Crucible for Islamic extremism

NAIROBI - Two of the July 21 suspects come from the Horn of Africa, a region the United States has long seen as a crucible for al Qaeda.

Yasin Hassan Omar was born in Somalia, a country whose previous government collapsed in 1991. Since then, it has been ruled by an anarchic collection of feuding clans, radical Islamist groups and militiamen.

Ever since Somali gunmen killed US soldiers and shot down a Black Hawk helicopter in Mogadishu in 1993, the US has suspected that money and guns for al Qaeda flow freely through Somalia.

Somalia's long, unpoliced coastline is a haven for smugglers taking goods between sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

It is through Somalia that bombers attacked US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, and a hotel in Mombasa where Israeli tourists were staying in 2002.

Since 2003 a new, more ruthless Islamic radical group has been set up in Mogadishu, led by Aden Hashi Ayro, a young militia leader who received training in Afghanistan. This group has murdered four foreign aid workers between October 2003 and April 2004.

Analysts at the International Crisis Group warn that if nothing is done, "its stateless territory will continue to attract criminal and extremist elements".

The second London bombing suspect, Muktar Said Ibrahim, comes from Eritrea, a less obvious base for terrorism.

Since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, Eritrea has been keen to be perceived as a member of the international community.

It is currently part of the US' "coalition of the willing", but neighbouring countries have pointed out that several rebel groups, including the Sudan Liberation Army, which fights in Darfur, have set up training camps within its borders.

The country's contact with radical Islamic movements comes from Eritrean Islamic Jihad.

Eritreans were largely sympathetic to Government claims that the movement was a terrorist cell that should be destroyed, but President Isaias Afwerki has since labelled so many of his opponents terrorists that the term has lost meaning.

The Government, which was once seen as the Horn of Africa's greatest hope of modernisation, has become increasingly paranoid. Relations with Ethiopia have disintegrated in a border conflict.

- INDEPENDENT