| Summary: | The terrorist attacks on United States embassies on August 7, 1998 in Tanzania and Kenya and the subsequent attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya were all linked to the al-Qaeda Islamic terrorist network. The United States responded to these attacks with conviction. U.S. President George W. Bush hasdesignated the greater Horn of Africa a front-line in his global war against terrorism and has worked to dismantle al Qaeda infrastructure there. However, the United States has failed to recognize the existence of other less visible terrorist threats elsewhere in Africa. In Nigeria, for instance, a potent mix of communal tensions, radical Islamism, and anti-Americanism has produced a fertile breeding ground for military and threatens to tear the country apart. As the war on terrorism intensifies in Kenya and elsewhere, radicals might migrate to more accessible, war-ravaged venues across the continent. The Bush adminstration must deal with these threats by adopting a more holistic approach to fighting terrorism in Africa. Rather than concentrate solely on shutting down existing al Qaeda cells, it must also deal with Africa's fundamental problems that create an environment in which terrorists thrive.
|
|---|