Kuwait fears Bin Laden funding link

Kuwait has dozens of Islamic charities, not all regulated

		By the BBC's Frank Gardner

Kuwait's Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah says his government believes some Kuwaitis have been trying to send money to Osama Bin Laden's organisation, al-Qaeda.

Up to one-fifth of Kuwaiti donations could have been sent to organisations now blacklisted in the international campaign against terror

Western diplomats

Speaking to the BBC in Kuwait on Monday, he said Kuwait was now trying to regulate certain Islamic charities which pro-Western Kuwaitis suspect have been funding terror.

Kuwait has a problem. It has dozens of Islamic charities, some regulated, some not, and the government does not know where their donations have been going.

The information minister said that while there was no evidence against the main charities, his government believed some people had been privately trying to raise money and send it to those who cause terrors.

Liability

Kuwait's pro-Western liberals agree, saying the numerous Islamic charity booths set up on the street have been secretly chanelling money to Osama Bin Laden's organisation.

They want them closed down as a national liability.

They point to Osama Bin Laden's spokesman, the Kuwaiti-born Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, as an example of what they call the "enemy in their midst".

But Kuwait's Islamists reject the charge.

They say the liberals are just using this issue to score political points over their parliamentary rival.

Heads of charities say they welcome government scrutiny, insisting that their money goes to worthy causes, such as rebuilding Muslim communities in Kosovo and helping Palestinian orphans.

But privately, Western diplomats believe that while most donations are harmless, up to one fifth of Kuwaiti donations could have been sent to organisations now blacklisted in the international campaign against terror.