Report: N. Korea may have sold uranium


By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer | February 2, 2005

WASHINGTON --U.S. intelligence agencies and government scientists have come up with strong evidence that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, apparently to assist the North African country in nuclear weapons development, an administration official said Wednesday.

The materials were detected in Libya's shipments of weapons-related materials to the United States after the country agreed to dismantle its nuclear arms program in late 2003, said the official, asking not to be identified.

The official said he was uncertain as to whether U.S. officials ever asked the Libyans about the country of origin of its nuclear materials.

The possibility of North Korea's export of nuclear materials and technology has long been a concern of the United States. The reclusive communist state is known to have sold missiles to Iran and Syria in past years.

The story about the alleged dealings between North Korea and Libya was first reported by The New York Times. It has previously been reported that Libya relied on the A.Q. Kahn network in Pakistan for nuclear materials.

The White House and the State Department had no comment on the reported link between Libya and North Korea.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, "North Korea's nuclear program and nuclear weapons programs and its past and continuing proliferation activities are a threat to global peace and security."

"North Korea's actions underscore the importance of moving forward through the six-party talks," he said.

McClellan said that two members of the National Security Council staff recently traveled to several Asian capitals to discuss ways to restart the negotiations.

"We put forward a proposal at the last round of talks," he said. "We believe it addresses the concerns of all parties involved in those decisions. We believe that the proposal is the way forward to finding a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue in North Korea."

"The proposal and the six-party process is the best way for North Korea to address the concerns of the international community and to end its international isolation," McClellan said.

The U.S. objective in the discussions is the verifiable dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The strong belief that North Korea transferred nuclear materials could increase the sense of urgency among administration on the need for a diplomatic solution.

The Times report said the tentative conclusion about the North Korean activity supports earlier clues that the dictatorship exported fuel for atomic weapons.

Government officials in Washington are trying to determine whether North Korea has sold uranium, an ingredient necessary for atomic weapons, to other countries, including Iran and Syria. So far, there is no evidence of that, the Times said.

The Times reported that international inspectors tested nearly two tons of uranium material that Libya surrendered to the United States when it dismantled its nuclear program. The material, uranium hexafluroide, can be converted into bomb fuel.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying that that testing showed "with a certainty of 90 percent of better," that the materials came from North Korea.

Experts said the findings advance the West's understanding of North Korea's uranium program.

"It means the North Koreans have built a facility to process uranium," Leonard S. Specter, the deputy director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute in California, told the Times. "And it raises the disturbing prospect that they've now made enough of it to feel comfortable selling some."

Nuclear intelligence experts said they compared samples of the Libyan uranium with samples from other countries by matching uranium isotopes.

They concluded that the uranium had to have come from North Korea.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/02/02/report_n_korea_may_have_sold_uranium/

Al-Qaeda's Secret Plan for Africa: Terrorise, Divide, Seize

The Independent (Banjul)
OPINION
January 31, 2005
Posted to the web January 31, 2005
Banjul

The world has heard the sound of the African oil boom. So has al-Qaeda. The continent has more than 75.4 billion barrels of proven reserves, edging toward 10 percent of the world's total. Five large producers - Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola -top the list of African oil exporting countries.

Lesser producers, such as Chad, are also in the mix. Sub-Sahara Africa supplies as much oil to the United States as Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda sees Africa as a prize well worth going after. It is a graveyard of failed states, of corrupt governments whose power seldom goes much beyond capital city shantytowns and of areas of Muslim radicalism. The problems of the region are opportunities for Al-Qaeda.

At the same time, al-Qaeda strategic moves in Africa serve its larger purpose of attacking Western economies. In 2002, Ubeid al-Qurashi, a pseudonym of an Osama bin Laden lieutenant, wrote an article saying that Western economies cannot stand high oil prices. One way to strike fear into the West, he wrote, is by repeated attacks on oil installations or on tankers. After the attack on the French tanker Limburg, in October 2002, the al-Qaeda political bureau described the attack as not merely an attack on a tanker. Rather, al-Qaeda said, it was an attack against international transport lines and an attack on the West' s commercial lifeline, petroleum.

Terror and attacks on Western economies are one part of al-Qaeda ' s grand plan. A second part counts on the vulnerabilities in the continent that will allow al-Qaeda to establish radical Islamism in one state after another. Nigeria is a case in point. The tenth largest producer in the world, 95 percent of Nigeria's foreign exchange comes from oil. It has close to 25 billion barrels of proven reserves, and major explorations are underway for more.

Nigeria is a tempting target for al-Qaeda. According to Transparency International, Nigeria is the most corrupt state in Africa. It is also a state that has received the attention of Osama bin laden. In a tape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television channel in February 2003, bin Laden urged Muslims to unite and mobilise the Islamic nation to "liberate themselves from unjust regimes". He named Nigeria as one of those nations where Muslims should unite.

Bin Laden's aim almost certainly was to foment civil war in Nigeria between the Muslim north and the largely Christian south. Shari' a, Islamic law, is the law in 12 of 36 states in Nigeria. Federal authorities largely have leaved these 12 states to themselves, almost a de facto division of the country already. Jihadist militants occasionally occupy towns in the north as press gangs, forcing others to join them.

The growth of al-Qaeda cells in Nigeria, particularly in the fertile breeding ground of the north, give evidence of the growing radical Islamic threat in the country. The increase in Islamic militancy and government corruption and weakness entice al-Qaeda to step up activity in the country.

Radical Muslims have already struck at the state in attacks on police stations. In September 40 armed insurgents assaulted a police station, killing its commander and two other officers. Several other police stations have also been assault targets. Al-Qaeda usage of Nigeria as a communications hub is also evidence of al-Qaeda aggression in Nigeria.

The capture of al-Qaeda information systems operative in Pakistan led investigators to Nigerian web sites and e-mail systems used by al-Qaeda to diseminate information and instructions. Again, the weakness of the central government with no regulatory policy over the telecommunications industry in the country is what drew al-Qaeda to Nigeria. The breakup of the Nigeria state is a real threat because of al-Qaeda.

Angola is another African country with vulnerabilities attractive to al-Qaeda. The country has been producing oil for decades, but the people have benefited little from oil income. A United Nations official has said that the Angolan people were becoming restless as the price of oil was increasing but with no effect on the lives of the people. Seventy percent of the people live in poverty and 80 percent have no access to medial care. Civil strife is becoming a frightening possibility.

An Angolan security service official has warned that al-Qaeda is trying to gain a foothold in Angola through Muslim NGOs. Al-Qaeda's presence in Angola, however, may be more than a foothold. The Pan-African News Agency (PANA) has reported almost 3 percent of Angola's population of 11 million are Muslim. Mosque construction, Islamic centers and Qur'anic schools are all signs of Muslim growth in Angolan cities. Can al-Qaeda be far behind or are al-Qaeda cells already up to something?

The eyes of al Qaeda on these two oil-producing countries, Nigeria and Angola, are looking beyond the replacement of existing governments with Islamic states. If al Qaeda can triumph in Nigeria and Angola, seizing the national patrimony of both states, it can continue its plan to wage economic warfare against the West. It also will have seized a major income-producing resource for its own ends. African security services and multilateral organisations must be on alert to thwart al-Qaeda plans to terrorise the continent, to divide its people and to seize its resources.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200501311197.html

Welcome to the Global-Encirclement Blog

This Blog is dedicated to tracking the ongoing global encirclement of the United States that is being conducted by groups and nations seeking to change the current nature of the international environment from one of US leadership/influence modeled on the western-democratic-free-market-model which respects individual national sovereignty.

In other words this is meant to present news with some analysis of the current gathering dangers to United States interests in vital regions throughout the world by the actions of nations opposed to the interest of the United States.

Key areas that will be covered-

• US led global war on terror (GWOT)
• Ideology of the international islamist movement (Islamist)
• Economic and military rise of China (China)
• Threats to democratic nations and institutions throughout the world (TTD)
• Transnational threats i.e. organized crime, proliferation of WMD, etc. (Transnational)