Western Africa Israel's Ambassador to the UN [United Nations] Ron Prosor warned the UN Security Council Tuesday [February 21] that Hezbollah’s powerbase in western Africa is growing. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern over the growing ties between the Shiite terror group and local African crime organizations.

Ban said that the association was threatening the region and may find its way into Latin America and Europe. Prosor told the Security Council that Israel could play a key role in the global fight against the infiltration of crime-backed terror activity into western Africa.

He further offered the Israeli intelligence agencies' assistance in forming an international intelligence agency that would work to foil terror attacks worldwide. Prosor said that Hezbollah's grip on western Africa was part of a growing international trend in which criminals and terrorists join forces on drugs and arms trafficking.

The Israeli ambassador said that western Africa has become Hezbollah's powerbase in the region and a junction for running arms, drugs and money. "Israel is particularly concerned over Hezbollah's use of the area as a base of terror operations. Criminal initiatives bolster Hezbollah's efforts to create sleeper-cells in the area. The world can't stand idly by—this endangers more than just Africa but innocent lives the world over, as we have seen in New Delhi, Tbillsi, and Bangkok,” he said.

Prosor suggested international collaboration on the matter: "We have to ensure that these criminals and terrorists are on every country's national and international watch list."
 

Source: (By Yitzhak Benhorin, Ynetnews.com, February 22, 2012)