Asharq Al-Awsat(in Arabic) – Report by Khalid Mahmud from Cairo: “Somalia: ‘US Security Team Ends Information Gathering Operation Carried Out In A Border Area In Somalia’”

[FBIS Translated Text] Exclusive information obtained by Al-Sharq al-Awsat from the Somali capital Mogadishu indicates that a team comprised of nine officers from US intelligence [CIA] and the FBI as well as elements from the US Marines yesterday finalized a secret mission close to the Somali-Ethiopian borders within the framework of the US preparations to carry out action in Somalia shortly. The information indicates that the US security team entered Somali territory from Ethiopia nearly 10 days ago without carrying out any contacts or coordination with the interim government in Somalia.

This is considered the first time since the beginning of the year when the US authorities dispatch a secret military delegation to Somalia. It is worth keeping in mind the fact that Glen Warren, US Embassy in Kenya First Secretary and the person in charge of Somalia’s file, has made several unannounced visits with other diplomats to Somalia during the past few weeks.

Somali sources say that the US security team visited an uninhabited area on the Somali-Ethiopian borders to verify information gathered from Ethiopian intelligence agencies and the Somali opposition on the existence of camps to train and house members of the Somali Islamic Union, which the US intelligence service believes is directly linked to the al-Qa’ida Organization, responsible for the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September.

Somali officials, whom Al-Sharq al-Awsat telephoned, refused to confirm or deny this information. However, they did say that Somalia’s Interim President Abdiqasim Salad Hasan had already expressed his government’s readiness to cooperate with the United States on combating terrorism and preventing the terrorists from slipping into Somali territory.

This information coincided with the end of an important visit by General Tommy Franks, head of the US Central Command and the person in charge of military cooperation programs, to Ethiopia as part of the continuing consultations between Washington and Addis Ababa over the current situation in Somalia. General Franks also visited Ethiopia last January and held talks with its Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Somali sources say that the secrecy imposed by the US and Ethiopian sides over General Franks’ visit to the Ethiopian capital indicates that the United States has already started to carry out practical plans to prepare for some sort of military action against Somalia.

US planes stationed opposite Somalia’s coast began to conduct topographic and aerial surveys of several towns in Somalia several months ago as part of an extensive spying mission to track down the remnants of al-Qa’ida Organization and prevent them from slipping into Somalia.

^{(back to 2000s general archives)}