RIYADH, 8 November — Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former head of the Saudi intelligence, said it had not been anticipated that Osama Bin Laden would travel to Sudan from Afghanistan after efforts aimed at reconciling the warring Mujahedeen had failed.
Bin Laden was granted permission by the Saudi authorities to travel to Pakistan in March 1992 to take part in peace efforts to convince the Mujahedeen to put aside their differences and unite before entering Kabul. Before leaving for Pakistan, Bin Laden had spent two full years in the Kingdom. “There was nothing against him in the Kingdom that would have made him run away,” Prince Turki said in the fifth part of his interview with Arab News and MBC television.
While traveling from Sudan to Afghanistan after he was ordered by the government in Khartoum to leave in 1996, Bin Laden’s plane landed in Qatar for refueling. The prince said there was nothing unusual about this and the position of the Qatari officials at that time came as no surprise. “It is not necessary that authorities in a country would know who was on an aircraft that stopped at their airport for refueling.”
After efforts to reconcile the Mujahedeen ended in failure and fighting broke out among the Afghan factions, Bin Laden chose to stay away from Afghanistan. This time he headed not to Jeddah, as he used to do in the past, but to Khartoum.
When asked why Bin Laden chose Sudan, Prince Turki replied: “That was unexpected, since there was nothing against him in the Kingdom to make him run away. He was only asked to check with the authority before he travels anywhere and this is because of the government’s suspicions about him since he intended to do something in a neighboring country (South Yemen). This happened after the liberation of Kuwait, when Sudan was serving as a haven for many organizations seeking a role on the political stage. These then set up an umbrella body known as the Islamic Arab People’s Congress, headed by Hassan Al-Turabi.”
Bin Laden’s movements in Sudan were monitored and he was found to have joined some of those organizations. He was warmly welcomed by Turabi and his men both inside and outside the government and introduced to audiences at their meetings on many occasions.
Bin Laden’s wealth and the contacts he built while in Afghanistan made him a very attractive man to deal with, said the prince. At that time, Afghanistan was awash with Islamic organizations from all over the world. Some were anti-state and were engaged in subversive activities, like the Egyptian Jihad and Takfeer Wal Hijra; others were political organizations who nevertheless advocated violence. Bin Laden’s association with these organizations and the statements he used to release resulted in the Kingdom stripping him of his Saudi nationality in 1994.
Asked if the Saudi government had exhausted all possible means to solve the Bin Laden problem before stripping him of his nationality, Prince Turki said the man had been given more than enough chances.
“Officials did everything and gave him numerous chances so he could return to the country and renounce violence and the promotion of criminal activity. His family also tried to convince him to come back to his senses.”
The prince was asked whether the violence that engulfed Egypt in 1992 organized by the Jihad and Jamaa Islamiya groups, and the complaints made by the Egyptians of Bin Laden’s involvement with them, were the main reasons behind his nationality being revoked. He was also asked if there had been contacts between the Kingdom and Egypt over the matter.
“Of course, we have close cooperation with the Egyptians long before that. We regularly exchanged information. The Egyptians did not accuse Bin Laden alone but implicated Sudanese elements from the government and others outside it.”
He denied that Bin Laden had been stripped of his nationality because of Egyptian complaints.
“The main reason was what he had been saying against the system of government in the Kingdom. It was his disobedience to the ruler and his call for changing the system. That was the problem. He is an abnormal individual and showed no loyalty either to the head of his country or his family.”
Prince Turki spoke highly of the Binladen family’s position and their efforts to convince Osama to come back to the Kingdom. “The Binladens are a noble family. Its members, except Osama, are an example of fine patriotism and allegiance, brotherhood and friendship. On my way to attend this program I contacted Mr. Bakr Binladen, the eldest son of the late Muhammad Binladen, to ask permission to talk about the family as I expected this issue would be raised during the interview. He gave me that permission. I asked him whether he wanted to say anything on the issue. He then told me: I would be glad if you add these points. His (Osama) uncle, when he was over 80 years old, went to Sudan to convince Osama to return to the country and stop his activities. His mother and a number of his brothers and sisters also went to Sudan to try to convince the man. But to no avail.”
I asked the prince about a report that the family had been given two weeks to persuade Osama to change his ways before his citizenship would be taken from him. Prince Turki replied: “I don’t have any information on this. Other officials might have informed the family. What I know is that the family disowned him and then announced the fact through the media. They differ from him in every respect. They are true followers of Islam and have strong family attachments. He is the exception.”
Prince Turki denied that the Binladens had faced any harassment from the state. “Not at all. What for? They are an exemplary family and a model for patriotism, good behavior and conduct. They did not face anything, either from the state or from the citizens.”
Referring to Osama’s declared activities in Sudan, he said: “He had business activities and various projects. Some Sudanese personalities within and outside the government exploited his wealth. They set up projects including a road called Al-Tahaddi Road and he financed them. He undoubtedly played a role at the training camps and cooperated with Turabi in creating Islamic militias, whom Turabi wanted to support him in case of any conflict with the country’s army.”
The prince said the Saudi intelligence had monitored Bin Laden “recruiting persons from different parts of the Islamic world, from Algeria to Egypt, from East Asia to Somalia, to get them trained at these camps. It was an unacceptable activity.”
He said Saudi-Sudanese relations at that time were not at their best in the wake of the stand taken by Khartoum following the Gulf crisis. Prince Turki was wondering how they could allow a person to carry out such activities freely. “So remarks were made and the authorities were informed and we were given assurances that Osama would not be allowed to harm Saudi interests.”
On the assassination attempt against Osama in Khartoum in 1994, Prince Turki said: “It was not real. Rather, it was an attempt by some Sudanese agencies to convince the man that he should look to them for protection. An extremist group opened fire against a mosque in Khartoum and a large number of worshippers were killed. It was said that the group later opened fire on Osama’s house.” Prince Turki expressed amazement over such a group targeting Bin Laden because he was more like a competitor rather than an opponent. “There were no fundamental differences between them.”
Bin Laden traveled from Khartoum to Afghanistan in 1996 as there was a great deal of pressure on the government to drive him out of the country. Bin Laden left in a private aircraft, which stopped at Doha airport for refueling before resuming its journey to Afghanistan. The prince said there was nothing amazing in this fact.
“Any plane stopping in a country for refueling must get the necessary permission in advance. In most cases, the passengers on the plane are unknown. So there is nothing at all strange in Qatar’s decision.”
Asked to estimate Bin Laden’s wealth, the prince said that “Westerners have estimated it at between one and five billion dollars. But our estimate, made when I was director of the intelligence, put it at between 40 and 50 million dollars at most.”
How could he have kept hold of all that money? The prince replied: “There are different methods of hiding money, from secret accounts to other criminal ways. He, like any other criminal, follows these well-worn paths.”
Asked whether Bin Laden has any frozen assets in the Kingdom, he said: “What I know is that when he left the Kingdom he had settled matters related to his partnership in the Muhammad Binladen Company with his brothers. If he had any other money, most probably it would be kept by the state to prevent him from using it to carry out his plans.”
Prince Turki ruled out the possibility that the Al-Qaeda organization might have succeeded in amassing weapons of mass destruction. “While I was in the intelligence service, we monitored all these claims — not only those related to Al-Qaeda, but regarding other organizations as well. There were reports that several individuals and organizations had acquired or about to acquire such weapons, but we have not received strong evidence to back that up.”
Prince Turki pointed out that Bin Laden had tried to gather followers in the Kingdom. “Don’t forget the blast that occurred in Olaya, Riyadh, several years ago. Those who were behind the explosions confessed to the crime and admitted that they were influenced by his thoughts. So there can be no doubt that he tried and will continue to try to gather followers,” he concluded.
Tomorrow:
* Saudi Arabia and the jihad in Afghanistan: the full story.
· How did the Kingdom and the United States divide the cost of arming the Mujahedeen.