Maputo — Officers from the United States Defence Institute for International Law Studies (DIILS) on Friday concluded a week long seminar, given to senior figures in the Mozambican armed forces and the Defence Ministry, on "Legal Aspects of the Fight against Terrorism".

The head of the US team, Capt Thomas Lennon, told reporters that the Mozambican government had invited the DIILS to give the seminar on "counter-terrorism and border security" because "terrorism is a matter for the entire world community".

It was essential, Lennon said, that there should be dialogue between countries on how to wage a more effective battle against terrorism.

Terrorism was "a world problem", he stressed. "No country has a monopoly on terrorism or on fighting terrorism. Terrorism will be defeated by the world community working together".

Terrorism "knows no borders", he said. "If we don't work together, then the terrorism problem will continue to grow".

So did this stress on international dialogue and cooperation mean that the US now regretted its unilateralist approach to Iraq, which it had invaded with a few of its close allies, and to the dismay of most of the world ?, AIM asked "No, not at all", said Lennon.

What about the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, where the US military has held hundreds of alleged "enemy combatants" for years without charge or trial ? Since the rest of the world regards this as an abomination, will the US government now close Guantanamo Bay down ?

"I am not in a condition to respond to this", said Lennon.

Lennon praised the Mozambican participants at the seminar.

Before handing out certificates of attendance, he declared "The quality of discussions here was excellent. I think we learnt as much from you as you did from us".

At the start of the course, Lennon had provided a list of countries hit by terrorism since the attacks on New York and Washington of 9 September 2001. "Mozambique is not on that list, and we discussed what we would have to do to keep it off the list", he said.

Given the level of commitment shown by the officers attending the seminar, "I am confident that Mozambique will not be on the list", he declared.