Israel's Mossad intelligence agency warned that Hizbullah agents may attempt to kidnap Israeli businessmen and diplomats in Africa in the coming weeks. The Mossad warning related specifically to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania.

While progress has been made in some parts of Africa (see earlier reports on Kenya's efforts), much of the continent remains open to all sorts of mischief involving commercial aircraft. On October 14, Angolan authorities seized a plane in the central highlands of Bie province, which had entered the country's air space without permission from the neighboring Republic of Namibia. The plane was being held at the airport in Kuito, 580km southeast of the capital Luanda. There were no details regarding the type of plane involved, when exactly the plane entered the country or if it was carrying passengers but only that it was held for investigation. 

Monitoring Angola's skies is difficult due to a lack of modern equipment. To ensure Angola's air security, the United States Government recently implemented a series of "Secure Skies" training activities for Angolan civil aviation. In May 2003, a Boeing 727-200 fitted with internal fuel tanks took off from Luanda airport and vanished. African, European and American organizations have been searching for it ever since. - Adam Geibel