U.S. shuts down six embassies in Africa after threats

By BARRY SCHWEID

WASHINGTON (June 25, 1999 5:12 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - The United States temporarily shut down embassies in Gambia, Togo, Madagascar, Liberia, Namibia and Senegal after receiving information they were under surveillance by suspicious individuals.

The embassies in were closed Thursday and will remain shuttered through Sunday. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Friday a decision would be made over the weekend on whether they will be reopened Monday.

"We will be assessing that this afternoon and tomorrow," he said. "We had information suggesting suspicious individuals were surveying the sites, and as a precautionary, prudent measure we suspended operations," Rubin said.

And, he said, U.S. embassies in Africa and the rest of the world have been placed on a heightened state of alert due to increased security concerns.

Rubin did not cite any specific threats or militant organizations. However, he said, "We have seen a pattern of activity indicating continued planning for terrorist attacks by members of Osama bin Laden's network. And we take reporting of such threats seriously."

American embassies have been closed before in response to terrorist threats or concerns they might be targeted. But Rubin said terrorists were not intimidating the United States or having an impact on U.S. foreign policy.

"We have foiled their objective of stopping our determination to have an American presence around the world and to interfere with our determination as a global power to have American troop presence in various countries," he said. "So, they have failed."

But, he said, "That doesn't mean we don't have to adjust our practices, that we don't have to spend more money to protect our people, and we are determined to do that."

Rubin told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the United States was putting pressure on a number of governments to capture accused terrorist bin Laden. He is accused in the deadly attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last August and has been placed on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives. He is believed to be in Afghanistan.

Last week, U.S. intelligence officials said bin Laden was believed to be in the final stages of planning another attack on U.S. facilities.

"We think that Osama bin Laden is responsible for the deaths of Americans and he will have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide," Rubin said Friday. "We're determined to find those responsible for killing Americans no matter how long it takes."

The State Department noted that U.S. embassies in Africa and the rest of the world have been on a heightened alert status due to increased security concerns.

Most U.S. embassies in sub-Saharan Africa were ordered closed for two days in December, following U.S. action in Iraq. The U.S. Embassy in Uganda also has closed on a few occasions due to security concerns since the nearly simultaneous bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August.

Cherno Jallow of Gambia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said closing the Embassy in Gambia's capital of Banjul had resulted in no extraordinary security measures.

"The temporary closure is warranted by external factors - that is, the Americans' fear that bin Laden is planning to mount terrorist attacks on U.S. installations in the Gambia," Jallow said.