US general says evidence of al-Qaeda in Somalia

General Tommy Franks, head of the US Central Command, continued his tour of Horn of Africa countries with visits to Ethiopia and Djibouti at the weekend.

Prior to his arrival in Ethiopia, he visited Eritrea and Kenya for talks with top officials on combating terror. In an interview with the BBC in Ethiopia, he expressed concern over the situation in Somalia.

"We have known of links to al-Qaeda [terrorist network] in and through Somalia for a considerable period of time," he said. He added that he could not go into specifics, but the US "will not take off the table the possibility of action against countries of concern".

"We are interested in states where there is a history of terrorist networks, training operations and that sort of thing," he said. "And so we are going to continue to keep our options open and continue to conduct dialogue with the frontline nations such as Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia."

He stressed that the US had strong relations with all four countries, saying they were "very much a part" of the international coalition against terrorism.

On Sunday, General Franks arrived in Djibouti on the last leg of his tour. The Djibouti news agency, ADI, said he met President Ismael Omar Guelleh and other top officials.