ALLEGED SUDANESE AL-QAIDA MEMBERS IN BLANTYRE

S E C R E T LILONGWE 000667

SIPDIS

TERREP
NOFORN

DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/AF, DS/IP/ITA, LUSAKA PLEASE PASS TO
ORCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 1.6 X1
TAGS: ASEC PTER
SUBJECT: ALLEGED SUDANESE AL-QAIDA MEMBERS IN BLANTYRE

Classified By: RSO Thomas A. Green


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A call-in on July 9, 2004 claimed that as
of May five Sudanese al-Qaida members were located in a house
in Blantyre. He received this information thirdhand. His
source was contacted and stated the same thing. The
firsthand source could not be reached. This information was
passed to the Malawi Police Service (MPS) for follow-up.


2. (SBU) On July 9, 2004 RSO contacted a Muusa KAUNDA, DPOB:
20AUG69, Mzuzu, Malawi after he called the Embassy claiming
to have information on terrorism. KAUNDA's contact numbers
are 01.634.478, 01.634.475 and 08.878.093. He is employed at
King's Print, BC 149, Lower Sclatter Road, Hyde Park Building
in Blantyre. He stated that he heard from an associate that
there were Sudanese al-Qaida members living in a house in
Blantyre as of May, 2004. He stated he heard this from Esau
KAMANGA.


3. (SBU) RSO then contacted Esau KAMANGA, DPOB 08SEP58,
Rutenburg, South Africa. He stated he is a Malawian citizen
by birth even though he was born in RSA. KAMANGA works for
the secretariat of the Peoples' Progressive Movement (PPM),a
political party in Malawi. KAMANGA was interviewed by telcon
in Blantyre at 01.636.445 and later at 01.636.475 and stated
that he heard about the Sudanese from a Mr. MAHANGO (FNU) who
is/was a security guard at the residence where they are in
hiding in Blantyre. KAMANGA stated that the five Sudanese
are in Malawi to recruit and plan for al-Qaida. They are
supposedly being financed by Indians. He stated MAHANGO
knows this because MAHANGO used to work for the intelligence
section of the Malawi Communist Party and is a guard at the
house. KAMANGA said he first heard this information when he
met MAHANGO during the national election in May. When asked
why he waited until now to contact the Embassy he said he
wanted to make sure he was reporting the information to the
right people.


4. (SBU) Attempts to contact MAHANGO have been negative. RSO
was not provided with a telephone point of contact number for
him, or even a definite address.


5. (SBU) RSO has reported this matter to the Director of
Criminal Investigation (DCI) for the MPS. The DCI said he
would help but expressed concern that his department tread
very lightly due to the recent tensions over the QUOTE last
time we had one of these END QUOTE. (RSO COMMENT: It is
believed that the DCI was referring to the Malawi Five
incident over which there is still lingering hostility on the
part of some of the public. END COMMENT.) The DCI was asked
to locate and interview MAHANGO, as well as follow-up with
KAUNDA and KAMANGA to see what their intentions with
providing this information are.


6. (S/NF) This information has been passed to the regional
ORCA office for records checks. Post will report any
information or results received via Septel.


7. (SBU) RSO ASSESSMENT: This information does NOT/NOT appear
to be credible. KAMANGA and KAUNDA appear to believe that
this MAHANGO is telling the truth. However, the information
is at best secondhand, and was most likely fabricated by this
MAHANGO. It is unlikely that al-Qaida cell members would be
so casual about their identities. During the telcons both
KAMANGA and KAUNDA were very eager (and repeatedly asked) to
have RSO come see them to take him to MAHANGO. This raises
concerns about possible ulterior motives for reporting the
information. KAMANGA also hesitated when asked for his
mother's name, as if he had to think about it before he
provided it (therefore probably lying to the RSO in the
process). Though it is possible that these Sudanese are/were
in Blant