DAKAR, Feb 29: A top US general said Al Qaeda cells, feeling the heat from the war on terror, may be seeking new havens in Africa, and Washington is talking to African states to allow its troops fast access to troublespots.

"Although it is not prevalent, there have been indications that Al Qaeda is operating," General Charles Wald, Deputy Commander of US European Command (EUCOM), told Reuters in an interview late on Saturday from Ghana's capital, Accra.

"The fact they've been there is an indicator that in the future and maybe now they intend to operate in the northern part of Africa - both the Sahel and the Maghreb - as well as eastern Africa," he said.

EUCOM, which oversees US military operations in all of Africa except the Horn, hopes to secure agreements around the continent that will allow it fast access to emerging threats without the need for permanent bases.

Wald has been meeting government and military leaders in a host of African countries, including Algeria, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa, to discuss intelligence sharing, joint military exercises and access for US troops to local airstrips.

"There are some places that have been in the works for years where we already have agreements and have put some infrastructure in... We look at any place that would have the potential to support a strategic airlift," Wald said.

General James L. Jones, EUCOM commander and Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, for Nato has also been touring the continent. Washington sees Africa as potentially fertile recruiting and training ground for terror networks because of its weak political institutions and poor policing of huge swathes of desert and long stretches of coastline.

"They are going to look for a place where they can do the same thing they did in Afghanistan, Iraq or other places. They need a haven to train, equip, organise, recruit," Wald said. Reuters