U.S. General Says Al-Qaida Offshoot Threatens Europe, U.S.
Top U.S. General Carter Ham on Wednesday urged a global fight against the al-Qaida group based in Africa saying it could "export violence" to the West.
Ham, the head of the U.S. Africa Command, also said that the al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was linked to a deadly September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that killed U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three others.
"If we, the international community, don't find a way to help the Africans address this threat, it's going to worsen," he said.
"That network will become stronger and they will gain capability to export violence throughout a broader region (other) than Africa and certainly the high potential to export violence into Europe and to the USA."
Ham said while the network did not pose an "imminent threat" on U.S. soil, it did so for U.S. interests worldwide.
"That network has already killed four Americans," he said, referring to the Benghazi bombing.
"That to me says that there is an imminent threat. So that is why I think there's a degree of urgency to the international community finding a way to help the Africans address this problem."
The African Union and the U.N. are in the process of finalizing African military intervention in northern Mali, being held by the AQIM and allied Islamist groups and Tuareg rebels.
Source: Agence France Presse
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