Which is, of course, the case also virtually everywhere in the world. From WND:
The United States must bolster intelligence assets in Africa and prevent Saudi financing to the continent, deemed a major arena for al-Qaida and related groups, asserts a new report, according to Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.
The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said Africa, home to more than 300 million Muslims, represents a major terrorist challenge to the United States.
In a report, the center said the U.S. intelligence community must increase its human assets and monitor such trends as the financing of al-Qaida as well as the smuggling of man-portable surface-to-air missiles.
“Specifically, the administration should increase pressure on the Saudi government to regulate financial flows by Saudi charities to Madrassas in Africa at the same time that the United States demonstrates the seriousness of its commitment to expand educational opportunities,” stated the report, “Rising U.S. Stakes in Africa.”
The center also said the United States must increase its diplomatic presence in Africa and “dramatically expand human intelligence and language training.”
A key goal is to tighten controls over Islamic insurgency financing through the diamond trade.
On Sept. 9, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the U.S. and Comoros branches of the Saudi-based Al Haramain Foundation as financiers and facilitators of terrorism, including the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa.
So far, more than a dozen branches of the state-sponsored Al Haramain, including the director of the organization, have been listed as facilitators of terrorism.
The report said any African initiative by the United States must include Sudan. In the 1990s, Sudan harbored al-Qaida, and Khartoum has remained a base for a range of Palestinian insurgency groups, including Hamas.