Somalia a terrorist threat - UN

2003-11-05 15:04

Nairobi - The mass of weapons in Somalia makes it an easy source for groups such as al-Qaeda which staged a deadly attack in Kenya last year using missiles from the lawless neighbouring state, a UN report warns.

The report made it clear that the cell which carried out the Kenya attacks was based in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, and that some of its surviving members fled there immediately afterwards.

"The terrorists responsible for the bombing of the Paradise Hotel in Mombassa and the attempted attack on Flight 582 from Mombassa to Tel Aviv brought missiles from Yemen via Somalia to Kenya," said the UN-commissioned assessment of the arms embargo imposed on Somalia in 1992.

The panel of experts that prepared the report said "it remains relatively easy to obtain surface-to-air missiles and import them to Somalia."

"Somalia's lawless, largely ungoverned territory has enhanced the vulnerability of the entire region to criminals and extremists," the report said.

Twelve Kenyans, three Israelis and three bombers were killed in the attack on the Paradise Hotel, which was used predominantly by Israeli tourists.

The failed bid to shoot down the airliner with "Strela 2" surface-to-air missiles took place almost simultaneously.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the 1991 ouster of the dictator Mohammed Siad Bare.

According to the report, the flow of weapons to and from the country is facilitated by the fact that its "borders with its neighbours are long, remote and generally without controls on either side."

The document outlined the sequence of events between al-Qaeda's deadly 1998 bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, last year's attacks on the Kenyan coast and the escape of some of the surviving perpetrators to Mogadishu.

- AFP