“Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: The Saudi businessman who recruited mujahedin now uses them for large-scale building projects in Sudan.”
OSAMA Bin Laden sat in his gold- fringed robe, guarded by the loyal
Arab mujahedin who fought alongside him in Afghanistan. Bearded,
taciturn figures - unarmed, but never more than a few yards from the
man who recruited them, trained them and then dispatched them to
destroy the Soviet army - they watched unsmiling as the Sudanese
villagers of Almatig lined up to thank the Saudi businessman who is
about to complete the highway linking their homes to Khartoum for the
first time in history.
With his high cheekbones, narrow eyes and long brown robe, Mr Bin Laden
looks every inch the mountain warrior of mujahedin legend. Chadored
children danced in front of him, preachers acknowledged his wisdom. 'We
have been waiting for this road through all the revolutions in Sudan,'
a sheikh said. 'We waited until we had given up on everybody - and then
Osama Bin Laden came along.'