US warning on terror threat to Kenya

US spy agencies' overseer Dennis Blair told Senate that terrorist threat to American interests in East Africa, primarily from al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists in Somalia and Kenya, would increase in the next year

Kenya will face increasing danger of terror attacks in the coming year as “Islamic extremists” plot to hit US targets, President Barack Obama’s intelligence director warned last week.

“We judge the terrorist threat to US interests in East Africa, primarily from al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists in Somalia and Kenya, will increase in the next year,” Dennis Blair, overseer of US spy agencies, told the Senate.

Al Qaeda’s East Africa network is continuing to plan operations against American, European and local targets, Mr Blair added.

Of particular concern, he suggested, is the Somalia Islamist group al Shabaab, branded by the US as a terrorist organisation. Al Shabaab’s influence is growing due to the “high-profile US role in the region” and the perception that the United States is intervening in Somalia, Mr Blair continued.

“We assess US counterterrorism efforts will be challenged not only by the al Qaeda operatives in the Horn, but also by Somali extremists and increasing numbers of foreign fighters supporting al Shabaab’s efforts,” he told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The warnings of a growing al Qaeda threat in Kenya stand in contrast to Mr Blair’s view that Osama bin Laden’s network is generally “less capable and effective than it was a year ago.”

“We have seen notable progress in Muslim opinion turning against terrorist groups such as al Qaeda,” Mr Blair declared. US pressure on the group’s bases in Pakistan has also been crucial in diminishing al Qaeda’s capabilities, he added.

But Mr Blair warned that al Qaeda and its allies “remain dangerous and adaptive enemies” who can orchestrate or inspire an attack in the United States and Europe.

The global economic crisis, however, now ranks as the single greatest threat to US security, Mr Blair said. He said that if the recession continued to widen and deepen, it would spark unrest and imperil some governments.

Mr Blair did not specify which governments were particularly vulnerable to popular discontent.

Source: Daily Nation