Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden issued an ominous new threat yesterday, appearing to justify attacks on civilians in the West and calling on his followers to go to Sudan to fight a proposed UN force in Darfur.
In his first new message in three months, bin Laden said in the audiotape broadcast by Arab satellite TV channel al-Jazeera that the West's cutting aid to the Palestinian Hamas-led government proved Washington and Europe were conducting a war on Islam.
The voice on the tape sounded strong and appeared the same one as on other recordings attributed to bin Laden. There was no way to independently verify the authenticity of the tape.
Bin Laden was based in Sudan before it expelled him under threats from the US. He then moved to Afghanistan and is believed to be hiding out in the rugged mountains just over the border in Pakistan.
"I call on Mujahidin and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arab peninsula, to prepare for [a] long war again the crusader plunderers in Western Sudan. Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people," he said.
"I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur." They should know the rainy season approaches and that will hamper their movement, he said.
The fighting in Darfur began when rebels from black African tribes took up arms in February 2003, complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government.
The government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militia known as the janjaweed against civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson.
At least 180,000 people have died -- many from hunger and disease -- and 2 million people have been displaced in the vast, arid region of western Sudan.
The US and other Western countries are pushing for the UN to send a peacekeeping force to the war-torn region.
The al-Qaeda chieftain, who last issued a message through al-Jazeera on Jan. 19, said the people of Western countries were equally responsible with their governments for what he called "a Zionist [Jewish] crusaders [Christian] war on Islam."
He said the cutting of aid to the Hamas-led government proved the US and Europe were at war with all Islamic people.
He also called for a global Muslim boycott of US goods similar to the recent boycott of Danish products after the publication there of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. He said the artists who drew the offending cartoons should be handed over to him for trial and punishment.
The al-Jazeera news reader said bin Laden, in a portion of the tape not aired, scoffed at Saudi King Abdullah for his calls for a "dialogue among civilizations" and blasted liberal-minded Arab writers.
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