Khan made trips to Niger, Sudan

The Times of India ^ | SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2004 | CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

[piasa]

WASHINGTON: The famous African explorer Dr David Livingstone might have been impressed, even if the agenda was suspect. Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear proliferator-hero Abdul Qadeer Khan traversed the breadth of Africa in his hey day as a nuclear salesman , going to as romantic a getaway as Casablanca in Morocco and as remote an outpost as Timbuktu in Mali.   US officials might dearly like to get hold of Khan’s travel agent, or simply his itinerary, since he seems to have pretty much charted his own course during his profligate proliferating days.

According to accounts now surfacing in the Pakistani media, among Khan’s most interesting destinations were Niger and Sudan, two African countries that have been on the US radar for years for different reasons. Niger is where the US famously accused Saddam Hussain of trying to procure uranium for his weapons of mass destruction. But the uranium-rich country was very much on nuclear ''bum'' Khan's travel map long before the phoney Saddam story surfaced.

Also on Khan's itinerary was Sudan, a country that sheltered Osama bin Laden before he moved to Afghanistan and was seen by the US as a terrorist snake pit before it changed course.According to a book published by Islamabad's Hurmat Publications, and cited in an editorial commentary by columnist Mir Jamilur Rehman, Khan's friend Abdul Ma'bood Siddiqui says the nuclear salesman made three trips to Timbuktu, where he would later buy a resort hotel in the name of his Dutch-South African wife Hendrina. Each of these trips involved interesting detours and co-passengers.

Writes Siddique, "In February 1998 I received a call from Tahir Mian (Khan's Sri Lankan frontman who is also on the U.S radar)...saying Dr A.Q.Khan is planning a visit to Timbuktu and you are invited to join him. I reached Dubai on 19 February 1998 and met Dr A Q Khan. He had with him one Mr Hanks, a Dutch businessman; Lt Gen Dr Chauhan, former Surgeon General of Pakistan Army, and now Director-General of Medical Services Division of KRL; and Brig Sajawal. Dr Khan told us that we would fly to Timbuktu via Casablanca in Morocco and Bamako, capital of Mali."

"Next I met Dr Khan on 28 June 1998 in Kuala Lumpur at the wedding of Tahir Mian. It was decided there to make another trip to Timbuktu because the last visit was short... Dr Khan told us that this time we would take a different route to Timbuktu. We will fly there via Sudan and Nigeria."

"We left Dubai for Khartoum on 21 February 1999. The education minister of Sudan received the group and we were lodged at the State Guest House. After making a short stopover in a Nigerian city we reached Timbuktu on 24 February 1999. After spending a couple of days we were on our way back and our first stop was Niamey, capital of Niger."

Siddique also writes that after a stopver at N'Djamena, capital of Chad... they we flew to Khartoum. After Khan had attended to "some business", they visited the Shifa factory that was destroyed by American missiles (launched by the Clinton administration on grounds, false as it turned out, that the factory was making WMD). Siddique says he went with Khan to Timbuktu again on 20 February 2000, flying from Dubai to Khartoum, and on to Niamey, capital of Niger. He says Pakistan’s ambassador in Niger, a Brig Nisar, who served as a military secretary of Nawaz Sharief, gave a dinner in honour of Dr Khan, and he (Siddique) mentions offhandedly that "Niger has big uranium deposits."

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme is based almost entirely on uranium. Incidentally, all these trips took place before 9/11 and before the US tightened the screws on Khan.

[piasa]

Siddique also writes that after a stopver at N'Djamena, capital of Chad... they we flew to Khartoum. After Khan had attended to "some business", they visited the Shifa factory that was destroyed by American missiles

[piasa]

Siddique also writes that after a stopver at N'Djamena, capital of Chad... they we flew to Khartoum. After Khan had attended to "some business", they visited the Shifa factory that was destroyed by American missiles

[Alamo-Girl]

Very interesting. Thanks for the ping!

[smoothsailing]

So who was Joe Wilson drinking tea with in Niger?

[piasa]

FEBRUARY 1999 : (NIGER : IRAQ'S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN AL-ZAHAWIE VISITS NIAMEY, NIGER'S CAPITOL, WHILE ON A TOUR OF WEST AFRICAN NATIONS, TO INVITE PRESIDENT MAINASSARA TO BAGHDAD) a February 1999 visit to Niamey, Niger's capital, by Wissam al-Zahawie, Iraq's former ambassador to the Vatican. [He later claimed that his] trip had nothing to do with uranium. He was touring four West African nations, he said, and came here to invite Niger's then-President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara to Baghdad. Mainassara was assassinated two months later, and al-Zahawie could not be reached for comment about their talks. - "A look at the U.S.-British claims that Iraq tried to acquire uranium in Africa," AP, SEPT 21, 2003

FEBRUARY 26? +/-, 1999 : (KHAN'S GROUP TRAVELS TO NIGER, CHAD AND THEN TO SUDAN WHERE THEY VISITED THE SHIFA "ASPIRIN" FACTORY WHICH THE US HAD DESTROYED EARLIER) After spending a couple of days [in Timbuktu] we were on our way back and our first stop was Niamey, capital of Niger." Siddique also writes that after a stopver at N'Djamena, capital of Chad... they we flew to Khartoum. After Khan had attended to "some business", they visited the Shifa factory that was destroyed by American missiles ... - "Khan made trips to Niger, Sudan," CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA, TIMES NEWS NETWORK, THE TIMES OF INDIA, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2004 11:52:23 AM , http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow/497486.cms

1999 early : (VALERIE AND JOE WILSON ATTEND AFRICAN STATE DINNER) Ha! Wilson and his wife showed up at a big African State dinner in 1999, as shown on this guest list published in "Africa Today." Click here and scroll down...guest list is alphabetical, and wife is listed as "Valerie Wilson" Wilson is listed as the President of Wilson International Ventures, and this dinner took place in early 1999. 40 posted on 08/04/2003 5:43 AM PDT by Miss Marple

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Miss Marple- I remember seeing the list thanks to your old link- which to me at least looks dead now. But I don't recall the location or exact date of the state dinner. Was it in Morocco or ______? Maybe I copied the page but if so I buried it in my drive somewhere.

[MJY1288]

Yup, just what I was thinking. Joe Wilson is a fraud, he had no intentions to investigate anything, he was there so he could say he was there.

There is gonna be some serious egg on some prominent faces before long

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the information!

[piasa]

You know, maybe Joe Wilson was helping a pakistani nuclear scientist and a group of people from the Pakistani nuclear commission dig wells for poor villagers in Mali. :-)

We went three times. There is a village there, people are very poor there, we went to help them. We dug a well that's why we went there. There are other villages nearby, you will get more information if you go there. There is a desert there. There is an ancient islamic library there. Once upon a time it was a big civilisation."- Khan's visit to Timbuktu was to prospect for uranium - dissident London |By Shyam Bhatia, Correspondent | 19-02-2004 Gulf News, Feb 19, 2004

FEBRUARY 1999 : (SIDDIQUI, DR. QADEER KHAN, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR DR. HASHMI, GENERAL TAJWAR, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF SECURITY OF PAKISTAN'S KRL NUCLEAR LABORATORIES, AND OTHER ASSORTED OFFICIALS OF PAKISTAN'S ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION TRAVEL TO TIMBUKTU VIA SUDAN, NIGERIA, NIGER AND CHAD) One year later in February 1999 Siddiqui again agreed to accompany a Khan-led group back to Timbuktu. This time Khan was accompanied by his chief scientific adviser, Dr Fakhrul Hasan Hashmi, Brigadier Tajwar, director General of Security at KRL and other senior officials of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. This time the group flew via Sudan, Nigeria, Niger and Chad. - 'A Q Khan (Pakistani nuke scientist) visited Timbuktu for uranium' rediff.com ^ | February 17, 2004 19:12 IST | Shyam Bhatia in London

FEBRUARY 2000 : (NIGER : KHAN'S GROUP IS TREATED TO DINNER IN KHAN'S HONOR IN THE CAPITAL OF NIGER, NIAMEY, BY AMBASSADOR NISAR) In February 2000 Siddiqui describes how 'we were again air borne for Timbuktu', this time from Dubai to Khartoum, then to Niamey, capital of Niger, where ambassador Brigadier Nisar, hosted a dinner in honour of Khan. "Niger has big uranium deposits," Siddiqui notes without further comment. - 'A Q Khan (Pakistani nuke scientist) visited Timbuktu for uranium' rediff.com ^ | February 17, 2004 19:12 IST | Shyam Bhatia in London

FEBRUARY 29, 2000 : (KHAN'S GROUP GOES BACK TO DUBAI AFTER WHIRLWIND AFRICA TOUR) On February 29, 2000 the group returned back to Dubai after visiting 10 African cities.- 'A Q Khan (Pakistani nuke scientist) visited Timbuktu for uranium' rediff.com ^ | February 17, 2004 19:12 IST | Shyam Bhatia in London

[piasa]

fyi

[mass55th]

You mean with all Joe Wilson's "expertise" in the field and the so-called informants he spoke to during his investigative trip, he wasn't able to garner this information on Khan's travels to Niger? Sounds to me like Joey Boy has some explaining to do.

[Ben Hecks]

Good work! Bump for later.

[swarthyguy]

Meeting Mansur Ijaz, rumored investor in the Aspirin factory?

Thanks for the ping.

[piasa]

I hadn't heard that rumor yet!

[swarthyguy]

And victim of the US attack as in further business deals were kibboshed in the aftermath.

Richard Miniter touches upon them in his book. .

[piasa]

Ever seen this article? Maybe Clinton put an Arabian horsehead in someone's bed?

Sudanese president says U.S. threatening new strike