ICC NOTE: As the presence of Al Qaeda and Islamic fundamentalist groups grow in Africa , there will most likely be a definite increase in persecution of Christians and other minority groups.

Experts fear Africa next big stage for Al Qaeda

Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:00 AM ET

By Christopher Thompson

For the full article go to Reuters

JOHANNESBURG – There is mounting evidence that the African continent will become the next Al Qaeda hotbed as the militant group seeks to expand its global operations, a senior expert on terrorism said.

“Al Qaeda would logically look for Africa ,” Peter Pham, director of the Virginia-based think-tank Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs, told Reuters.

Speaking on Wednesday night at a security conference in Johannesburg , Pham cited Africa’s weak governments, large Muslim communities, rampant poverty and its proximity to the Middle East as factors that could make the continent a target.

“It’s a natural base of (Al Qaeda) operation,” Pham said.

“There is evidence that Africa will be the next front for Al Qaeda,” he added.

They said the idea was being considered by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld but no decision had been made.

Responsibility for Africa is divided among three U.S. military regions: European Command, Central Command and Pacific Command.

BLOODY ATTACKS

Africa has witnessed a number of bloody attacks, notably the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania , which killed 224 people, and the 2002 suicide attack on a tourist hotel in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa that killed 16. Al Qaeda was suspected in both cases.

The meeting is the first of its kind to be held in Africa, indicative of its growing strategic importance, particularly as a growing energy supplier to the United States .

“West Africa now supplies 16 percent of U.S. hydrocarbons – liquid natural gas and petroleum – and by 2015 it will supply more than 25 percent,” Pham said. “As it becomes more strategically important there’s greater interest.”

The Horn of Africa has become an area of particular concern to western policymakers, given the ongoing battle for state control in Somalia between Islamists – suspected by the U.S. of links to Al Qaeda – and the country’s transitional government.

The United States already has a strong presence in the Sahel under the $500 million Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative. It provides military expertise to nine Saharan states where swathes of desert are believed to harbour militant Islamist groups involved in smuggling and combat training.

But Pham also pointed to West Africa where he said Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has tried to raise funds among the large Lebanese community.

“There is a large Hezbollah fundraising presence in Africa on the west coast – in Guinea , Sierra Leone and Liberia .”