- The governments of Saudi Arabia and the US jointly have designated four organisations as "financiers of terrorism", two of them in Kenya and Tanzania. These branches of Al-Haramain - normally known as an Islamic "charitable organisation" - are now reported to the UN Sanctions Committee.
The Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, headquartered in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), describes itself as a "private charitable and educational organisation tasked with conveying the true Islamic teachings," according to its website.
Today, however, the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United States have asked the UN Sanctions Committee to designate four branch offices of the Al-Haramain Foundation as financial supporters of terrorism.
The branches are located in Kenya, Tanzania, Pakistan and Indonesia and subject to the laws and regulations of those countries. Saudi and US authorities have determined that "these branches of Al-Haramain have been infiltrated by individuals who have supported terrorist activities and terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda," according to the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan commented that, "Nothing can be more evil than the act of collecting money intended for charity and then diverting that money to support the murder of the innocent."
The US/Saudi accusations against Al-Haramain's branches in Tanzania and Kenya come less than one year after the Islamic foundation was pressured to close its branch offices in Somalia and Somaliland, where it had been one of the largest charitable groups since civil war erupted in 1991.
The closure of the foundations offices in Somalia and Somaliland in May 2003 had come after a direct order from the Saudi government, responding to US suspicions of Al-Haramain financing of local Al-Qaeda groups. Al-Haramain ran a total of eight orphanages in Somalia and Somaliland, housing about 3,500 children. Little later, a UN report found no evidence that international terror groups were based in Somalia or Somaliland.
Since it turned out that most of the persons involved in the terrorist attacks on the US in 2001 were Saudi citizens, Saudi Arabia and the US have been working closely together to identify sources of terror financing. This effort includes a joint Saudi-US task force comprised of Saudi law enforcement officials and their counterparts from several US agencies.
Washington is currently focusing on Islamic charities as a possible link in terrorist funding. With its military intelligence base in Djibouti, the US government has engaged in an increasingly stronger campaign against groups believed to be sympathetic to Islamic terrorism. US troops in Djibouti have stated that they are monitoring and infiltrating such groups in the entire region.
Many groups pinpointed by the US government however have turned out to be more engaged in fundamentalist Islamic teaching and charity than in direct terrorism support. It is a known fact that many fundamentalist groups are the only ones involved in charity where the need is greatest as charity also is a basic virtue in Islam.
In Kenya, the Al-Haramain Foundation has been in the spotlight of authorities several times, allegedly being connected to terrorism. In 1998, the Kenyan government, under US pressure, temporarily deregistered the group together with four other Islamic relief agencies in the aftermath of the bomb attack on the US Embassy. Later statements by Kenyan authorities and UN representatives indicate Al-Haramain was just "a normal, religious foundation."
Also in Tanzania, Muslim leaders increasingly are complaining over "government intimidation" following US pressure to "undermine the welfare of Muslims in Tanzania." Also here, Al-Haramain leaders have been targeted by government, and one regional Al-Haramain director of Tunisian nationality last year was expelled from Tanzania over a minor residence permit irregularity.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is not moving against Al-Haramain's leaders in Riyadh. The Saudi government last year had promised US authorities to close the foundation's offices abroad, however, and is now slowly moving against the international charity programmes of the group in its cooperation with the US "against sources of terror financing," according to Ambassador Prince Bandar.
Saudi Arabia has taken numerous actions to combat terror financing. The Kingdom has established a High Commission for oversight of all charities, contributions and donations and established a Financial Intelligence Unit to investigate money transfers. Saudi Arabia now requires all charities to be subject to audits and to have in place control mechanisms to monitor how and where funds are dispersed.
- And in one of the toughest measures taken by any country, Saudi Arabia has prohibited the collection of cash contributions in mosques and public places, and has directed all Saudi charities to suspend activities outside Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom's Washington Embassy says.
Officially, Al-Haramain raises around US$ 30 million a year in donations for charity work across the world - US sources claim the amount is much higher. In Tanzania and Kenya, the foundation operates schools and provides assistance and food to Moslems. The group repeatedly has denied having any international terror or militant connections.
Now being reported to the UN Sanctions Committee, the Kenya and Tanzania branches of Al-Haramain normally will see all their assets frozen within short time.
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