MI5: Somalia, Yemen Pose Increasing Threat to Security

Via globalsecurity.org (Sept 17, 2010) -

The head of Britain's security services has said al-Qaida plots targeting Britain are increasingly originating from Somalia and Yemen. He described Somalia as a "seedbed for terrorism" and said it resembles Afghanistan during the 1990s.

Jonathon Evans, director-general of Britain's domestic security services, MI5 said Britain's counter-terrorism strategies are getting better but the risk of lethal terror attacks remains.

Speaking Thursday evening to security industry professionals, Evans said that the nature of the threat is evolving.

Just a few years ago, he said, 75 percent of suspected terror threats were originating from northwest Pakistan, but today that percentage has dropped to 50 percent.

Now, he said, the threat to Britain's security is increasingly coming from elsewhere, namely from the African countries Yemen and Somalia.

Wyn Rees, Professor of International Security at Britain's University of Nottingham, agrees.

"By fighting against and driving al-Qaida out of a country like Afghanistan, it has effectively spread, it's been weakened, but it has gone to other parts of the world," said Rees.

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AEI: Critical Threats - Somalia
http://www.criticalthreats.org/somalia

AEI: Critical Threats - Yemen
http://www.criticalthreats.org/yemen/