GERMANY: THE UNITED STATES IS URGING OIL-PRODUCING WEST AFRICAN STATES TO STEP UP THEIR DEFENCES AGAINST TERRORISM

Record ID: 338377

  • Title: GERMANY: THE UNITED STATES IS URGING OIL-PRODUCING WEST AFRICAN STATES TO STEP UP THEIR DEFENCES AGAINST TERRORISM
  • Date: 31st August 2004
  • Summary: (EU) STUTTGART, GERMANY (AUGUST 31, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. CU/PAN EXTERIORS OF UNITED STATES EUROPEAN COMMAND (EUCOM) HEADQUARTERS IN STUTTGART, SOUTHERN GERMANY (2 SHOTS) 0.15 2. CU EUCOM DEPUTY COMMANDER GEN. CHARLES F. WALD SPEAKING 0.26 3. CU EUCOM EMBLEM ON WALD'S UNIFORM 0.37 4. MCU (English) GEN. CHARLES F. WALD, DEPUTY COMMANDER UNITED STATES EUROPEAN COMMAND (EUCOM) SAYING: "There are other groups starting to emerge that have their own names that I'd rather not name today. But they're in association with al Qaeda. Whether they have claimed their allegiance to al Qaeda themselves or al Qaeda has actually recruited them, some of that is still a little bit vague. But they're emerging a little bit -- these franchise groups, these amorphous groups, these morphing groups if you will -- and we have to be vigilant, we have to continue to work hard to maintain our partners in Afica. We have to have them develop their own methodolgies for intelligence sharing." 1.12 5. CU MAP OF AFRICA 1.23 6. MCU (English) WALD SAYING: "So it could be any place on the continent, and usually it's in either an area that is ungoverned because it's just too big for a country's basic capabilities to watch those areas, or it's in an area that has instability, whether it be governmental crisis, coups, poor leadership or a combination of all those where you don't have either a military or a police force that can take care of the area." 1.51 7. CU FOUR STARS ON WALDS UNIFORM 1.57 8. MCU (English) WALD SAYING: "Quite frankly no. We think they need to, we're advising that they do, and we think they need to do it fairly rapidly and were definitely on the advising mode as best as we can. It's not unusual. We have another model for this in the Caspian Sea called Caspian Guard that was developed here at EUCOM and so its not an unprecedented model. But our feeling is they need to step out on this." 2.24 9. CU U.S. AIR FORCE EMBLEM 2.28 10. MCU (English) WALD SAYING: "The cooperation we have had with the Algerians has been tremendous. They in their own right have done a superb job over the last years of actually addressing and defeating this internal insurgency led by a terrorist group, the GSPC, as you described. And then as the GSPC expanded beyond the borders of Algeria other countries have cooperated with Algeria on this issue and frankly, one of them is Libya. Libya's past is changing now and the reputation in the past has not necessarily been the most responsible neighbour on the block but they have done a good job as well on the GSPC." 3.11 11. CU MAP OF AFRICA 3.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: STUTTGART, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVADXWDJVSKW1CNEKA0JIKT4JQ3F
  • Story Text: The United States is urging oil-producing West
    African states to step up their defences against terrorism
    amid signs that new al Qaeda-linked groups are emerging
    across the continent, a top U.S. general said.




    General Charles Wald, deputy commander of the United
    States European Command (EUCOM), said key producers had not
    yet done enough to improve shipping security and protect
    critical energy infrastructure such as pipelines and
    offshore rigs from possible attacks.

    "Quite frankly no. We think they need to, were advising
    that they do, and we think they need to do it fairly
    rapidly," he told Reuters in an interview in Stuttgart on
    Tuesday (August 31). "Our feeling is they need to step out on this."
    Wald was speaking after a trip last week to Nigeria,
    Angola, Gabon, Sao Tome and Cameroon, accompanied by
    Republican Chuck Hagel of the Senate Foreign Relations
    Committee.

    This region, the Gulf of Guinea, now provides around
    about 15 percent of U.S. oil supplies and that share is
    projected by experts to grow. Worries about security of oil
    supplies have helped push crude to record highs recently on
    world markets.

    "There are other groups starting to emerge...that I'd
    rather not name today. Theyre in association with al Qaeda.

    Whether they have claimed their allegiance to al Qaeda
    themselves or al Qaeda has actually recruited them...is
    still a little bit vague," he said.

    "But they're emerging a little bit -- these franchise
    groups, these amorphous groups, these morphing groups if
    you will -- and we have to be vigilant."
    Wald was speaking at EUCOM's headquarters in Stuttgart,
    Germany, from where it oversees an area of responsibility
    totalling 91 countries and territories, covering all of
    Europe and most of Africa.

    Wald praised Algeria, Chad and Libya for a string of
    breakthroughs against the Salafist Group for Preaching and
    Combat (GSPC), which has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and
    was responsible for kidnapping 32 Europeans in the Sahara
    last year.

    The group's leader was killed by the Algerian military
    in June. Its number two, a former Algerian paratrooper
    known as El Para, is being held by Chadian rebels and Wald
    said he was optimistic he would be handed over soon to face
    trial.



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