•HCON 16 IH 
car bomb attack that killed at least 13 people at the 
Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel and an unsuccessful missile 
attack on a charter aircraft as it departed Moi Inter-
national Airport en route to Israel; 
Whereas Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a senior al Qaeda oper-
ative from the Comoros Islands who is on the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation’s Top 22 Most Wanted list in 
connection with the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings 
and the 2002 attacks in Mombasa, and who most re-
cently has been linked to the al-Shabaab radical Islamist 
terrorist group in Somalia, reportedly evaded capture in 
Malindi, Kenya, on August 2, 2008; 
Whereas a number of radical Islamist terrorist organizations 
from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria allegedly have 
merged with al Qaeda and have claimed responsibility for 
attacks against western interests in North Africa; 
Whereas in May 2003, and between March and April 2007, 
the Moroccan city of Casablanca was rocked by a series 
of suicide bombings, including a bombing outside the 
United States Consulate on April 14, 2007, allegedly car-
ried out by members of Salafia Jihadia, an offshoot of 
the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group which is believed 
to have links to al Qaeda, or by members of the Libyan 
Islamic Fighting Group, also believed to have links to al 
Qaeda; 
Whereas in September 2006, the Algerian radical Islamist 
terrorist group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and 
Combat (GSPC), formally merged with al Qaeda, renam-
ing itself al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM); 
Whereas AQIM has since claimed responsibility for more 
than a dozen deadly suicide attacks in Algeria, including 
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•HCON 16 IH 
the December 2006 attack on a bus belonging to a 
United States-Algeria joint venture carrying several expa-
triate workers, the April 11, 2007, simultaneous bomb-
ings of multiple targets, including the office of Algeria’s 
prime minister, and the December 11, 2007, bombings of 
the Algerian Constitutional Council and the United Na-
tions headquarters in Algeria; 
Whereas AQIM has found sanctuary in the vast ungoverned 
spaces of the region, easily crossing the porous borders 
between Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Algeria, and Chad to 
recruit extremists for training and terrorist operations in 
the Trans-Sahara region and beyond; 
Whereas in late December 2002, Ethiopian and Transitional 
Government of Somalia forces overthrew the Islamic 
Courts Union (ICU), which had seized control of vast 
parts of Somalia and, along with its radical Islamist al- 
Shabaab militia, are believed to have harbored senior al 
Qaeda operatives, including Fazul Abdallah Mohammed 
and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan; 
Whereas in an Internet video released in January 2007, 
Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leading al Qaeda figure, urged all 
mujahedin, specifically those in the Maghreb, to extend 
support to Somali Muslims in a holy war against occu-
pying Ethiopian forces; 
Whereas al-Shabaab has since been designated as a Foreign 
Terrorist Organization under section 219 of the Immi-
gration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Des-
ignated Global Terrorist under section 1(b) of Executive 
Order 13224, and is believed to be responsible for numer-
ous suicide bombings, the use of landmines, remote con-
trolled roadside bombs, attacks against African Union 
peacekeeping forces, and targeted assassinations against 
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•HCON 16 IH 
Ethiopian and Transitional Government of Somalia secu-
rity forces, other government officials, journalists, and 
civil society leaders in Somalia; 
Whereas in Nigeria, more than 10,000 people have been 
killed as a result of violent ethnic and religious clashes 
over the past decade, 12 of the country’s 36 states have 
proclaimed Islamic Sharia law, and recent press reports 
indicate that Hezbollah has become active in northern 
Nigeria; 
Whereas Hezbollah has long been active in West Africa, most 
notably engaging in terrorist financing through the ex-
ploitation of blood diamonds which have fueled deadly 
conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire; 
Whereas according to the Department of State’s 2007 Coun-
try Reports on Terrorism, Hezbollah remains the most 
technically capable terrorist group in the world; 
Whereas the 2007 Country Reports on Terrorism also assert 
that Iran remains ‘‘the most significant state sponsor of 
terrorism’’, that ‘‘a critically important element of Ira-
nian national security strategy is its ability to conduct 
terrorist operations abroad’’, and that ‘‘Hezbollah, a des-
ignated Foreign Terrorist Organization, is key to Iran’s 
terrorism strategy’’; 
Whereas in mid-September 2008, it was reported that the 
MV Iran Deyanat, a ship owned and operated by the Is-
lamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), a state- 
owned company run by the Iranian military and currently 
under United States sanctions, had been hijacked by pi-
rates in the Gulf of Aden while attempting to deliver 
‘‘mysterious cargo’’, thought to include small arms and 
chemical weapons, to Eritrea for use by Islamist insur-
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•HCON 16 IH 
gents in Somalia and that within days, pirates who 
boarded the ship had developed ‘‘strange health complica-
tions, skin burn and loss of hair’’; 
Whereas it was widely reported nearly two years earlier that 
Iran had supplied Islamist insurgents in Somalia with so-
phisticated anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons, including 
SA–7 Strella and SA–18 Igla shoulder fired surface-to- 
air missiles and AT–3 Sagger anti-tank missiles, in direct 
violation of a United Nations arms embargo; 
Whereas in recent years, Iran has embarked upon a cam-
paign to strengthen military, economic, and diplomatic 
ties with countries on the African Continent; 
Whereas, on January 29, 2008, Iranian Foreign Minister 
Manouchehr Mottaki declared that 2008 would mark a 
‘‘milestone in Iran-Africa ties’’, a notion that was rein-
forced by his attendance three days later at the African 
Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and a subse-
quent announcement that Iran would soon convene an 
Iran-Africa Summit in Tehran; 
Whereas while many African countries sorely need the in-
creased trade opportunities and investments in energy, 
agriculture, and infrastructure that Iran has offered, 
Iran’s assistance does not come without a price; 
Whereas Senegal and Iran have signed a number of agree-
ments to expand economic relations, including agree-
ments on the construction of an oil refinery, a chemical 
plant, and an automotive assembly plant in Senegal and, 
in return, Senegal has expressed support for Iran’s nu-
clear program; 
Whereas Iran reportedly is pursuing similar deals for ex-
panded diplomatic relations and strengthened commercial 
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