U.S. Sends Anti-Terror Team to W. Africa

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Sends Anti-Terror Team to W. Africa

Monday January 12, 2004 11:31 AM


NOAUKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) - The United States has received information of threats against American interests in the West African nations of Mauritania and Senegal and has dispatched an anti-terror team to the region, a State Department official said.

The anti-terror team will help the region's governments guard desert borders against Islamic extremists.

U.S. officials have long worried that little-policed frontiers of West Africa's Sahara would serve as crossing points for armed Muslim extremist groups, including an Algeria-based movement linked to al-Qaida and what American experts say are already in-place al-Qaida cells in the region.

Pamela Bridgewater, a deputy undersecretary of State for Africa, told reporters in Noaukchott, Mauritania's capital, ``that there are indications of such threats'' against Americans in Mauritania and in Senegal, Mauritania's southern neighbor.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3615047,00.html

[Mistress Quickly]

1. any oil there? n/t