Officials: U.S. investigating possible bin Laden links in Sao Tome

By MANUEL DENDE
Associated Press Writer

SAO TOME, Sao Tome and Principe – A team of U.S. intelligence officials is in Sao Tome to investigate possible links between Arab businesses here and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, police and government officials said Friday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the seven-member team was checking reports that in 1994 bin Laden stayed at a hotel in Sao Tome, the capital of this tiny West African island nation.

The intelligence officials arrived in Sao Tome on Tuesday and were expected to stay a week, according to the officials, who gave no more details.

Defense Minister Maj. Luis Maria Ceita, contacted by telephone, declined to comment on the visit.

Several hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had links to al-Qaida, U.S. officials have said.

Sao Tome and Principe is an impoverished nation of about 160,000 people located in the Gulf of Guinea, about 150 miles west of Gabon. It is mainly Christian but has a small Arab community, mostly from Lebanon.

APNP-10-05-01 0941CDT