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30 April 1999
Source: http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=99043001.plt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

USIS Washington File
_________________________________

30 April 1999

### U.S. NAMES SEVEN NATIONS AS STATE SPONSORS OF TERRORISM

    (State Department issues annual terrorism report) (2640)

    Washington -- The State Department, in its annual report on "Patterns
    of Global Terrorism," has designated seven nations -- Cuba, Iran,
    Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria -- as state sponsors of
    international terrorism.

    U.S. policy is "to pressure these states to cease their support by
    applying a broad range of sanctions, both unilateral and multilateral.
    International cooperation is essential in making these sanctions
    work," according to the report, which was released April 30.

    Following is the text of the section of the report entitled "Overview
    of State-Sponsored Terrorism":

    (begin text)

    Terrorist attacks sponsored by states have declined in recent years
    but remain a serious threat. With state sponsorship a terrorist group
    often receives safehaven, money, weapons, training, logistic support,
    or use of diplomatic facilities. Some of the most violent terrorist
    attacks on record would not have been possible without such
    sponsorship.

    Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria are the seven
    governments that the US Secretary of State has designated as state
    sponsors of international terrorism. US policy is to pressure these
    states to cease their support by applying a broad range of sanctions,
    both unilateral and multilateral. International cooperation is
    essential in making these sanctions work, and more needs to be done in
    this area.

    Cuba has reduced significantly its support to leftist revolutionaries
    in Latin America and elsewhere, but it maintains close ties to other
    state sponsors of terrorism and leftist insurgent groups and continues
    to provide safehaven to a number of international terrorists.

    Iran continues to plan and conduct terrorist attacks, including the
    assassination of dissidents abroad. It supports a variety of groups
    that use terrorism to pursue their goals -- including several that
    oppose the Middle East peace process -- by providing varying degrees
    of money, training, safehaven, and weapons.

    Iraq provides safehaven to terrorist and rejectionist groups and
    continues its efforts to rebuild its intelligence network, which it
    used previously to support international terrorism. The leader of the
    Abu Nidal organization may have relocated to Baghdad in late 1998.

    Libya continues to harbor two Libyan intelligence operatives charged
    in the United States and Scotland for the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am
    Flight 103. Libya's action defies UN Security Council resolutions
    requiring Tripoli to surrender them for trial and®MDDN¯ ®MDNM¯ ignores
    a US-UK offer to prosecute them before, a Scottish court sitting in
    the Netherlands. Libya also harbors six suspects in the bombing of UTA
    flight 772 in 1989, although French authorities agreed to try the six
    in absentia®MDIN¯.®MDNM¯®MDDN¯,®MDIN¯ ®MDNM¯ Several Middle Eastern
    terrorist groups continue to receive support from Libya, including the
    PIJ and the PFLP-GC. There is no evidence of Libyan involvement in
    recent acts of international terrorism, however.

    Although North Korea has not been linked definitively to any act of
    international terrorism since 1987, it continues to provide safehaven
    to terrorists who hijacked a Japanese airliner to North Korea in 1970.

    Sudan provides safehaven to some of the world's most violent terrorist
    groups, including Usama Bin Ladin's al-Qaida, Lebanese Hizballah, the
    PIJ, the ANO, and HAMAS. The Sudanese Government also refuses to
    comply with UN Security Council demands that it hand over for trial
    three fugitives linked to the assassination attempt in 1995 against
    Egyptian President Mubarak in Ethiopia.

    There is no evidence of direct Syrian involvement in acts of
    international terrorism since 1986, but Syria continues to provide
    sanctuary and support for a number of terrorist groups that seek to
    disrupt the Middle East peace process.

    Cuba

    Cuba no longer actively supports armed struggle in Latin America or
    elsewhere. Previously, the Castro regime provided significant levels
    of funding, military training, arms, and guidance to various
    revolutionary groups across the globe. Since the collapse of the
    Soviet Union in 1991, Havana has been forced to reduce dramatically
    its support to leftist revolutionaries.

    Cuba, nonetheless, continues to maintain close ties to other state
    sponsors of terrorism and leftist insurgent groups in Latin America.
    For instance, Colombia's two main terrorist groups, the FARC and the
    ELN, maintain representatives in Cuba. Moreover, Havana continues to
    provide safehaven to a number of international terrorists and US
    terrorist fugitives.

    Iran

    Iran in 1998 continued to be involved in the planning and execution of
    terrorist acts. Tehran apparently conducted fewer antidissident
    assassinations abroad in 1998 than in 1997. Tehran continued, however,
    to support a variety of groups that use terrorism to pursue their
    goals. Despite Iranian public statements condemning certain terrorist
    acts or expressing sympathy for Kenyan and Tanzanian victims of the
    August 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam,
    Iranian support for terrorism remains in place.

    Tehran is reported to have conducted several assassinations outside
    Iran during 1998. In June the "League of the Followers of the Sunna"
    accused Iranian intelligence agents of murdering an Iranian Sunni
    cleric, Shaikh Nureddin Ghuraybi, in Tajikistan. In September the
    leaders of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a virulently anti-Shia sectarian
    group, accused Iran of responsibility for the murders of two of the
    organization's leaders, Allama Shoaib Nadeem and Maulana Habibur
    Rehman Siddiqui. In late November the National Council of Resistance
    claimed that the Iranian regime had kidnapped and killed Reza Pirzadi
    in Pakistan. Pirzadi was described as a warrant officer who had been
    released from prison in Iran in 1996.

    Members of Iran's Ministry of Security and Intelligence (MOIS) may
    have conducted five mysterious murders of leading writers and
    political activists in Iran. Late in the year, Tehran announced the
    discovery of an operational cell within the MOIS that it alleged
    operated without the knowledge of senior government officials. Tehran
    reportedly arrested the cell's members.

    The Iranian Government stated publicly that it would take no action to
    enforce the fatwa on Salman Rushdie, a British citizen, which has been
    in effect since 1989. The Iranian Government's assurance led the UK
    Government to upgrade its diplomatic relations with Iran. Tehran
    stated, however, that revoking the fatwa is impossible since its
    author is deceased. Moreover, the Iranian Government has not required
    the Fifteen Khordad Foundation to withdraw its reward for executing
    the fatwa on Rushdie, and in November the Foundation increased its
    offer to $2.8 million.

    Iran continued to provide support to a variety of terrorist groups,
    including the Lebanese Hizballah, HAMAS, and the Palestinian Islamic
    Jihad, which oppose the Middle East peace process through violence.
    Iran supports these groups with varying amounts of training, money,
    and/or weapons.

    In March, a US district court ruled that Iran should pay $247 million
    to the family of Alisa Flatow, a US citizen killed in a PIJ bomb
    attack in Gaza in April 1995. The court ruled that Iran was
    responsible for her death because it provided funding to the PIJ,
    which claimed responsibility for the act. Palestinian sources said
    Iran supported the PIJ's claimed attack in Jerusalem in early November
    1998, in which two suicide bombers injured some 21 persons.

    Iran still provides safehaven to elements of the PKK, a Turkish
    separatist group that has conducted numerous terrorist attacks in
    Turkey and on Turkish targets in Europe.

    Iran also provides support to North African groups. In an interview in
    April 1998, former Iranian president Bani Sadr accused Tehran of
    training Algerian fighters, among others.

    Tehran accurately claims it also is a victim of terrorism. In 1998
    several high-ranking members of the Iranian Government were attacked
    and at least two were killed in attacks claimed by the terrorist group
    Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The MEK claimed responsibility for the
    killing on 23 August of Asadollah Lajevardi, the former director of
    Tehran's Evin Prison. It also claimed responsibility for the deaths in
    June of several persons, including Haj Hassan Salehi, allegedly a
    torturer at the prison, during a bombing attack on the Revolutionary
    Prosecutor's Office in Tehran.

    Mohsen Rafiqdust, head of the Foundation for the Oppressed and
    Disabled, escaped an attack on his life on 13 September. He said
    counterrevolutionary elements had embarked on efforts to make the
    country insecure.

    At least nine Iranian diplomatic and associated personnel died when
    unknown persons invaded the Iranian Consulate in Mazar-e Sharif,
    Afghanistan, in early August during the Taliban takeover of that city.
    The Taliban denied responsibility for the deaths.

    Iraq

    In 1998, Baghdad continued efforts to rebuild its intelligence
    network, which it previously had used to support international
    terrorism. Press reports indicated that Iraqi intelligence agents may
    have been planning an attack against Radio Free Europe in Prague in
    October 1998. Other press reports citing "reliable diplomatic sources"
    in Amman claimed that Iraq had sent abroad for terrorist purposes
    intelligence agents who pretended to be refugees and businessmen.
    Iraqi oppositionists have claimed publicly that the regime intends to
    silence them and have accused Baghdad of planning to assassinate Iraqi
    exiles. There are various claims that the Iraqi intelligence service
    was responsible for the killings of some nine persons in Amman, but we
    cannot corroborate the charges.

    In January 1998 an Iraqi diplomat was fired on in Amman, Jordan.
    Jordanian authorities arrested five persons who subsequently confessed
    responsibility. In a separate incident, eight persons -- including an
    Iraqi diplomat -- were murdered in the home of an Iraqi businessman.
    Jordanian authorities in April arrested several persons for this
    crime.

    In southern Iraq, Ayatollah Morteza Borujerdi -- a senior Shia cleric
    -- was killed on 22 April. Oppositionists claimed the Iraqi Government
    assassinated Borujerdi because he refused to cease leading prayers. A
    second high-ranking Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali Gharavi, was killed on
    18 June. The oppositionist Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution
    in Iraq accused Baghdad of responsibility. Both men were respected
    Shia clerics of Iranian origin and their murders remain unsolved.

    Iraq continues to provide safehaven to a variety of Palestinian
    rejectionist groups, including the Abu Nidal organization, the Arab
    Liberation Front (ALF), and the former head of the now-defunct 15 May
    Organization, Abu Ibrahim, who masterminded several bombings of US
    aircraft. In December press reports indicated that Abu Nidal had
    relocated to Iraq and may be receiving medical treatment. Abu Nidal's
    move to Baghdad -- if true -- would increase the prospect that Saddam
    may call on the ANO to conduct anti-US attacks. Iraq also provides
    bases, weapons, and protection to the MEK, a terrorist group that
    opposes the current Iranian regime.

    Libya

    Despite a joint US-UK offer to prosecute the two Libyans charged with
    the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am Flight 103 before a Scottish court
    sitting in the Netherlands, Libya remained unwilling to meet the
    demands of UN Security Council resolutions 731, 748, 883, and 1192.
    These measures call upon Libyan leader Qadhafi to cease all support to
    terrorism, turn over the two indicted Pan Am 103 suspects for trial,
    and cooperate in the investigation. (On 5 April 1999, Libya turned
    over the two suspects, 'Abd al Basit al-Megrahi and Lamin Kalifah
    Fhima, for prosecution in the Netherlands under Scottish law.)

    French officials in January completed their investigation into the
    bombing in 1989 of UTA Flight 772. The French officials believe that
    the Libyan intelligence service was responsible and named Qadhafi's
    brother-in-law, Muhammad Sanusi, as the attack's mastermind. (Six
    Libyan suspects, all intelligence officers, were tried in absentia by
    a French court in March 1999, The suspects were convicted on 8 March
    1999.)

    Libya remains the primary suspect in several other past terrorist
    operations, including the La Belle discotheque bombing in Berlin in
    1986, which killed two US servicemen, one Turkish civilian, and
    wounded more than 200. The trial in Germany of five defendants in the
    case, who are accused of "an act of assassination commissioned by the
    Libyan state," began in November 1997 and continued through 1998.

    Despite ongoing sanctions against Libya for its sponsorship of
    terrorism, Tripoli in 1998 continued to harass and intimidate
    expatriate dissidents. Moreover, Qadhafi continued publicly and
    privately to support Palestinian terrorist groups, including the PIJ
    and the PFLP-GC. Libya has not been implicated in any international
    terrorist act for several years, however.

    North Korea

    The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has not been linked solidly
    to the planning or execution of an international terrorist attack
    since 1987, when a KAL airliner was bombed in flight. North Korea
    continues to provide safehaven to members of the Japanese Communist
    League-Red Army Faction who participated in the hijacking of a
    Japanese Airlines flight to North Korea in 1970. In March, P'yongyang
    allowed members of the Japanese Diet to visit some of the hijackers.

    Sudan

    Sudan continued to serve as a meeting place, safehaven, and training
    hub for a number of international terrorist groups, particularly Usama
    Bin Ladin's al-Qaida organization. The Sudanese Government also
    condoned many of Iran's objectionable activities, such as funding
    terrorist and radical Islamic groups operating and transiting Sudan.

    Sudan still has not complied fully with UN Security Council
    Resolutions 1044, 1054, and 1070, passed in 1996, despite the regime's
    efforts to distance itself publicly from terrorism. The UNSC demands
    that Sudan end all support to terrorists. It also requires Khartoum to
    hand over three Egyptian al-Gama'at fugitives linked to the
    assassination attempt in 1995 against Egyptian President Mubarak in
    Ethiopia. Sudanese officials continue to deny that they are harboring
    the three suspects and that they had a role in the attack.

    Khartoum continues to provide safehaven to members of several of the
    world's most violent terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hizballah,
    the PIJ, the ANO, and HAMAS. Khartoum also supports regional Islamic
    and non-Islamic opposition and insurgent groups in Ethiopia, Eritrea,
    Uganda, and Tunisia.

    Sudanese support to terrorists includes provision of paramilitary
    training, money, religious indoctrination, travel documents, safe
    passage, and refuge. Most of the organizations in Sudan maintain
    offices or other types of representation.

    In August the United States accused Sudan of involvement in chemical
    weapons development. On 20 August the United States conducted military
    strikes against the al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, which
    was associated with Usama Bin Ladin's terrorist network and believed
    to be involved in the manufacture of chemical weapons, to prevent an
    anti-US attack, Sudan has denied that the plant was involved in
    chemical weapons production and vigorously has protested the US
    bombing.

    Syria

    There is no evidence that Syrian officials have engaged directly in
    planning or executing international terrorist attacks since 1986.
    Syria, nonetheless, continues to provide safehaven and support to
    several terrorist groups, allowing some to maintain training camps or
    other facilities on Syrian territory. Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for
    the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Palestine Islamic
    Jihad, for example, have their headquarters in Damascus. In addition,
    Syria grants a wide variety of terrorist groups®MDIN¯
    ®MDNM¯-®MDIN¯-®MDNM¯ including HAMAS, the PFLP-GC, and the PIJ-basing
    privileges or refuge in areas of Lebanon's Bekaa Valley under Syrian
    control.

    In response to Turkish pressure, Damascus took several important steps
    against the Kurdistan Workers' Party in October. PKK leader Abdallah
    Ocalan departed Syria, and Damascus forced many PKK members to
    relocate to northern Iraq. It is unclear whether Damascus has made a
    long-term commitment to sever its ties to the PKK.

    Although Damascus claims to be committed to the Middle East peace
    process, it has not acted to stop anti-Israeli attacks by Hizballah
    and Palestinian rejectionist groups in southern Lebanon. Syria allowed
    -- but did not participate in -- a meeting of Palestinian rejectionist
    groups in Damascus in December to reaffirm their public opposition to
    the peace process. Syria also assists the resupply of rejectionist
    groups operating in Lebanon via Damascus. Nonetheless, the Syrian
    Government continues to restrain the international activities of some
    groups and to participate in a multinational monitoring group to
    prevent attacks against civilian targets in southern Lebanon and
    northern Israel.

    A complete copy of the 1998 report on "Patterns of Global Terrorism"
    is now available on the State Department's Internet website
    http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1998Report/1998index.html.

    (end text)

    Source: http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=99043003.plt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

    30 April 1999

    TEXT: ALBRIGHT STATEMENT ON STATE DEPARTMENT'S TERRORISM REPORT

    (Notes it shows fewer incidents but more deaths in 1998) (710)

    Washington -- The State Department's report on global terrorism in
    1998 shows that there were fewer reported incidents than in any year
    since 1971, but that a record number of people were killed in those
    attacks, Secretary of State Albright observed in a statement issued
    April 30.

    Following is the text of the secretary's statement.

    (begin text)

    Today, we are releasing the State Department's annual report on
    Patterns of Global Terrorism.

    Its significance is heightened this year by our memory of the bombing
    last August of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. We
    continue to grieve for those, American and African, who were killed or
    injured by those criminal acts. And we are determined to do all we can
    to deter, and diminish the consequences, of any future attacks.

    This year's report reflects two trends, one encouraging, one very
    disturbing. Fewer international terrorist incidents were reported in
    1998 than in any year since 1971. But more people were killed in the
    attacks that did occur than in any year on record. This shows that we
    have done much to make it harder for terrorists to operate. And that
    we must do more because terrorists now have access to technology that
    is incredibly destructive.

    The list of state sponsors of terror has not changed from last year's
    report. Governments on the list that would like to see their names
    removed know exactly what they must do: stop planning, financing and
    supporting terrorist acts, and stop sheltering or interfering with the
    apprehension and prosecution of those who commit them.

    State-sponsored terrorism remains a grave problem, but direct
    government involvement in committing such acts continues to decline.
    Credit belongs to the sustained pressure applied by the Reagan, Bush
    and Clinton Administrations and by our allies and friends overseas.

    Unfortunately, this progress has been countered by the rise of
    terrorist groups that are less directly dependent on states. Some have
    broad geographical reach, and have found ways to support themselves
    through criminal enterprises such as drug smuggling, kidnapping and
    extortion.

    Our response has been to launch a full court press against terror.
    This means we do all we can to put pressure on terrorists all the
    time, not just when they are about to strike. In cooperation with
    other governments, we go after terrorist finances, shut down illegal
    activities, restrict travel, disrupt training, break up support cells
    and bring suspects to justice.

    In our efforts, we use a wide range of foreign policy tools, from
    military force when necessary, to vigorous diplomacy, the negotiation
    of treaties, the enforcement of laws, the sharing of information, the
    offering of rewards, the development of new technology and the
    improvement of our security.

    Examples in 1998 included two Presidential Directives, issued in May,
    to coordinate efforts to prevent and respond to unconventional
    attacks, and to shield our information and transportation facilities.

    Working with Congress, we are striving to upgrade the protection of
    our diplomatic posts. And I have made it clear to all both here in the
    United States and at our embassies overseas that security is
    everybody's responsibility, around the clock, every day.

    Finally, the combination of diplomacy and tough law enforcement has
    helped us to apprehend a number of suspects in the Kenya and Tanzania
    bombings. We will not rest until all who are responsible are held
    accountable.

    Earlier this month, those indicted in the decade-old Pan Am 103
    bombing were turned over for trial. As our determination in that case
    reflects, our memory is long and there is no statute of limitations on
    our persistence.

    In closing, I want to stress that the battle against terror is a
    multi-year, multi-agency, multi-national enterprise. It is world-wide
    and long-term.

    I commend the State Department's acting Counter-terrorism Coordinator
    Mike Sheehan, and his team, for their help in orchestrating our full
    court press.

    And to our many partners around Washington, throughout America and
    across the globe, I say thank you. We appreciate your past and current
    efforts. And we look forward to your future assistance, which we will
    need.

    (end text)