BRIEF ON IRAN No. 609 Monday, March 10, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC Resistance's President-elect Congratulates Iranian Women on International Women's Day, Iran Zamin News Agency, March 8 The NCR issued a statement on Saturday saying that in a message on the International Women's Day, "beamed into Iran via satellite and broadcast by the Resistance's radio and television network," the Iranian Resistance's President-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, "congratulated Iranian women and called on them to participate ever more extensively in the nationwide resistance and join the National Liberation Army of Iran." According to the statement, Mrs. Rajavi added: "I am confident that you will win in this battle. After the dark night which has prevailed our country today, the shining sun of Iranian women's freedom is dawning. Iranian women have never surrendered to the mullahs' woman-hating regime and resisted against it with all their might.... I can clearly see that this standard, the standard of women's equality and emancipation, will guarantee democracy in tomorrow's Iran and be the proof of our honor and pride among the world's nations." Berlin Trial of Iran's Officials, BBC Radio, March 7 The Berlin "Mykonos" court...heard the statements of an Islam Expert. Professor Heims Hall, the Islamic Studies Professor at the Germany's Tidington University, appeared in the court as an expert and said that even a fanatic Muslim has no compulsion to carry out the death orders issued by Iran's leaders. The German attorney general believes that Iran's political and religious leaders issued the orders for the murders [of several Iranian Kurdish dissidents.] Strained by Isolation, Velayati Sets on A Trip, Voice of America, March 9 ...The Shiite leadership [in Iran] has been accused by its Sunni- Muslim neighbors of trying to export its revolution. Several Arab states, like Egypt, Algeria, and Bahrain, have accused Iran of aiding extremists who want to destabilize their governments. First stop on Mr. Velayati's mission was Damascus. But he will also visit Saudi Arabia.... Relations have been strained over accusations Iran was linked to the bombing last June of a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia.... Iran has also been accused of financial and logistical support for Islamic extremists reported to be training and operating in Sudan.... Relations between Turkey and Iran recently soured over the participation of Iran's ambassador in a pro-Islamist rally in Ankara.... Overview Mullahs Find Fertile Soil for Seeds of Terror Sunday Telegraph, March 9 Iran has launched a secret diplomatic initiative to persuade the Muslims of Africa to accept the fundamentalist principles of the ayatollahs' Islamic revolution. The Iranian scramble for Africa, which will cost millions of dollars over the next five years, is being spearheaded by President Hashemi Rafsanjani. This follows his two-week tour last autumn of six African countries.... As The Telegraph disclosed at the end of last year, Iranian intelligence officials took advantage of President Rafsanjani's presence in South Africa to negotiate a cooperation pact with the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) vigilante group in Cape Town. ...Iran has established a bridgehead among the Arab nations of North Africa. Sudan's hardline Islamic regime provides vital terrorist training at camps on the outskirts of Khartoum, while Iranian agents are suspected of helping to train, equip and finance Islamic terror groups in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. Iran's intelligence establishment has persuaded President Rafsanjani to authorize an initiative to disseminate the principles of Teheran- style Islamic fundamentalism throughout the rest of Africa. The idea originated at the offices of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader and ideological heir to Ayatollah Khomeini.... The plan was unanimously approved, and a budget of $9 million has been set aside this year for Iranian intelligence operations in key areas in Africa. Units of the Revolutionary Guards have been seconded to assist in the initiative, which is being coordinated by the government's Office for Islamic Culture and Guidance in Teheran. In a speech to Shi'ite Muslims in Tanzania last year, President Rafsanjani revealed that the Iranian government wanted to help oppressed African Muslims....The Iranians are using this argument as a cover for more insidious activities, namely establishing a network of terror cells throughout Africa which can be activated at any moment to launch terrorist attacks, particularly against Western targets.... After establishing important bases in North and South Africa, the Iranians are turning towards the continent's eastern and western regions.... Iran's intelligence ministry is interested in building a terrorist network throughout Africa for strategic reasons and because it believes there are many "soft" Western targets. The Iranian authorities are also aware that the West, pre- occupied with the European, American and Asian trading blocs, has lost interest in Africa.