Atwah, Muhsin Musa Matwalli (1964–)

aka Abdul Rahman, Abdul Rahman al-Muhajir, Abdel Rahman, Mohammed K. A. al-Namer

Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah is an alleged member of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. Atwah has been accused of involvement in the 1998 conspiracy to bomb the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The FBI included him in its list of the 22 “most wanted terrorists” following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C.

The United States indicted Atwah, an Egyptian, in 1998 on charges relating to the bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in which 224 people died. The indictment also claimed that he provided military and intelligence training for members of the Al Qaeda network in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan.

Al Qaeda, an Arabic word meaning “The Base,” is an international terrorist network whose goal is to drive the United States from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries by force. Headed by the Saudi Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda also serves as an umbrella group for other militant organizations.

The Atwah indictment included a number of other charges. He was accused of providing military training to Somali tribes during the early 1990s, thus enabling them to fight more effectively against U.N. and U.S. forces during Somalia's civil unrest. Somalis attacked peacekeepers in Mogadishu in 1993, killing 18 U.S. soldiers.

According to the indictment, Atwah did not directly take part in the plan to bomb U.S. embassies in East Africa, but was a member of the overall conspiracy. On August 7, 1998, in synchronized attacks 400 miles apart, two truck bombs exploded at the embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

In the wake of the bombings, the U.S. government declared that bin Laden and Al Qaeda operatives to be responsible. In retaliation, President Clinton ordered air attacks on Al Qaeda training grounds in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in the center of Khartoum, Sudan. The air raids were met with much international criticism, and many debated whether or not the factory in Sudan had any relation to bin Laden or to chemical weapons.

Of 26 men with suspected ties to bin Laden indicted in the embassy bombings, three pleaded guilty and cooperated with the U.S. government as witnesses, while four were convicted of conspiring in the bombings and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The U.S. State Department offers a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to Atwah's apprehension or conviction.