AlQa'eda target west from Horn of Africa

In the rapidly changing battleground against international terrorism, the arid plains of the Horn of Africa are becoming a steadily more significant base from which al-Qa'eda's followers can launch their attacks. The Horn now ranks alongside the Middle East as the area of greatest concern to British counter-terrorism officials, coming second only to Pakistan, where al-Qa'eda's core leaders are ensconced.Al-Qa'eda operatives based in the Horn, probably in the failed state of Somalia, could choose to target Britain, which has a large Somali community. Of the four men convicted for the failed bomb attacks in London on 21 July 2005, all were from the Horn and two were of Somali origin.A few young Britons are also known to have travelled to Somalia in order to fight for the country's Islamist extremists. Meanwhile, al-Qa'eda may also strike in Kenya, which is filled with Western targets ranging from tourists to embassies.Last week, America's embassy in Nairobi issued a new warning. "Islamic extremists in southern Somalia may be planning kidnapping operations inside Kenya," it said, adding that any abductions would be targeted at "Westerners", possibly tourists on the Kenyan coast.advertisementAs the largest country in the Horn, Ethiopia forms the front line of this battle. Week after week, Ethiopia's security forces are in contact with their British counterparts. "The threats are real and immediate," said an Ethiopian government minister in Addis Ababa, the capital.Until last December, a radical Islamist regime controlled much of neighbouring Somalia. These extremists, styling themselves the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), captured Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, and restored a measure of order after years of chaos.While many leading figures in this movement had no links with al-Qa'eda, Mogadishu and the area of southern Somalia under their control became a magnet for foreign terrorists. In the annals of Islamist propaganda, the UIC was praised for creating the only truly Muslim state in Africa.Weapons, funds and armed volunteers reached southern Somalia from across the Muslim world.Some were probably al-Qa'eda operatives, linked to the network's core leadership, and a few were British citizens. Whether deliberately or not, the UIC was drawn into al-Qa'eda's nexus.The Ethiopian minister said: "Al-Qa'eda was there and all sorts of international jihadists were flocking to Somalia. There were terrorists who came from many different parts of the world."Last December, Ethiopia's army responded with a lightning cross-border offensive, toppling the UIC and capturing Mogadishu. Hundreds of Islamist fighters were arrested, revealing the scale of outside support for the UIC."I know for sure that there were some from European countries, including those carrying British passports,"added the minister. Four Britons were arrested in southern Somalia and later released. Human Rights Watch believes that about 100 other suspects are still in Ethiopian jails, including one Canadian. It adds that Ethiopia has allowed American security officials to interrogate them.The CIA uses Ethiopia for "extraordinary rendition", a programme which critics say allows suspects to be transferred to third countries for torture and mistreatment.But Ethiopia failed to net all of al-Qa'eda's operatives in southern Somalia. Some leading UIC figures also escaped. Hassan Dahir Aweys, the movement's titular head who appears on an American "watch-list" for suspected terrorists, avoided arrest.Aweys was once linked to an extremist group styling itself "al-Ittihad al-Islamiya". This organisation may have played a supporting role in al-Qa'eda's successful attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Despite being the subject of an international travel ban, Aweys now lives in Eritrea's capital, Asmara.Locked with Ethiopia in a bitter border dispute, Eritrea backed Somalia's Islamists on the principle that "my enemy's enemy is my friend". President Isaias Afewerki's regime in Asmara is now harbouring Aweys and other fugitives linked to terrorism.While Eritrea does not yet appear on America's list of state sponsors of terror, a Western diplomat in Addis Ababa said that day may not be "far off".