◆ SpookStack

b6 BIC bID security forces were completely surprised by the various articles and have spent considerable time and effort_to determine if there was an al Qaeda presence in the country. was convinced that the media allegations that fugitives Ahmed Ghailani and Fazul Mohammed were hosted by President Campaore or staying as guests at the Maison des Hotes were false. However, he added that Burkina Faso could not guarantee that al Qaeda operatives have never discreetly passed through the country. Evaluation of Allegations Related to al Qaeda’s Involvement in Diamond Trafficking in West Africa The FBI has conducted a comprehensive investigation into this matter. Investigative results do not support the media allegations that al Qaeda fugitives Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, and Fazul Mohammed engaged in a diamond buying operation in West Africa. | i (wstst*~é<‘iéSOSOCOP TRIS in-depth Investigation revealed that the “individuals involved in Nassour's West African diamond trafficking operation during 2000 and 2001,° with the exception provided consistent details of all aspects of the operation, while the involvement of the al Qaeda fugitives the FBI's investigation ohamma . Reneme and Soulemani M. Guessen “were not aliases used by Ahmed Ghailani and Fazul Mohammed, but rather they were true names of actual diamond traders from Senegal employed by Aziz Nassour. Several witnesses involved in Nassour's operation, who knew the two Senegalese men, viewed photographs of Ahmed Ghailani and Fazul Mohammed, and stated that they were not photographs of Mohammad D. Keneme and Soulemani M. Guessen. Additionally, investigation into the allegations that Ahmed Ghailani and Fazul Mohammed were guests at Burkina Faso's official guest house, Maison des Hotes, for at least two months after 9/11, met with similar negative results. Furthermore, the allegations that the U.S. readied a Special Forces team to snatch Ahmed Ghailani and Fazul Mohammed in Western Africa in the weeks following 9/11 were determined to be false. 11