Washington, DC — African nations represented in Washington have agreed to copperate with the anti-terrorism coalition being fashioned by the administration in the aftermath of the World Trade Center and pentagon attacks last Tuesday. "There has not only been an outpouring of sympathy," says Walter Kansteiner, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, "but equally important, eagerness to cooperate in the coalition."
Kansteiner convened a meeting at the Department of State with African ambassadors Friday. "Every ambassador, from every African nation with a mission in Washington, came."
According to Kansteiner the African ambassadors have agreed to share intelligence with the United States and to implement tighter border security -- "be more conscious of flows of people coming in and out." Other steps to be taken in coordination with the U.S. will emerge as the process unfolds, the assistant secretary said.
Observers note that the presence of the Sudanese ambassador at Friday's meeting was especially significant. Sudan once hosted the prime official suspect in last Tuesday's attack, Osama Bin Laden, who is now believed to be in Afghanistan. And in 1998, after the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were blown up, US missiles destroyed a pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, accused of manufacturing chemical weapons.
When Bin Laden left in 1996, Sudanese authorities say he took all of his followers with him. But Sudan has remained on the US list of nations backing terrorists. For some time, however, Sudan has made it plain that it is anxious to normalize its relations with the United States and its response to the coalition is viewed as one key test, say many analysts. "Our first order of busness with Sudan," says Kansteiner, "is to get their cooperation on terrorism."
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The United States seems to have it, Kansteiner indicated. "We have reached out; they have reached out. There have been some very interesting statements from the foreign minister concerning wanting to cooperate." Just one day after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, Sudanese foreign minister, Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail, pledged a willingness "to cooperate fully with the US Government and the International Community to combat all forms of terrorism and bring the perpetrators to justice."
The African Union, formerly known as Organization of African Unity (OAU), is also drafting a resolution supporting the war against terrorism, says Kansteiner, but a coordinated continental approach is not likely in the immediate future. "There are going to be countries and regions that work together with us in the coalition, [but] in real terms it will be on more of a bilateral basis."
