Somalia, the First Target of Expanded War on Terrorism

Somalia has strong possibility to be the country to which the U.S. expands the `war on terror` because of the mass-production of terrorists from the training camps in Somalia.

The U.S. realizes that `al-Itihad`, an auxiliary network of al-Qaida, has raised Islamic militants from everywhere, making use of 10-year civil war. The United States placed the al-Itihad on the list of international terrorist organizations.

Al-Itihad has extended its influence, taking advantage of 10-year-lasting civil war among militarists since the fall of the dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991. President Salad Hassan leads the transitional public government, but he has no actual power because of the militarists.

Walter Kansteiner, assistant secretary of state for African affairs said, "Somalia`s lack of central authority makes it an attractive base for terrorists and we believes that some people in the transitional government are tied to al-Itihad."

The U.S. is likely to have started the preparation for military campaign. British BBC reported, "Several officials of the U.S. Military met with the leaders of `Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA)` against Somalia, and collected information about the location of secret training camps. And underground training camps seem to be located in the turbulent areas nearby the border to Kenya."

The U.S. was reported to have mobilized its war ships of its own and allied countries in the seas near by Somalia.

But Hassan Absir Para, the Prime Minister of Somalia transitional government stressed, "Attack on Somalia cannot be justified since we have no camp training terrorists."

The U.S. had a terrible experience withdrawing its troops from Somalia after 18 soldiers was killed one year after the U.S. had dispatched troops for the transportation of relief supplies in 1992.

Yoon Yang-Sup lailai@donga.com