President says terrorist individuals "may be present"

Interim President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan has said his security forces have no knowledge of active terrorist cells inside southern Somalia, although he could not rule out the presence of individuals involved in terrorist actions. In a telephone interview with IRIN from Mogadishu, he said there had been no direct discussions between US intelligence and his government, "but we know that in southern Somalia right now we don't have such terrorist cells... Maybe individuals". He said the Transitional National Government had offered to cooperate with the US, and needed assistance with information-gathering and security.

Abdiqassim said he did not personally think there was an "international linkage" when American soldiers were killed in Mogadishu in 1993, but attributed it to the actions of Somali warlords. On being asked to define his views on the Al-Ittihad organisation - whose assets have been targeted by the US as an organisation linked to terrorist activities - Abdiqassim told IRIN that he shared the view of the international community when it came to terrorism. "Our definition of terrorism is the same....

Terrorists are those people who are engaged in acts of destruction and killing of innocent people, and anyone engaged in that activity should be dealt with and should be eradicated." [For full interview see Somalia: IRIN interview with interim President Abdiqassim Salad Hassan]