Asked who she thought was behind the bomb blasts in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright decline to hazard a guess. A fine diplomatic posture.

In an article in The East African, columnist Philip Ochieng' took to task all those who claimed they saw some Arab-looking men jump out of the truck from which the bomb in Nairobi was ignited.

Madame Albright may not have said much, but she was most likely of the same mind as those whom Ochieng castigated for their unscientific guesses that the culprits were Arabs.

Whether some like Albright keep quiet or others like Ochieng' castigate wild guess work the question still remains: Why should anybody harbour such a terrible thought of blowing up a building so as to kill so many people he or she has no quarrel with?

As Foreign Minister Godana said, for very American who died in this tragedy, 20 Kenyans perished! The target was the American Embassy, and the bombers Arab-looking men. Why should these men be so angry with America that they do not care who perished when they are venting their anger?

In their propaganda documents, the terrorists say they have no quarrel with innocent people who usually die when they hit; they have a quarrel with a system of power - the American system of government and its manifestations abroad.

What does this mean, and from when did it all star? Or are these words merely uttered by perverted and sick minds ready to draw blood any time they want?

We need to go back into history to understand why we have have to face this menace today.

In 1939, a war broke out in Europe, World War II. Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, wanted to dominate the world so as to guarantee the superiority and power of the pure German race. Within Germany itself, Communists, liberals, social democrats and Jews were seen by the Nazis as the immediate enemies. They had to be eliminated. They were eliminated in a most ruthless and inhuman way.

In the rest of the world any political system that did not subscribe to the Nazi world view was also an enemy to be fought to extinction. Hitler was the biggest terrorist the world has ever known, and his tools of human torture and elimination have been incorporated into the culture of terrorism ever since.

Hitler acquired a few allies in Europe, particularly in Italy, and to some extent Spain. In the Asian world, Japan fought on Hitler's side. The three were the Axis Powers. Otherwise the rest of the Western world and their colonies and ex-colonies banded together to fight fascism.

They were joined by the Communist world led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), what is generally referred to as Russia. These were called the Allies. To make a long story short, World War II was won by the Allies.

After the ar, however, the Allies broke into two: those grouped under the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) led by the US and Great Britain, and those belonging to the Warsaw Pact under the hegemony of the USSR. This ia what created the wall between the Communist and the Capitalist worlds, and led to a Cold War over the control of the resources and the policies of the world.

International terrorism is the offspring of Cold War politics. Its Middle East version, hinged on the Arab/Israeli conflict, has been particularly lethal in recent times.

Part of the post-war settlement was the creation of Israel as a homeland state for Jews who had been persecuted, not only in Germany, but in the rest of Europe too by age old anti-Semitism.

Israel, as a Jewish state, was created where Palestinians lived. Created by the Nato powers as a land in which the Jews would be free, it became a land in which Palestinians were now un-free. This was unfortunate. The Palestinians had not been responsible for the persecution of the Jews, yet they became the culprits in the attempt to provide Jews with a land in which they would rule themselves and guarantee their safety.

A conflict immediately ensued between the Jews and the Palestinians, the former defining citizenship in Israel purely on religious terms and as a birthright, while the latter asserted their right to defend their motherland.

The Western world came to the defence of Israel as a Jewish state. The Communist and Arab world came to the defence of the Palestinians as an oppressed people persecuted by western imperialism and Zionism. Many wars in the Middle East were fought along these lines, with Israel making tremendous inroads into Arab territory as a result of her superior military might and overwhelming support from the well-to-do Western world.

Arab nationalism became frustrated. Israel could not be defeated in the battlefield. Some moderate Arab leaders suggested dialogue and negotiations so as to settle the matter. The late Anwar Sadat of Egypt was the first to crusade along these lines. Others, like Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, thought the enemy had to be fought to the bitter end.

The more frustrated and extremist elements in both the Israeli and Arab camps turned to terrorism as a way of venting their anger against the enemy.

The bombing of buses, the torching of homes and the blowing up of embassies is not therefore the preserve of Arab terrorists: it is a weapon of struggle that extremist elements on both sides of the divide have used from time to time to vent their anger and frustration.

Terrorists, however must always have a base. They cannot operate in thin air. The US has always seen Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein as her antagonists in Middle East politics. Both Saddam and Gaddafi think the US is meddling too much in affairs of the Middle East to the detriment of Arab interests.

Convinced that the Jewish state is an aberration, Sadam and Gaddafi have vowed to fight to the bitter end to dismantle Israel. The Americans, on the other hand, have equally vowed to defend the territorial integrity of Israel.

Tales abound on how the secret services of Great Britain and the US have tried to assassinate both Gaddafi and Saddam. The latter in turn, also sponsor terrorist attacks against US and British interests wherever they can.

The Middle East is rich in oil resources. This oil is exploited mainly by Western multinationals in collaboration with Arab feudal rulers. This is another source of frustration for some Arab nationalists who feel both Western imperialism and Arab feudalism should be reduced to size so the ordinary people can enjoy their natural wealth. When they cannot win the battle in politics, they try victory in the uncertain terrain of terrorism.

What, then, is the solution to international terrorism since it is taking away too many innocent lives and affecting people not necessarily involved in the conflicts that give rise to terrorism?

First, the Israel/Palestinian problem needs to be solved peacefully and urgently. Extremism on both sides will not help anybody. The rights of both nationalities should be guaranteed in a democratic Israel and Palestinian state. The age-old argument that the two cannot coexist is a sure way of perpetuating terrorism.

Second, the US as a world power must approach the issue of democratisation in the Arab world honestly. The US cannot continue to do business with corrupt sheikhdoms in the Arab world and exploit oil resources unfairly yet expect peace and tranquility in the Middle East. There must be a new globalism, based on social democratic principles which will ascertain the equitable exploitation and use of petroleum resources, not only in the Middle East, but elsewhere as well.

Third, the quiet terrorism of Western secret services must also be condemned. Is it true that M16 was planning to assassinate Gaddafi some time ago as some runaway British secret services agents have alleged in France and New Zealand? Were these agents working in collaboration with the CIA or not? What other dirty under-hand deals do these agents undertake against their enemies in other countries like Kenya which then bring these countries into the orbit of international terrorism?

Such activities should be eliminated as they can easily bring untold suffering to innocent people.

Finally, we must now recollect that what we have today is the outcome of the divisions created by World War II.

In spite of the so-called end of the Cold War, these divisions are still very much there between the rich former imperialist powers and the poor former colonies.

Poverty breeds frustration. The US, as the leading global power, can only meaningfully fight terrorism if it fights its primary cause which is frustration due to poverty and the helplessness that comes with the feeling that one has no control over one's destiny.

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