign governments
for 1999-2000.
As the largest military contractor, Lockheed Martin has a lot of jobs in the
pipeline. The company wants to go highest tech with its "combat Internet
system," a rugged handheld computer, that will put a "dot-com face on the
modern battlefield." The company is hiring in Silicon Valley, looking to
replace "Rosie the Riveter" with "Suzie the Software Programmer." A recent
Lockheed Martin job fair attracted 1,300 applicants for 290 new positions in
the company's missile defense division. Even while Lockheed Martin
celebrates its JSF successful, it is trying to shore up support for an
additional $3.9 billion for development the F-22 Raptor.
BOEING
The Chicago-based Boeing Company, manufacturer of commercial and military
aircraft, has not had an easy time since September 11th. While other weapons
manufacturers are picking up new orders for weapons, Boeing announced the
lay off of 39,000 workers in its commercial aircraft division.
On the military side, despite losing of the coveted Joint Strike Fighter
contract, Boeing has a lot to be grateful for. Boeing's JDAM (joint direct
attack munitions) is the most widely used smart bomb in the war. The JDAM
kit fits over a "dumb" missile and coverts it into a satellite-guided weapon
using movable fins and a satellite positioning system. According to Pentagon
spokeswoman Victoria Clarke, of the 12,000 bombs the U.S. has dropped on
Afghanistan, 7,200 (about 60%) were precision-guided. Of these, 4,600 were
Boeing's Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The rest were laser-guided bombs or
satellite-guided Raytheon Co. Tomahawk cruise missiles. But there was a
downside, the precision JDAMs have repeatedly missed their targets; crashing
into a residential neighborhood near the Kabul airport on October 12th and
killing at least 10 civilians, falling off target and killing three American
soldiers on December 5th, and wounding five Special Forces soldiers a week
earlier. The Pentagon maintains there is no problem with the weapon, and
insists it will continue to use it.
Since the United States began bombing Afghanistan, Boeing has received two
separate orders for more than 1,074 JDAMs, to be delivered by December 2001
and March 2002. Boeing spokesman Robert Algarotti said the company expects
to receive an additional contract soon. "We don't have anything officially
from the government yet, but we are expecting a new order to come in and
we'll be producing them faster than we have before." As David Baker, retired
Air Force General now with Schwab Washington research, said approvingly,
"Boeing has taken a thrashing, but their military sector is pounding away
like a Ferrari on all cylinders."
JDAMs and Ferraris notwithstanding, the Pentagon's award of the Joint Strike
Fighter contract to rival Lockheed Martin was a major setback for Boeing.
Panicked about commercial losses and military snubs, Boeing has dispatched
an army of lobbyists to Washington and their wish list is a mile long and
more expensive. Boeing is looking for Congress' help in the form of approval
for:
Air Force purchase of 60 Boeing C-17 cargo aircraft under a special
"commercial" provision that removes financial oversight;
Air Force leasing of 100 Boeing 767 planes to be converted into surveillance
planes and mobile command centers for the military;
Protection from billions in potential liability claims stemming from the
9-11 attacks;
Measures to encourage Lockheed Martin to share its Joint Strike Fighter
contract.
These proposals make sense if the goal is saving Boeing, but they make
neither military nor financial sense.
The C-17 Globemaster is Boeing's jumbo military transport plane, which
performed high altitude food drops in Afghanistan. As recently as March
2001, Boeing tried unsuccessfully to make the plane available to commercial
buyers. This time around it seems the company is capitalizing on widespread
sympathy for its commercial losses, but the proposal is still a bad ideal.
Selling the military planes as though they were commercial would allow the
Air Force to bypass important pricing oversight. In addition, the $232
million per copy C-17s aren't all they promised to be. A General Accounting
Office report found that Boeing's failure to rigorously test the C-17 before
production resulted in increased costs of more than $2 billion to the
program.
The plan to lease 100 converted Boeing 767 air-refueling aircraft for a
period of 10 years is a big rip-off for taxpayers too. The Office of
Management and Budget estimates that the lease plan would cost $22 billion,
while purchasing the aircraft outright would cost just over $15 billion-that
is a difference of $7 billion that Boeing can pocket. The aircraft is even
less of a bargain when the $600 million cost of modifying existing hangers
to house the plane is taken into account.
Some officials at the Congressional Budget Office and in the House and
Senate budget committees oppose the leasing plan, contending it is a scam
that adds to the long-term costs. "This would be a first," said G. William
Hoagland, minority staff director on the Senate Budget Committee, of
Boeing's plan. "We've got to maintain some discipline. This just isn't the
time to be adding in this way."
But, cool heads like Mr. Hoagland's might have a hard time prevailing, given
Boeing's political weight. The 767 plan goes before a House-Senate
conference committee next week and Boeing has a lot of well-connected and
important people looking out for its interests. John M. Shalikashvili,
retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is on the Boeing board. Former
Deputy Secretary of Defense, Rudy de Leon heads Boeing's Washington office.
After September 11th Boeing beefed up its political connections by hiring
former Senator Bennett Johnson (D-LA) and former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-NY).
Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, Boeing's senior vice president for
international relations since January, uses his forty years of experience to
generate business for Boeing with foreign governments and corporations.
Also on the Boeing agenda is more money for its portfolio of major
contracts. Boeing is currently working on more than a dozen contracts--
including the expensive F/A-18 fighter jet, the crash prone V-22 Osprey
tilt-rotor aircraft, the AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter and the Airborne
Laser for the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization-- that
account for well over $10 billion in the 2002 Pentagon budget alone.
+ + + +
DiMethylTryptamine
"Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK" <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote
> + + +
Snippage
AFGHANISTAN REGAINS FIRST PLACE IN DRUG AND POPPY CULTIVATION SINCE THE
WITHDRAWAL OF THE TALIBAN
KABUL (Internet News): Since the withdrawal of the Taliban, Afghanistan has
once again regained first place in drug cultivation. An International News
Agency reported from US radio station "WTOP", that the Afghan people were
once again engaged in cultivating drugs. The Taliban had banned drug and
poppy cultivation, which had led to a 90% reduction of drug produce in the
world. According to a report before this ban, the yearly production of drugs
from Afghanistan was 1100 tons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------
They don't grow that quick!
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
Even the UN admitted the NA
were the main cultivators. Maybe
the battle for Tora Bora was just
a fight over one big warehouse
;)
"DiMethylTryptamine" wrote
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote in
Sugar can be used as a fuel source for an explosive. Solid glucose is even
better. Just need to mix it with a crushed solid with lots of oxygen in it.
I imagine a super tanker would make quite the large bang but it would have
to be mixed.
Swarvegorilla
DiMethylTryptamine
Yardie's must be going ballistic for the processed stuff. Could be quite a
fashionable thing. Afghan black tar balls. Or Kandahar Kool, p'raps even
Tora Balls.
"Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK" <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote
in message news:3c266094$0$227$cc9e...@news.dial.pipex.com...
Chyort
Chyort
"DiMethylTryptamine" <Ax...@amxiom.za.net> wrote in message
news:3c2668c9$0$2...@hades.is.co.za...
: mmm.
: >
: >
:
:
Chyort
Chyort
"Swarvegorilla" <endh...@locall.aunz.net> wrote in message
news:BNtV7.12$zN5....@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net...
:
: Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote
:
:
ScottCovey
too!
Happy Holidays to all on the board.
Going South for some meetings and the like as I need to get my world sorted
out, and find me a PJ without any morals. Gambler much preferred!
Best to all.
To those in the field doing nothing Sux 2B U
To those in harms way; Lucky lads add the dream whip and have fun.
Scott to few
Captain to some
AD14GREEN to the rest
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
The army in Burundi says it has killed more than 500 rebels in an operation
against an opposition stronghold near the capital, Bujumbura.
The army attacked the area around the Tenga forest, used by the rebels for
raids on the capital, with heavy artillery and jets.
The BBC's Prime Ndikumagenge in Burundi says that there are hopes that the
rebel defeat might encourage them to enter negotiations with the
reconciliation government, which was sworn in last month.
There is no independent confirmation of the army's death toll, and our
correspondent, who was taken to the area, says Tenga did not show the signs
of an area where such a large number of people were killed.
There were no dead bodies around, nor the stench of their decay, he says.
A junior officer said the army had buried the bodies to be able to occupy
the area.
More than 250,000 people have been killed during the past eight years in the
civil war between the mainly Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-led army.
The fighting intensified last month when the power-sharing government was
set up under the terms of a peace deal.
The National Liberation Army (FNL) did not sign the peace deal.
Instead they stepped up their attacks, particularly in the Bujumbura area,
and had been terrorising and killing people in the northern suburbs of
Kinama and Kamenge.
Under the peace deal, the transitional government, will be led for 18 months
by Tutsi President Pierre Buyoya, who is then to step down for a Hutu head
of state for the latter half of a period prior to elections.
But the FNL and another rebel group, after refusing the sign the deal,
stepped up its attacks.
The army waged a major offensive on rebels in Tenga between October and
December last year when more than 300 people were killed.
But the military was unable to prevent the rebels from regrouping in the
forest at the end of February and launching an attack on the north-eastern
Kinama district of Bujumbura.
More than 200 rebels and around 20 soldiers were killed in the fighting
then, according to official sources.
+ + + +
President Olusegun Obasanjo has sent troops to restore order in
south-western Nigeria, after Justice Minister Bola Ige was shot dead late on
Sunday evening.
The decision was announced after the president held an emergency meeting
with the chiefs of the army, navy, air-force and police, along with his
cabinet.
Mr Ige was shot dead at his home in the south-western city of Ibadan.
He had been enmeshed in political turmoil in the south-western Osun state
which polarised his Alliance for Democracy party.
Last week, a long-running feud between Osun state Governor Bisi Akande and
his deputy, Iyiola Omisore, led to the death of a state legislator.
Mr Ige, 71, backed Mr Akande, who had been deputy governor when Mr Ige was
governor of Oyo state.
Bola Ige himself was recently attacked by a mob in the town of Ile-Ife,
where many politicians are reported to have gone into hiding.
"The culture of violence in politics must be brought to an end throughout
the country, and particularly now in the south-west," said a statement from
the presidency.
Gunmen burst in to Mr Ige's residence at 2200 local time and forced his
wife, Judge Tinuke Ige, to leave their bedroom, the Associated Press news
agency reported, quoting one of Mr Ige's relatives.
He was then shot once in the chest, AP said.
Mr Ige was pronounced dead on arrival at Oluyoro Catholic Hospital.
None of the other people in Mr Ige's home were harmed and nothing was
stolen, an army official told Reuters news agency.
Security guards had been just given permission to leave for a dinner break,
said the official.
Mr Ige's death will be a serious blow to his friend, President Olusegun
Obasanjo, the country's civilian leader who took over from the military in
1999.
"We received the news with great shock," Information Minister Jerry Gana
told Reuters, as he arrived at the presidential villa for the emergency
cabinet meeting.
Mr Ige represented a rival party to Mr Obasanjo's People's Democratic Party,
but Mr Obasanjo made him power minister and later justice minister.
Mr Ige was seen as an important ally, not least because of his strong
standing within the Yoruba community which dominates south-western Nigeria.
Mr Ige had also been outspoken against aspects of Islamic Sharia law which
has been introduced in 13 of the country's northern states over the past
year.
The issue has led to riots in which more than 3,000 people have been
killed - a situation that seriously threatens the country's stability
particularly in the run up to parliamentary and presidential elections next
year and in 2003.
The BBC's Chris Simpson says the government's priority now will be to ensure
that the murder does not set off a fresh round of retaliatory violence.
+ + + +
The Perspective (Smyrna, Georgia)
OPINION
December 24, 2001
Abdoulaye W. Dukule
It was exactly 12 years ago that Liberians and West Africans came to believe
that a group of Nimba warriors led by Charles G. Taylor was launching a
revolution to liberate Liberia from the military dictatorship of Master
Sergeant Samuel K. Doe. In certain quarters in Monrovia, people danced and
sipped champagne. As the war moved towards the capital, it became evident
that the killing spree and destruction of property of "Chucky" and his evil
army was not just targeting Doe and his men, but would kill and burn
everything on its way. The rest, whatever happened to the good intentions
and dreams that started the "revolution" has since been buried under ashes.
No Christmas has since been the same in Liberia.
After 12 years of killing and destruction, it seems that we are far from
seeing the end of the tunnel. In 1989, many thought that Doe was so bad that
anything would be an improvement. Now it is hard to imagine the difference.
Again, there is another war of liberation going on in Liberia. Unlike the
NPFL war, this has not attracted scores of teens and has not gained much
popularity with the people. The reason for the skepticism is simple:
Liberians are weary of "liberations". Doe proved to be much worse than
Tolbert. Taylor made Doe look like an angel. And who knows what the new
group is bringing?
This is about the NPFL and its 12 years of existence. The leaders would be
proud of their accomplishment. Breaking from jail in US and becoming
President ten years later? Only in Liberia!
From a mere 60 trained men, the army grew into a wild bush fire that
overtook the whole country and in a matter of six months, defeated an army
that had received close to $500 million dollars in American aid money.
The NPFL attacked on December 24 1989. By July 1990, Taylor was in Monrovia.
Nobody believed in Doe by the time the war broke up. His army was
demoralized and his political circle was corrupt. Nobody wanted to die for
him. There was nothing but greed. And the regime fell like a paper castle
when all its leaders ran away, securing their families in Maryland or
Philadelphia. Today, those who made Doe the mad and corrupt leader he had
turned into are the same ones today working under Taylor. They have managed
to create the same atmosphere of lies and deceit, finding a friendly ear in
a man who has now reduced his political ambitions to low personal greed.
Together, they have managed to create a fertile ground for international
banditry, where money laundering, arms and drug trafficking have become the
way of business while human life has turns to be the most disposable
commodity. This is about the NPFL anniversary...
Blaise Compaore has shifted? The greatest debate now in Liberian political
circles - at least on the web - is about Burkina Faso. As usual in our
politics, there seems to be very little analysis. I read an opinion piece by
Brother H. Boima Fahnbulleh in the New Democrat. He seems upset about the
fact that Liberian opposition is seeking help from Blaise to undermine
Charles Taylor. Nobody can tell for sure if the Burkina President would
really distance himself from Taylor. But one thing is certain, his national
interests command him to take a new look at Liberia. If this distance
weakens Taylor and takes him somewhere where Liberians get the best out of
him, it should be welcome by all Liberians. Nobody has the monopoly of
solutions in the Liberian crisis and anything that makes us move forward
should be welcome. This is again about the NPFL anniversary...
Brother Boima makes a good point about Taylor. He knows how to use lies. One
of the greatest lies of the Liberian war was about the relationship between
Houphouet Boigny and Taylor. Taylor made everybody believe that Houphouet
was his mentor. This was believable from a Liberian perspective, because of
the close relationship between Houphouet and the Tolbert families. The fact
is that Houphouet never met Taylor before the first meeting of the ECOWAS
peace talks in Yamoussoukro.
Others in the Houphouet entourage worked with Taylor and made lot of money,
facilitating his movements and even recruiting former soldiers for him. The
prefect of Danane who worked closely with Taylor later became the Minister
of National Security in Cote d'Ivoire while Robert Guei became Chief of
Staff of the army. Boima is right in saying that Houphouet was old and he
was also ill.
When the war started, the Ivorian government approached the US government to
find out what they knew. For every one in Cote d'Ivoire, Doe was an American
ally and therefore nothing serious could happen to him. Ivorians were told
by the US embassy that the matter was watched closely from Washington and
that it would be contained in Liberia. Cohen went to Abidjan and re-assured
everyone that the crisis would be contained and that there would be no
spillover in Cote d'Ivoire. There was a powerful pro-Taylor lobby at the
time working the corridors of power in Washington D.C. In March 1991, the
first African -American/African Summit of Dr. Sullivan was held in Abidjan
and brought together every leader of the Black American community. Not a
single word or speech was made about the Liberian war. Taylor manipulated
IGNU with that lie because it prevented IGNU from attempting any
constructive engagement with the Ivorians.
I went to Burkina Faso twice and met with President Compaore during the IGNU
days. He did tell me that he would never let Taylor down. He said that
Taylor was like a brother to him and that no matter what happens, he would
help him. If he can help him personally and stop providing political help,
so much the better for Liberia.
The man to convince in all of this would have been Kaddafi of Libya. It
would have been a good thing if Brother Boima had added to the Sawyer/Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf efforts by going to Libya and talk to the Colonel. According
to Kaddafi, long before Taylor, he had dealt with Boima. Instead of
criticizing efforts by others, every one should try to weigh in where they
can to end the nightmare. The problem in Liberian politics is - we have so
many experts but a very few persons of actions...
It has been a long nightmare. Twelve years of killing and destruction.
Twelve years of lies and manipulation. Now the anniversary will be
celebrated somewhere in Monrovia, with champagne while the rest of the
country goes to bed hungry.
Mr. Taylor, when briefing the Nigerian President, spoke of the killing and
raping of the Liberian children. After 12 years of NPFL, can we count the
dead and raped and put an end to it? Let's talk about rape. A grown man
forcing himself on a 13 or 14 year-old girl that is rape, according to our
laws. Let's talk about rape, Mr. President...
Liberian fighters in Sierra Leone are asked to return home. In 1993, in
Cotonou, the IGNU delegation leader Philip A. Z. Banks made the point that
unless the Sierra Leone crisis was dealt with at the same time we were
solving the Liberian issue, the war would continue. The UN delegation, led
by Gordon Summers said that they would take care of RUF.
Twelve years of NPFL. J. Bernard Blamo died here and was buried by friends
and family. Former president of the University of Liberia, former minister
of education, former minister of foreign affairs, an honorable man. On the
day of his funeral, on Saturday December 22, there were four other Liberian
funerals. So he did not get all the crowd and honors he deserved. He was
buried however with honors, by those who loved him the most, family and
friends. He sure would have loved to be buried at home. Well, since we all
live here now, in this new part of Liberia, thanks to the NPFL. I still
think we ought to all buy lands somewhere south and hold our own free and
fair democratic elections - because there can be no free and fair elections
under Charles Taylor in Liberia. Keep dreaming! On that, I agree with
Brother Boima.
I was at the airport last night to meet a friend. I met another friend while
waiting for the Ghana Airways flight. He thinks we should talk to Charles
Taylor and tell him that nothing would happen to him if he decides to just
leave the presidency and retire... I laughed and my friend asked why.
"Taylor is not that stupid," I told him.
Air Burkina is bankrupt now because the Liberian government owes them so
much money. Well, Blaise, you look for it. Taylor got out of jail, nobody
knows how. He tricked every one, from Accra to Ouagadougou to Tripoli and
now he his president. Lasse, manager of a small hotel in Abidjan, who
provided rooms and service to Taylor and his men still has the gold watch
Taylor gave him... The president still has to go back and redeem that watch.
Air Burkina can wait... This is about the anniversary of the NPFL.
No more checkpoints in Monrovia? Watch out for the guy on the roof...
Counselor Wesseh, of the Liberian Mission at the UN died a few weeks ago. He
is one of hundreds of people representing the NPP government around the
world and not getting paid. How does this Taylor-man get people to work for
him without paying them? What's wrong with us? Is this nationalism or what?
Theodore T. Hodge wrote here about a week ago, asking "Whose side you are
on?" And wondering why Liberians don't revolt and throw the NPP regime out.
Simple. Remember the rice riots of 1979? People have been deceived so many
times, they are tired trying. See where Baccus Matthews is now? About Baccus
Matthews, I can now reveal something he told me in Cotonou, in October 1992.
He said that he never wanted to lead a social revolution nor be president.
He says he is more a king maker than a king. When he spoke out in US against
Tolbert, he was simply trying to get the money he thought government owed
him. Before he knew it, people came around him, gave him money and a
platform and he found himself in the forefront. He said all he wanted was
his salary so he could buy a house and write a book... It is not too late. I
think Baccus is very honest. He was simply taken too seriously too soon.
The most incredible thing that happened during the reign of the NPP is - the
Supreme Court came back to impose a new sentence on people who had already
been tried. The 13 Krahn men accused of conspiracy. Bai Gbala and others are
now free. The others are still in jail. Roosevelt Johnson is on the run.
Tom Woewiyu spoke of cannibalism when he broke away from Taylor in 1994. Is
this why he is not returning home? Has Pat Robertson learned about that?
Isnt that a good reason for him to disengage from his relationship with the
Taylor regime?
This article was an attempt to write an anniversary paper of the NPFL. I am
sure there are a lot of good writers in Monrovia now ready to pen down all
the accomplishments of the NPP. The mass graves in Gbarnga; the torture
chambers in Gbarnga and at the Executive Mansion; the five American nuns
murdered by NPP; the new experimental marijuana and opium fields in Palala;
the diamond mines; the hungry children; the dark alleys in Monrovia; and the
little envelopes (crumbs from their boss) they receive after every three
months.
I am tempted to write about the more than one 1000 kids to whom the
University of Liberia handed diplomas last week. Congratulations. But guess
what? There are no jobs. If you get one, there is no money to pay you. And b
y the way, how can you graduate with a degree in science and never having
set foot in a lab? A generation of semi-literate is awaiting the next
government. Just keep Ben Roberts on the ground to be Minister of Labor.
+ + + +
salut! All!
;)
Swarvegorilla
Stick 'em in your mouth and suck 'em.........
Chyort <chy...@austin.rr.com> wrote in message
news:zlxV7.103666$zp5.4...@typhoon.austin.rr.com...
Swarvegorilla
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK <Eat...@TheGatesOfHeavenlyPussy.Com> wrote in
> Prefer this?
>
> ;)
>
> LIVE ACCOUNT OF CHILD SOLDIER EXPERIENCE WITH THE REBELS.
much much better.
Chyort
;-)
Chyort
"Swarvegorilla" <endh...@locall.aunz.net> wrote in message
news:wAxW7.26$gz6....@nsw.nnrp.telstra.net...
: Oilve salty balls
: > :
: > :
: >
: >
:
:
Rizla Ranger (Re-Energised) UK
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 25, 2001
Four British warships have docked in the Kenyan Indian Ocean port of Mombasa
for a two-week stopover, port officials told AFP on Sunday.
The officials said that aircraft-carrier HMS Illustrious and frigate HMS
Southampton early on Sunday joined submarine Trafalgar and general supply
vessel Diligence, which had earlier docked at the port.
But Kenyan officials remained tight-lipped on the presence of these vessels,
believed here to be part of British forces deployed in the US-led Afghan war
on terrorism.
British High Commissioner Edward Clay was scheduled to hold a press
conference at 3.00 pm on board the HMS Illustrious, which arrived early on
Sunday morning, British consular officials said.
The officials stressed that the vessels were not involved in the Afghan war,
"but were part of the fleet currently patrolling the Arabian Sea".
Kenya Navy spokesman Major John Gitongu, was unavailable to speak to the
press, with an aide referring journalists to Bongita Ongeri, the defence
ministry spokesman in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"It is a normal presence... the vessels are booked for at least a
fortnight's stay here," a top Kenya Ports Authority official said.
+ + + +
The Nation (Nairobi)
December 25, 2001
Mwakera Mwajefa
The British Government has denied claims that its warships docked at the
Kilindini harbour were preparing to launch attacks on Somalia in the
continuing war against terror campaign.
The British High Commissioner to Kenya, Mr Edward Clay, yesterday said the
more than 1,000 Royal Navy sailors were at the port of Mombasa for
recreational purposes.
"These sailors have been operating in a broad area of the Indian Ocean for a
long time and are here to rest and be with their families," he said.
The envoy said he was pleased that the marines had boosted the tourism
industry at the coastal town as most hotels had reported good business.
Mr Clay, who called on the Coast Provincial Commissioner, Mr Samuel Limo,
dismissed reports that the sailors were at the port for strikes against
Somalia in the war against terror.
Mr Limo also dismissed reports of the alleged build-up, saying: "If the
British navy wants to attack Somalia, they can do it in the high seas and
not from Kenya's territory."
He described the sailors' visit as a blessing to the tourism industry.
"We are happy that our hotels are fully booked for the Christmas and New
Year festivities," the PC said.
Captain C.R. Style, the commander of the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious,
told the Nation the sailors were in Mombasa for the Christmas break.
"We have more than 1,000 sailors from the five ships that have already
docked at the port of Mombasa. There is nothing sinister about our visit
here. We just want to enjoy your facilities during this season," the
captain, who accompanied Mr Clay, said.
Colonel Ralph Barnes, the defence advisor at the High Commission, complained
that the Press had misinterpreted the purpose of the visit.
The vessels are part of the allied warships which have been involved in the
war against terror in Afghanistan.
Among the ships that have docked at the port are submarine HMS Trafalgar,
supply ship RFA Diligence, HMS Illustrious and HMS Southampton. Several
other vessels are expected.
He added that on Sunday he was aboard HMS Illustrious for a get-together
where the anxious marines wanted to disembark so as to exploit our
recreational facilities.
Mr Limo said the government had intensified security to ensure that there
were no incidents during the festive season.
Mr Clay said he was impressed with the rehabilitation work done on the
Mombasa/Nairobi highway, adding that the road was an important link to
Uganda and southern Sudan.
+ + + +
This Day (Lagos)
December 25, 2001
Godwin Haruna With Agency Report
Fourteen people were killed and several injured in an ambush by suspected
ethnic Tiv militiamen in Nasarawa State, officials said Monday.
The people were shot Friday at Ribi while returning from neighbouring Jigawa
State after condolence visit, Nassarawa government spokesman Rabiu Abdullahi
told AFP.
"The militia directed their attack on the vehicle, which they sprayed with
bullets," he said.
Abdullahi said the killers immediately fled the scene of the incident.
The past few months have seen bloody ethnic violence in the North Central
States of Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa leaving hundreds of people dead and
many more rendered homeless.
In June and July hundreds died in Nasarawa infighting between ethnic Tivs
and rival groups over land and political power.
The crisis in Nasarawa State escalated when in June this year the
traditional rule of Azara Village and Adviser to Governor Abdullahi Adamu
was murdered along with six others by unidentified persons on Azara road in
Awe Local Council area of the state.
The crisis which led to the sacking of many villages along the border
between Benue and Nasarawa States, also produced thousands of refugees on
both sides of the clashes.
In September, fighting erupted between Tivs and Jukuns on the border between
Benue and Taraba states.
In October, a Tiv militia killed 19 soldiers sent to the area to keep the
peace, and two weeks later the army carried out a reprisal attack, killing
more than 200 civilians.
In the reprisal attack that followed the killing of the soldiers, four Benue
villages, notably Zaki Biam were razed down by troops of the Nigerian Army.
But the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Alexander Ogomudia denied that the
soldiers who carried out the attack were on revenge mission. Rather, he
rationalised that the soldiers might have acted in self defence.
Against the backdrop of the frequent crises in the affected areas, the
Federal Government set up the Justice Okechukwju Opene judicial commission
of Inquiry to investigate the toot causes of the conflagrations in Benue,
Nasarawa, Plateau and Taraba states.
The nine-man judicial commission was also empowered to identify causes of
prolonged tension and conflicts between the communities and advise on
strategies for ensuring lasting peace.
Furthermore, it has the mandate to identify individuals and groups that
might have contributed in one way or the other to the prolonged crises and
recommend appropriate sanctions where necessary.
The latest incident of killings appears to have put a question mark on the
peace efforts of the Federal Government and the affected state governments.
+ + + +
This Day (Lagos)
December 25, 2001
Peter Umar-Omale
Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday gave an insight into how Attorney-General
and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige was trailed to his Ibadan Bodija
residence and assassinated.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Professor Jerry Gana told
State House Correspondents yesterday in Abuja that these facts were
contained in the reports submitted by the Inspector-General of Police and
Director State Security Services, SSS, to yesterday's emergency security
council meeting, presided over by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He revealed that "the assassins must have been trailing the honourable
minister's convoy, the report was that both the security detail and the
police orderly went to eat. They were away from the compound just briefly."
Gana continued: "It was during that time that the assassins, about five of
them went into the house, overpower the other security at the gate and then
it happened ... very very sad and tragic."
The gateman, according to him, was overpowered.
On the security implications to other ministers henceforth, Gana announced
that "when ministers and other public officers are being given extra
security, it is not because they like it. but because the health, peace and
security of the nation is affected if anything were to happen to them."
"We hope that the public itself would look favourably at extra security for
those in public service because you don't know who and who may be reacting
to them - our security system has been very very low-keyed," he stated.
The reason for this, according to the minister, was because of a deliberate
policy of the administration to play down on security, a decision which he
noted would immediately be reviewed because of the killing of Chief Ige.
In his contribution, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Tunji Oseni revealed that there had been a huge outpouring of
question from Nigeria missions abroad, since the news of the death of Chief
Ige became public.
His words, "we are in touch with all our missions overseas, there's been a
lot of enquiries from them, since this morning ... we hasve also informed
them of what government is doing to manage the situation."
Oseni said also that the cancellation of the President's trip to Zimbabwe
was because the botched trip clashed with an urgent national interest,
though he kept sealed lips on the nature of the President's trip.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 25, 2001
Following approval by the World Bank of the Bujagali hydro power project,
AES Nile Power executives have said construction of the dam will begin in
the next 30 days.
The chairman of the Uganda Land Commission, Bweseri Mulondo, on Dec. 20
handed a construction permit, certificate of permit, lease agreement, and a
water licence to Mark Fitzpatrick, vice president of the US firm AES
Corporation, which owns the project, at a ceremony at Sheraton Hotel.
"This marks the end of the beginning of the construction of the biggest
project ever on the African continent," said Fitzpatrick
"We will be ready in the next 30 days to start construction, though we still
have a lot of paper work to do."
Finance Minister Gerald Ssendaula, Minister for Energy and Mineral
Development Syda Bbumba, World Bank and African Development Bank officials,
witnessed the ceremony.
"I think environmentalists have no choice but to support the project," said
World Bank Uganda mission director Nobert Mugwagwa.
"We have shown them support," said Juste Rwamabuga, ADB division manager for
the infrastructure and private sector department.
"Statistics show that power is needed for Uganda to do away with poverty."
ADB has approved a 10-year loan of US $55m, including a 4-year grace period,
for the project.
"It has always been a pleasure to do business with [President] Museveni,"
said AES Country Director Christian Wright.
"He is honest and straight forward. Without his occasional intervention we
would not have come this far."
Construction of the dam is expected to be completed in 44 months.
AES Nile Power will develop, construct, operate, and maintain the Bujagali
hydropower plant and sell electricity to the Uganda Electricity Transmission
Company Ltd under a 30-year power purchase agreement.
The total project cost will be financed through a combination of equity,
debt, and internal cash generation.
AES Corporation, through its various subsidiaries will provide equity of
about US $115m.
Credit of US $468m will be provided through an International Finance
Corporation loan.
A World Bank inspection panel however is reported to be still evaluating the
project for environmental impact, and findings are due in late January.
+ + + +
The Monitor (Kampala)
December 26, 2001
Mugabi Frank in Nebbi
Two people were Dec. 17, lynched by an angry mob in Arumgbele village,
Kucwiny sub-county in Nebbi district for allegedly killing a resident by
poisoning.
Nebbi District Police Commander, Onyai Samson, confirmed the brutal murder
of Fulumena Nyabongo and her son William Ayika.
The mob accused the two of poisoning one Ukwai Opio to death.
A member of Opio's family said the elders had consulted a witchdoctor who
told them Nyabongo and Ayika were the ones who poisoned the deceased.
Four people have been arrested in connection with Nyabongo and Ayika's
murder.
+ + + +
VOA
In Colombia, the left-wing guerrillas are turning to new targets, including
oil to squeeze the government. The country's second-largest oil field,
operated by the U.S. company Occidental Oil, has long been a target for
sabotage.
But this year, guerrilla attacks on the pipeline have become ferocious,
choking off the local economy, poisoning the environment, and causing a huge
drain on the military.
The morning begins with helicopters, bringing a handful of Occidental Oil
executives and visitors to the company's base camp on Colombia's eastern
plains.
After a baggage search by Colombian soldiers, a heavy metal turnstile allows
you into Occidental's spacious compound. Overhead, a phantom jet, equipped
with infrared surveillance, cruises the blue sky - part of the Occidental
security team.
Larry Meriage is spokesman for Occidental. He admits pumping oil in Colombia
is a serious security challenge. "We really are an island surrounded by a
sea of guerrillas," he said. "The guerrillas control the highways. It would
be very dangerous for our people to be moving around on the roads,
particularly, if you have senior staff coming in from Bogota. So, we use
helicopters."
The main threat to production at the Cano Limon oil field this year is
really down the pipeline that carries the oil from the plains to the
Caribbean coast.
Forty kilometers from the Occidental camp, potholes of petroleum are still
sizzling, two days after rebels blew a hole in the pipeline. This was
pipeline attack number 162, this year.
A swath of land the size of three football fields has been scorched to a
deep fried black. At the center, a huge bonfire spews black billows of smoke
into the air.
Two dozen soldiers walk cautiously around the burn site, alert to a possible
follow-up ambush or hidden landmines left behind by the rebels. The
guerrillas have attacked the pipeline so frequently this year, the
Cano-Limon oil field has been paralyzed more than half the year.
Captain Carlos Castro, leader of the mobile army unit guarding the site,
explains that the day before, in the nearby town of Saravena, it rained oil.
People looked at their clothes and realized it was raining black drops, said
Castro. The smoke from a pipeline attack had gathered in the clouds and came
down in the rain. More than 300,000 barrels of oil have spilled this year,
most of it into lush wetlands - the habitat of hundreds of species of birds
and reptiles.
But the rebel attacks are so frequent, the state oil company Ecopetrol has
stopped trying to clean it up. Mr. Meriage explains. "Because of the more
aggressive tactics of the guerillas now," he said, "it is not safe for the
crews to remain in the areas, so basically there has been a policy decision
made by Ecopetrol under those circumstances. They simply allow nature to
take its course."
In past years, the rebels behind the attacks were usually members of the
ELN - the smaller of Colombia's two left-wing guerrilla groups. They blew up
the pipeline as a statement, rebel leaders said, against what they
considered greedy profiteering by Occidental. But more than anything, the
attacks gave the ELN publicity.
And they usually spaced out their attacks, so they rarely affected
production or oil royalties. In the towns around here, everyone lives off
oil royalties, including the ELN.
According to Colombian oil consultant Robert Stewart, the ELN demand a cut
from every business. He said, "Even from the distribution of beer to
Coca-Cola. Bus contractors, boat operators, virtually everybody is
extorted."
But this year, the dynamite changed hands. Now, the country's larger, most
aggressive rebel group, the FARC, has taken over the attacks with such
ferocity, production and royalties have petered out. The region is gasping.
Some believe the FARC's trying to starve out the ELN and take over the
region.
But Mr. Meriage believes their main target is the Colombian government.
After all, oil is Colombia's number one export. He said, "The loss to
Colombia this year if you look at royalty payments, the share of production
is approaching half a billion dollars. So if you're the guerrillas, and one
of your objectives is to undermine the authority of the government and
weaken it economically, by attacking the oil infrastructure, you do that."
The attacks are now drawing the wrath of the U.S. government. The U.S.
Ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson, recently announced the U.S. will
offer Colombia's public forces training to protect the pipeline. Since
September 11, Mrs. Patterson has taken a harder line with the Colombian
rebels, comparing them to al-Qaida terrorists.
Officials at Occidental are hopeful it may be a sign that Washington may
step in to give more direct support to the Colombian army, especially where
economic interests are at stake.
+ + + +
27 December 2001 : http://www.azzam.com
Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in Afghanistan
TORA BORA (Institute for Islamic Studies and Research): During the last
week, the Hamza Al-Ghamidi unit in the Tora Bora region has shot down four
American warplanes and killed approximately 140 US Special Forces soldiers
in a series of daily, multiple ambushes. Having withdrawn from parts of Tora
Bora about ten days ago, the Mujahideen split up into small units in order
to engage US Paratroopers that had dropped in the region in order to search
its caves. Due to the cowardly nature of the American troops, they dropped
'Hummvee' jeeps and armoured vehicles with the soldiers. In a series of
well-planned, multiple daily ambushes, the Hamza Al-Ghamidi unit attacked
several bases and units of the Crusaders, killing approximately 140 of them.
For the hypocrites and those with diseased hearts, such a figure is
difficult to expect. However, in comparison with Mujahideen ambushes in
Chechnya, a figure of 20 soldiers killed per day in multiple attacks, is
actually quite small. It should be larger, but where it has not been
possible to determine enemy dead, a lower figure has been given. The
question arises, do the Mujahideen go round and count each dead body to
arrive at these figures? The answer is that some dead bodies are clearly
left behind and counted, whilst others are estimated from the number of
destroyed vehicles. For example, if a Hummvee jeep with a normal capactiy of
eight troops is destroyed and burnt to the shell, one can be confident that
all eight troops on board were killed. As for the four warplanes, they were
shot down using ordinary Anti-Aircraft weapons.
This report refutes the false claims by the World's media that the war is
over in North East Afghanistan. Rather, it is proof that the promised
guerilla war by the Mujahideen has begun and time will tell who was lying
and who was speaking the truth.
There are no Chechen Mujahideen in Tora Bora, as has been repeatedly claimed
by the Crusader media, that there are 200 of them. At no stage during the
fighting in Tora Bora have there been any Chechen Mujahideen. These claims
are made by the media in cheap attempts to 'incriminate' the Chechens as
terrorists linked to Usama Bin Ladin, whom it is worthy to fight and kill.
PAKISTAN ABOUT TO BE REWARDED FOR AFGHAN POLICY
LAHORE (Special Report): The apostate Government of Pakistan is about to be
rewarded for its anti-Islamic policy on Afghanistan. India is about to
attack Pakistan as retaliation for the recent attacks on its Parliament,
which India has blamed on Pakistan. Pakistan, meanwhile, still fails to
understand what is happening and continues to place its full trust in the
Crusaders. It is similar to a situation of sheep that have not yet been
killed, going to other wolves to seek their protection against the wolf that
is killing them. Pakistan continues its war against Islam by placing the
renowned Mujahid scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Masood Azhar (may Allah protect
him), under house arrest and by freezing the assets of two Mujahideen
groups, Lashkar-Tayyibah and Jaish-e-Muhammad. If war breaks out between
India and Pakistan, US and Israeli troops, who have been training in America
since 1995 for this mission, will immediately enter Pakistan and neutralise
Pakistan's nuclear capability, on the pretence that the nuclear material is
not in safe hands and they might be used in the war. Of course, nothing will
happen to India because India is really part of the Crusader Coalition,
unlike Pakistan, that is only being used and will be thrown into the garbage
bin of history once the Crusaders have finished with it.
The current government and current military and intelligence of Pakistan
will, meanwhile, go down in history as being the first Pakistan
administration to openly wage war against Islam and the Muslims, something
that was not even done by the likes of the secular Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz
Shareef. President Musharraf of Pakistan has even publicly announced that he
wishes Pakistan to follow in the footsteps of Kamal Ataturk, the Jew who was
responsible for destroying the Caliphate in Turkey, banning hijab and
secularising Turkey last century. Musharraf was educated in Turkey and
therefore maintains deep emotions for the Zionist ideals instilled by
Ataturk. The day will come, insha-Allah, when Allah will humiliate and
punish Pakistan for its stance. And with the current border tension
situation, it seems like this day is not far.
+ + + +
Boston Globe
12/25/2001
The shoes of the suspected suicide bomber subdued aboard an American
Airlines flight Saturday contained alarmingly sophisticated, working bombs
with enough explosive power to cause a disaster, law enforcement officials
said yesterday.
In addition, a state official who asked not to be identified told the Globe
that the bombs contained a complex mix of explosive materials that has
raised questions about whether the suspect had assistance.
The alleged bomber, still tentatively identified as 28-year-old British
national Richard C. Reid, appeared in federal court in Boston yesterday,
amid growing concern about how he was able to board a flight in Paris
apparently with enough explosives to bring down the plane.
''The gravity of the situation is becoming more and more serious as time
goes on,'' the state official said.
Boston FBI Special Agent in Charge Charles S. Prouty said the bomb ''would
have resulted in significant damage.'' The quick thinking of the passengers
and crew, who subdued the suspect in a frenzied melee, averted ''a major
disaster,'' Prouty said.
Reid allegedly tried to light the tongue of one shoe with a match Saturday
on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami before he was
overpowered.
A preliminary examination of his black suede basketball sneakers found four
or five ounces of explosive material packed in each one, as well as
rope-like material known as detonator cord, the state official said.
The sneakers were hollowed out slightly on the inside to accommodate the
explosive, with each one marked by drill holes from which a detonator cord
emerged.
To explode the material under normal circumstances, a bomber must use a
battery or blasting cap. The FBI, however, found that there was a substance
blended with the explosive that would have caused it to detonate if it were
exposed long enough to a sustained flame.
''The belief is now that if he had a lighter and not a match, the thing
would have detonated,'' the official said. ''They're trying to find out as
much as they can, as fast as they can about the guy.''
Chris Ronay, former head of the FBI's explosives unit and now president of
the Institute of Makers of Explosives, said there are ingredients that can
be added to explosive material that allow it to be detonated by an open
flame.
FBI technicians in Washington are planning to duplicate the material and
detonate it under laboratory conditions, the state official said.
Because of the complexity of concocting such an explosive, FBI agents
believe that Reid must have had an accomplice, according to the state
official.
Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate
Intelligence Committee, said of Reid and the materials,
''He certainly didn't get them at the corner grocery store.''
Law enforcement officials in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said that as of yesterday, investigators had not uncovered any evidence
linking Reid to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network or other terrorist
groups.
And contrary to earlier reports, the state official said Reid had a
round-trip ticket from Miami to Antigua for Saturday.
Reid, who officials said had a legitimate British passport, was ordered held
in federal custody in Boston yesterday as investigators continued to try to
nail down his identity and determine whether he acted alone.
His shoulder-length hair frizzy and matted, he lumbered into federal court
yesterday morning in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles, looked around the
room and took a seat alone at the defense table.
When US Magistrate Judge Judith Dein asked Reid if he understood that he was
charged with interfering with a flight crew, an crime punishable by up to 20
years in prison, he answered, ''Yeah.'' When asked, Reid requested a
court-appointed lawyer.
Assistant US Attorney James Lang warned Dein that Reid was a flight risk and
a danger to the public and urged her to hold him without bail. Dein did so
and set a Friday detention hearing..
Before the hearing yesterday, Reid met with Kathy Tunsley, an officer with
the British Consulate General in Boston.
''That would be our practice whenever there is someone who is British, or
presumed to be British, charged with a serious crime,'' said Terri Evans,
press officer for the consulate. ''What you want to ensure is that they are
being treated fairly and as an American citizen would be treated.''
Reid, who's being held in the Plymouth County House of Correction, has been
under 24-hour observation since Saturday night, said Mike Seele, spokesman
for Sheriff Joseph F. McDonough. He was scheduled to undergo a medical and
psychological exam yesterday. If a doctor finds that he is not a danger to
himself, he'll be moved into the facility's maximum security unit, Seele
said.
So far, Seele said Reid has been ''quiet'' and ''cooperative.''
''He does speak English well,'' Seele said. ''He speaks with an English
accent, very fluently.''
Law enforcement officials said that, except for lengthy meetings with FBI
agents yesterday, Reid was in 23-hour lockdown, segregated from other
prisoners and allowed only one hour outside his cell to exercise.
The probe into his identity and possible links to terrorist groups,
meanwhile, continued on both sides of the Atlantic as FBI agents compared
notes with their counterparts in Britain's New Scotland Yard.
''The FBI is coordinating a very thorough and aggressive investigation,''
said Prouty. ''We're considering every possibility.'' Alison Clark, a
spokeswoman for New Scotland Yard, declined to comment on the investigation,
except to say that authorities there ''believe that he [Reid] is a British
citizen.''
Other than that, little information emerged about Reid's identity. A report
in the Mirror newspaper in London said birth records show a man with the
same name and birth year had been born in East London. Published reports
have also suggested that Reid is a native of Sri Lanka named Tariq Raja and
that he has also used the alias Abdel Rahim.
A former US counterterrorism official yesterday said he believes authorities
should look hard at whether Reid is connected to Al Qaeda or other groups.
''I doubt very much there is a lone person just trying to blow up a plane,''
said Vincent Cannistraro, former head of CIA counterterrorism.
Ralph Ranalli and Ellen Barry of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Material from the Associated Press was also used.
+ + + +
http://www.guardian.co.uk/graphic/0,5812,624724,00.html
+ + + +
Telegraph
URANIUM has been found in an al-Qa'eda base outside Kandahar - the first
evidence that Osama bin Laden had obtained materials for a nuclear arsenal,
it was revealed yesterday.
The discovery gives some credibility to the fear that he could unleash a
weapon of mass destruction as his dying act.
Anti-Taliban leaders in Kandahar revealed that the uranium and other
materials, including cyanide, had been discovered in a tunnel complex
beneath the former base near the city's airport. The find was confirmed by
American officials.
It was also revealed that when tribal forces took the al-Qa'eda complex
earlier this month they found hundreds of jars, drums and metal cases in an
underground labyrinth at the desert compound where Arab fighters staged a
bloody last stand before Kandahar was surrendered by the Taliban.
The cache included low-grade uranium 238, which could be used to make a
so-called "dirty bomb" if wrapped around a conventional explosive. It would
spread radiation over a large area.
Specialised equipment and facilities would be needed to turn uranium 238
into a fissile device like the Hiroshima bomb, and so it would not be
suitable for building such a weapon.
American intelligence officials told Newsweek magazine that al-Qa'eda had
enough of the material to make a "dirty bomb" and it seems certain that
their knowledge is based on the discovery at Kandahar airport.
Haji Gullalai, now the interim intelligence chief for Kandahar province,
told The Telegraph that immediately after capturing the airport area, his
men had entered one tunnel and discovered the materials in a vast
underground workshop.
The find was reported the same day to "international military personnel",
thought to be American special forces, who sent experts wearing masks and
protective clothing to examine the substances, Mr Gullalai said.
He added: "We knew we were not well equipped to deal with these things so we
called in foreign experts who told us it was uranium.
"For our own safety we did not touch the bottles but from a distance we saw
there were hundreds of different kinds of containers - small jars and big
jars, sealed with metal lids and containing powders and liquids, white and
yellowish in colour.
"There were big drums the size of petrol drums and metal boxes with sides
seven or eight inches thick. The bottles were labelled in four different
languages - Chinese, Russian, Arabic and English."
American officials said that Russia, the states of the former Soviet Union,
China and Pakistan were all possible sources for the uranium.
It has been estimated that several hundred Arab al-Qa'eda fighters were
killed in the battle for the airport, led by Gul Agha - now Kandahar's new
governor - with Mr Gullalai playing a senior commanding role.
The area where the tunnels were found is known locally as Turnak Farms. It
is thought to have been the al-Qa'eda network's principal training and
military base in southern Afghanistan and and held up to 1,800 people.
Kandahar airport has now been taken over by around 1,500 US marines and
coalition forces.
+ + + +
HECTOR TOBAR and PAULA GOBBI
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
December 26 2001
CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay -- To their defenders, the communities at the
junction of the Parana and Iguacu rivers are little more than freewheeling
border towns where you can see spectacular waterfalls and shop for cheap
goods.
In the much grimmer vision of international police and U.S. diplomats, the
communities on the triple border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina are
hide-outs for terrorists who are poised to wreak havoc on South America and
the rest of the world.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, these two visions of the triple border region
and its large Arab and Muslim communities have shaped a conflict that is
being played out on the streets here and in two nearby towns: Foz do Iguacu,
Brazil, and Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. Anti-terrorist police have raided
shops and neighborhoods, with masked agents hauling off about a score of
Arab men for questioning. Leaders of the Muslim community and others
responded Nov. 11 with a march of more than 30,000 people, charging that
outsiders had slandered their community.
"There is no history of terrorism or racial discrimination in this region,"
said Faisel Saleh, one of the event's organizers.
That claim is disputed by U.S. officials and others, who say that the
region's permeable borders and vibrant smuggling trade have made it an ideal
haven for Islamic militant groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, which is on
the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.
In a report issued in April, the department called the region a "focal
point" for such militants in Latin America.
"We do have indications and have had indications of individuals and groups
[in the region] with links to Islamic extremists in the Middle East," said
Mark Davidson, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay.
Last month, Paraguayan prosecutors ordered the detention of Assad Ahmad
Barakat, whose electronics store was the target of an October police raid in
which officials found documents, videotapes and other materials said to
promote Hezbollah.
Paraguayan authorities say Barakat is hiding in Brazil. But Brazilian
officials, who are skeptical that the region is linked to terrorism, say
there are no formal charges against him in their country.
Among those who have downplayed the terrorist threat is Joaquin Mesquita,
Brazil's federal police chief in Foz do Iguacu. Mesquita also heads a
commission created by the three nations to share intelligence.
"Representatives of the three nations . . . concluded there are no
terrorists in the region because they lack proof to the contrary," Mesquita
said.
During a U.S. visit last month, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique
Cardoso said the streets of the triple border area were "safer than London."
Still, in recent years there have been a series of cases that establish
links, though often tenuous, between the region and acts of terrorism on
three continents.
Argentine authorities, for example, have long suspected that attacks in the
1990s against the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish cultural center in Buenos
Aires were organized here. Corrupt police officers who allegedly helped
carry out the attacks frequented this area, although it remains unclear what
aspect of the crime--if any--was planned here.
In 1996, a tip from Argentine officials led to the arrest of a Lebanese
national who was allegedly planning to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion.
Mohammed Mokles, an Egyptian charged in two attacks on tourists in Egypt
that left a total of 76 people dead in 1996 and 1997, later surfaced in Foz
do Iguacu, where he lived with his family. Mokles, who is alleged to have
trained in a camp run by Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network, recently was
arrested in Uruguay after crossing from Brazil.
But local officials in this region have established no direct link between
the Muslim community and the Sept. 11 attacks.
Within a few weeks of the attacks, Paraguayan agents, many wearing hoods to
conceal their identities, fanned out across the narrow streets of Ciudad del
Este and other border communities. They detained at least 17 men. All but
two have been released.
Officials suspect that, at the very least, the region's highly successful
Arab entrepreneurs are providing financial backing for Muslim radicals.
"Surely there are supporters in this area," said Augusto Lima, a spokesman
for the Paraguayan national police, referring to backers of Hezbollah and
another Arab militant group, Hamas. "But it is very difficult to follow the
money trail. We have no evidence of a financial support network."
Some leaders of the Arab community have been known to publicly back
organizations such as Hezbollah, which are seen by many in the Muslim world
as akin to the French Resistance of World War II.
But since Sept. 11, Muslim leaders have been at pains to distance themselves
and their community from the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
"We do not support any kind of terrorism," said Sheik Taleb Johmha, a leader
in the Muslim community of Foz do Iguacu. "We do not have any person of this
society who is guilty of this. If you have any evidence, please let us
know."
Taleb spoke near a mosque where the daily calls to prayer echo through a
courtyard on Palestine Street.
The large Muslim community in Latin America dates to the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. Arab traders began migrating to
the remote jungle communities here after Paraguay established Ciudad del
Este in the 1950s as its window to the much larger and more affluent
Brazilian and Argentine economies.
There are 15,000 to 25,000 people of Arab descent in the triple border
region. Residents and tourists in Ciudad del Este can cross between Paraguay
and Brazil on foot, often without documents.
The lack of border controls and a tolerance of smuggling have helped create
the image of the triple border as a lawless Wild West. A variety of
organized crime groups from Asia and elsewhere are said to be active here.
Add the rumors of terrorist cells, and you have a disaster for the region's
tourism industry, which is more developed on the Brazilian side of the
border.
Neuso Rafagnin, the top Brazilian tourism official in the region, said "all
of these unfounded reports on terrorism" have reduced the number of people
traveling to the triple border. Hotel bookings are down as much as 50%
compared with last year.
Among those rushing to the defense of the area was Brazil's outgoing justice
minister, Jose Gregori, who said he would investigate complaints of a "witch
hunt" in Foz do Iguacu's Muslim community.
"An entire city is being made the victim of a discriminatory campaign," the
minister said.
+ + + +
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 23, 2001
JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- In May 1996, Osama bin Laden and his entourage of
three wives, 13 children and a cadre of Arab militants and bodyguards
arrived at the Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan at the invitation of
a powerful local military commander eager to offer bin Laden refuge after
his expulsion from Sudan.
Jalalabad, a chaotic commercial trading center close to Pakistan and a few
hours' drive from a catacomb of mountain hideaways known as Tora Bora,
became the gateway for bin Laden's audacious attempt to build an autonomous,
multinational army of religious warriors and global terrorists within the
boundaries of a sovereign state.
Last week, forces charged with that mission lost their last foothold in
Afghanistan, just south of here, when they were reportedly pushed out of the
mountain hide-outs where they had retreated after the collapse of the
Taliban regime and under intense U.S. bombing in retaliation for the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks.
Bin Laden's five-year sojourn in Afghanistan is veiled in many mysteries.
But a portrait of his organization is emerging from clues left scattered
during al Qaeda's retreat, in accumulating documents and in abandoned houses
and training camps, as well as from interviews with Taliban insiders and
Afghans who knew the al Qaeda fighters.
Much of the evidence suggests that while preparing a loose network of
terrorist cells for actions abroad, bin Laden created a society within a
society in Afghanistan. Al Qaeda ran its own schools and grocery stores. It
maintained offices, laboratories and aircraft. Shielded by a sympathetic
government and forbidding topography, it housed, fed and trained thousands
of recruits in guerrilla warfare at training camps and in Kabul's best
neighborhoods.
Contrary to earlier images of the group's members as guests of the country's
Taliban rulers, recent evidence points to a more complicated relationship of
power. Al Qaeda used bin Laden's personal fortune and his ability to raise
money abroad to buy independence -- and, in some cases, impunity -- from
Taliban authorities, who badly needed the millions of dollars provided by
the Saudi exile.
To the end, bin Laden's foreign legions often remained inscrutable even to
the Taliban. Mohammed Khaqzar, the Taliban deputy interior minister and the
highest-ranking Taliban official known to have defected, compared the al
Qaeda organization to a multilevel house. "We knew about what they were
doing in the basement," he said, "but upstairs there were rooms we didn't
know anything about."
The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with little tolerance for deviation from
its strict interpretation of the Koran, appears to have given bin Laden's
loyalists complete freedom. "They wanted protection and power for
themselves," said Naqeeb, a Jalalabad doctor who said he came to know many
members of al Qaeda through his private medical clinic. "They wanted to work
in Afghanistan and not be disturbed."
When he first arrived in Jalalabad, bin Laden was taken in by associates
from the 1980s war during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He came at
the invitation of an important local commander named Mahmood -- who was
killed only a few months later -- but also enjoyed the protection of Yunus
Khalis, an aging Afghan regional leader who gave bin Laden several
mud-walled housing complexes in his home village of Farm Hada, about six
miles from Jalalabad. Bin Laden's family reportedly resided for a period in
one of the labyrinthine compounds that recently had been used by al Qaeda
operatives as a residence and local operations center, according to
neighbors.
Bin Laden soon befriended the Taliban leader, Mohammad Omar, after the
militia extended its control to Kabul and Jalalabad in late 1996, a few
months after bin Laden's arrival. Bin Laden moved to Kandahar, the
birthplace of the Taliban, in 1997. The wealthy scion of a Saudi
construction family, bin Laden became an important benefactor to the
Taliban; by some U.S. accounts, he gave $100 million to the Taliban over
five years. Pakistani intelligence sources say much of that money came from
bin Laden's ability to raise donations from Islamic organizations around the
world.
Afghan sources said al Qaeda ordered the construction of a villa for Omar
after a 1997 assassination attempt. The building in Kandahar is a sprawling
palace sporting garish murals and rococo minarets that became an important
meeting place for bin Laden's group. The organization even ordered a paved
road -- rare in Afghanistan -- built for the compound.
"It was the strangest thing," said a longtime Western aid worker in
Kandahar. "Suddenly for two miles you are traveling on this marvelous road
as you skirt around Mullah Omar's residence. Then, bam, you're back on a
rutted Afghan road."
In the weeks since the Taliban lost control of Afghanistan, documents and
interviews with both Taliban sympathizers and opponents have provided
fascinating glimpses of the influence that al Qaeda wielded within the
Taliban.
A one-page document discovered in a house in Kabul, labeled the "minute of a
meeting," described how al Qaeda fighters, as well as Uzbek, Chechen and
Pakistani militants who were allied with them, had sent a delegation to the
Taliban to "discuss the fate of the Buddha statues," a reference to the two
sculptures in Bamian province carved out of a brown sandstone cliff during
the 3rd and 5th centuries. The Taliban blew up the statues earlier this
year, apparently at the behest of al Qaeda.
The document suggests the "Islamic groups" or "foreigners" met repeatedly
and lobbied the Taliban to take various actions, some of which were opposed
by the Afghan leaders. Said Amin Mujahed, who was involved in trying to
persuade the Taliban to spare the statues, said, "I believe from the first
days that this was not the Taliban doing this. This was the Islamic radicals
from Pakistan, the Arab Wahhabis. The Taliban were not the ones deciding --
they were only the implementers.
"Other people were dictating to them, and they were just repeating the
words," said Mujahed, a history professor at Kabul University. "You can
easily say they [the Taliban] were just the spokespersons for bin Laden."
"In recent months, the Taliban lost control over themselves," said another
history professor, Abdulbaki Hasari, who appealed to the Taliban not to
destroy the statues. "They were just controlled by these Islamic groups from
outside the country."
The al Qaeda forces had the run of the country, and wary Afghans cleared out
of their way. When two Arab members of al Qaeda were thrown into prison for
harassing a shopkeeper in Kabul, they were quickly released -- and the
senior Taliban official who dared order their arrest was removed from his
position.
"Even the ministry of security didn't have the ability to control them,"
said Hamidullah, who was a personal assistant to the Taliban security chief,
and like many Afghans uses just one name. "They were paid by the al Qaeda
organization, and so anything they did the ministry couldn't interfere with.
. . . Even when an Arab walking around the city committed a crime, nobody
was to ask him why he did it or arrest him. Nobody had the power to do
this."
The security ministry had an incentive besides fear to avoid conflict with
bin Laden's followers; salaries at the ministry were paid with al Qaeda's
holdings. Salaries at the feared Taliban Bureau for the Protection of Virtue
and the Prevention of Vice, the enforcers of the strict Islamic rules,
reportedly were paid by the Al Rashid Trust, a Pakistani-based charity with
close links to al Qaeda that the United States has identified as one of the
organizations funding terrorists, according to several former members of the
bureau.
"It is perhaps the first time we have seen a terrorist organization hijack
an entire state," said one Western diplomat with many years of experience in
the region.
By this year, bin Laden's ties to Afghanistan were so deep that in the
initial days and weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington, no one within the senior Taliban hierarchy made a serious
attempt to have him turned him over to the United States, according to
Khaksar, the Taliban deputy interior minister. "There weren't such people,"
he said, adding that those who even broached the subject found themselves
cut off.
Bin Laden and his operatives could not have found an environment better
suited to clandestine activities than the poor villages, isolated mountain
redoubts and chaotic cities of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda built training camps
next to dusty hamlets populated with villagers too concerned about
scrounging a daily living to question the military activities next door.
Five years ago, the Arabs first arrived in the desert village of Dar Wonta,
six miles northeast of Jalalabad, and barely half a mile from a main
roadway. Its 70 to 80 impoverished families live in squat mud boxes huddled
against an imposing mountain. The only signs of transport are camels and
donkeys.
Just over a hill from the village, the al Qaeda fighters built a rudimentary
training ground with mud-brick huts. New recruits -- Saudis, Pakistanis,
Chechens and other foreigners -- arrived by the truckload for four- to
six-week training courses, according to the villagers. Sometimes as many as
200 trainees lived at the encampment on a precipice overlooking the rock
beds of the Dar Wonta River; other times only three or four guards were on
the premises.
At first, the Arabs made no contact with the nearby residents. But
eventually they dispatched their Afghan cooks to the village to pay the
children to catch stray dogs. Youngsters nabbed the scrawny street dogs that
clustered around the village butcher shop. They later watched in amazement
as trainees strapped explosives around the abdomens of the dogs, shooed them
off at a fast trot and -- watching their wristwatches -- counted down the
seconds until the bombs exploded, shouting in unison, "Allahu akbar!" [God
is great].
Villagers said the Arabs also used the white rabbits sold in the local
marketplace to test their explosives.
Local residents said they watched training sessions in which recruits raced
across training areas, diving and rolling through the dust, then popping up
to fire revolvers or automatic rifles at targets erected against the
mountain face.
Over a decade, senior Pakistani intelligence officials estimate, about
20,000 people -- mostly Arabs -- crossed Pakistan to reach Afghanistan,
hoping to join various groups waging jihad, or holy war.
Some 5,000 of them ultimately passed the rigorous tests and interview
processes that qualified them for an oath of allegiance to bin Laden,
according to senior Pakistani intelligence officials who said they based
their estimates on immigration records. "Al Qaeda selected only the best who
approached its leadership in Afghanistan," a Pakistani intelligence official
said.
The enlistees arrived from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Chechnya,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Somalia, Singapore, Algeria,
Tunisia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Pakistani embassies around the
Arab world routinely granted visas to those who listed "preaching" as the
purpose of their visit. From there it was a simple matter to enter
Afghanistan from the cities of Peshawar and Quetta with nothing more than a
letter from the Afghan consulates, leaving no passport stamps that might
prove troublesome during missions abroad.
The fighters settled in and around such cities as Kabul, Kandahar and
Jalalabad, where an elaborate infrastructure for military training awaited
them.
In Kandahar, the fighters led separate lives from others in their own
neighborhood, Haji Arab, and trained in special camps that most Afghans were
prohibited from entering. One such camp was called Tornak Farms by the U.S.
military and the Wolf's Frontier by Afghans. It was there that investigators
found aviation and chemistry publications.
Located just south of the Kandahar airport, the camp included 70
single-story stone-and-mortar houses, with swings and children's bicycles in
the front yard. Each house had a shelter, and some of the shelters were
packed with ammunition -- plastic explosives, bombs and bandoliers.
In Kabul, too, dozens of houses and buildings were devoted to al Qaeda
training courses. After the Taliban fighters fled the capital, visitors to
their homes found handwritten notebooks in various languages that were all
strikingly similar, indicating that the course of "study" was fairly
consistent.
There was an introduction to firearms, with a primer on the Kalashnikov
assault rifle, a section on how to clean and assemble it, basics on military
movement and, at the end, a section on explosives, including TNT, C-4 and
dynamite -- explaining the chemical makeup, and what kind of damage the
explosion causes.
South of Kabul, the al Qaeda fighters used the Charasyab training camp,
first established by Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in the early 1990s.
The camp had offices, a mosque and religious school, and exercise equipment.
On the walls, various trainees scribbled their names in Arabic or Dari.
According to neighbors, about 130 foreigners lived in Hekmatyar's former
house on the hill, which had a swimming pool and a sign on the door that
said, "Don't enter with weapon."
Armed guards kept the neighbors away. "The people in the area hated them,
but we didn't have any power to fight them," said Fairoze, 22, who lives
nearby. One day, a fighter parked his pickup truck next to the house.
Fairoze complained, fearing it would make his home a target for U.S. bombs.
The fighter told him not to worry.
"When we die," he said, "we'll die together."
Afghans who had business dealings or other contacts with al Qaeda said the
organization attracted two different groups to Afghanistan -- poor Muslims
destined to be the foot soldiers of guerrilla wars and educated,
well-financed men who dressed expensively, drove new cars, spoke English or
French in addition to Arabic, carried U.S. or European passports and had
sophisticated interests.
The owner of a Jalalabad computer school said he was frequently approached
by such young men, who would ask him to order all the students out of the
classes. For that privacy, the fighters paid him three times his normal fee.
"They wanted everything secret," the owner said. "They loaded their own kits
on the computers, copied things on disks, then deleted all the files."
Naqeeb, a doctor who uses only one name and runs a private clinic, said many
al Qaeda members were patients at his cramped, second-floor blood-testing
laboratory.
"They took great care of their families," he said. "If they had even the
tiniest health problem, they would bring them to a private clinic. Even if a
child came down with a cold, they would take care of it."
At one al Qaeda house in a relatively well-to-do Kabul neighborhood, four
families moved in and installed new plumbing, recalled Basir Khan, a
Northern Alliance commander who occupied the house after the Taliban and al
Qaeda fled last month. Inside the house, the commander's men found evidence
of what would seem like normal family life -- children's reading books, a
sixth-grade math textbook, a fourth-grade geography primer, cookbooks, a
book of poetry and an instruction manual for a desktop printer.
But the house also contained a 150-page Arabic-language intelligence
handbook that instructed readers how to send coded messages, work undercover
and pass materials to each other through secret drop-off points called
"graves." Another guidebook offered advice that seemed to be al Qaeda's
modus operandi leading up to Sept. 11: "Hit and frighten your enemies."
In Jalalabad, neighbors said bin Laden's men and their Arab partners stood
apart from the local Afghan population, in part because they drank cases and
cases of imported Sprite and mineral water. One guest recalled an evening
with several al Qaeda members, two of whom had flown in that day from
England and a third who spoke excellent French. "They called Westerners
tahout, the word for Satan. The one who didn't have a beard said tahout
didn't allow them," the guest recalled.
At the al Qaeda compounds in Farm Hada outside of Jalalabad, the houses were
primitive, built of mud mixed with straw. Even so, they were wired for
electricity and contained evidence of sophisticated technology imported from
the West. Visitors saw brochures for the latest wireless technology, along
with abandoned medicine, syringes and leftover food. Cases of abandoned
ammunition sat near a torn Arabic-English dictionary.
The al Qaeda residents fled Farm Hada in a convoy of 40 trucks crammed with
families, fighters and their possessions soon after U.S.-led bombing raids
began Oct. 7 and headed to their mountain hide-outs, according to villagers.
To reach the caves of the Tora Bora and Milawa mountains, the trucks
followed a two-hour, bone-crunching route through villages stuck in the
Middle Ages, where opium is the crop of choice and dust-covered children
play in the dirt. Past the foothills, they climbed a winding switchback road
that al Qaeda forces had built in recent years to reach the Milawa redoubts
behind Tora Bora, according to nearby villagers.
"They built this road for themselves," said Meer Mohammed, one of the
villagers. After Sept. 11, the convoys of al Qaeda pickup trucks rumbled up
the road "day and night," 10 or 20 at a time, he recalled.
Where the fighters disappeared to remains a mystery. It is unknown how many
may still be eluding capture, have been killed by the bombing or have fled
to Pakistan or elsewhere. But they have lost their hosts, the Taliban and
their Afghan home.
"We are happy they're gone," said Maihan, a jobless 19-year-old who used to
watch the al Qaeda trainees blow up dogs outside his village of Dar Wonta.
"We don't want fighting, we want peace."
Correspondents William Branigin, Susan B. Glasser, John Pomfret, Kamran
Khan, Pamela Constable, Keith B. Richburg and Kevin Sullivan and researcher
Robert Thomason contributed to this report.
+ + + +