Friday, 21 September 2001 18:34 (ET) Sudan handing over bin Laden associates
By ELI J. LAKE
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Sudan has taken steps, at U.S. direction, to crack down on members of Osama bin Laden's terrorism network still in the country after Khartoum formally banned bin Laden's al Qaida organization in 1996, U.S. officials and diplomatic sources said Friday.
These officials also told United Press International that Sudan has offered the United States military bases and overflight rights for any anti-terror strike.
A senior Bush administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity Thursday, told UPI, "There are anti-American groups that were still around and they have shut them down. We pointed them in a direction in a few cases to people we knew were still in the al Qaida network."
This official told UPI that these individuals were not members of operative cells, but rather strays who had made anti-American threats. In some cases, he added, the Sudanese government did not know their connection to bin Laden's international operation.
U.S. officials and diplomatic sources told UPI that in fact Sudan's intelligence ministry has handed over the names and locations of individuals in the al Qaida network to CIA sources on the ground in Sudan. On Sept. 18, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismael said that CIA and FBI representatives have been operating in Khartoum as part of coordinated
efforts between the two countries to combat terrorism.
"Before Sept. 11, we may have given them a C-plus in counter-terrorism, but now they are close to getting an A," one U.S. official familiar with recent joint activities told UPI.
Diplomatic and U.S. sources also say Sudan has given Washington total access to its banking system, something that will likely assist the United States in its new initiative to choke off financial links to terror
organizations. Bin Laden had numerous assets in Sudan prior to his exile in 1996, including access to tanneries, and even the airport in Port Sudan in the north. This week, the State Department announced it would investigate allegations that bin Laden and his associates have interests in the country's profitable gum arabic trade.
In an interview Friday, Sudan's ambassador in Washington, Khidir Haroun Ahmed, told UPI that U.S. operatives "have been given free access to different parts of the country. They have engaged in very detailed issues. We have tried our best to cooperate with them to answer all questions, I'm sure this covered all issues of concern, people have been cooperating subtly with their counterparts here."
In fact, according to Ahmed, U.S. and Sudanese intelligence officials have been cooperating for more than one year. "We have been cooperating for the last fourteen months," he said. "People have been shuttling between Khartoum and here for some time."
Indeed, one State Department source said in an interview that the U.S. charge d'affairs has stayed in the U.S. embassy in Khartoum virtually full time since the summer. Prior to this, the United States would only send an American representative to Sudan's capital once a month to retain diplomatic credentials.
The U.S. government still designates Sudan as a "state sponsor of terrorism." But the latest State Department report on global terrorism says that the government has come close to getting off of that list, due to its cooperation with U.S. officials. A Sept. 10 report from the Congressional Research Service said, "Sudan appears closest of any of the Near Eastern
countries on the terrorism list to being removed," in large part because of its joint anti-terror cooperation with the United States.
Earlier this month, the Bush administration named John Danforth special envoy to the civil war in that country -- further stepping up U.S. engagement with the North African state.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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