Islamist activity in the Sahara in relation to travel security

[Dave The Hat]

Algerian Customs plans to launch 48 new border control and surveillance units, APS reported on Sunday (May 2nd).

Algeria to open new border control posts (Magharebia.com)

[Ulrich]

And again!

The criminal court of Batna, east of Algeria, will soon consider the file of the former leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) Amari Saifi nicknamed Abderrezak El Para and "Abu Heidara El Aourassi," deputy of Hassan Hattab, and his fellow “M.Farouk” on charges of organizing a terrorist group.

Echorouk - Former GSPC leader El Para to appear again before court east of Algeria

Last year the commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General William Ward, said the Pentagon had military partnerships with 35 of the continent's 53 nations, "representing U.S. relationships that span the continent." [1]

That number has increased in the interim.

As the first overseas regional military command set up by Washington in this century, the first since the end of the Cold War, and the first in 25 years, the activation of AFRICOM, initially under the wing of U.S. European Command on October 1, 2007, then as an independent entity a year later, emphasizes the geostrategic importance of Africa in U.S. international military, political and economic planning.

New Colonialism: Pentagon Carves Africa Into Military Zones | Eurasia Review

[priffe]

Aqim hasn't been successful in recruiting in Morocco, which doesn't mean that there aren't militant islamists around. Some interesting links regarding Western Sahara and why we better hope for Morocco to gain full control - the alternative being a "failed state" like Somalia. Also why the ties between Aqim and Polisario are weak (even though several ex-Polisario officers have been arrested in Mauritania accused of participation in kidnapping the Spaniards).

Complicating the matter is the tension between Morocco and Algeria, fueled in part by Algeria's now 30 years of support for the Polisario Front, a group that seeks (and has in the past fought for) an independent state in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. Despite whispers, pushed by the Moroccon government and pro-government press, of interaction between AQIM and the Polisario Front, collusion has never been credibly proven and there's reason to believe it may not be true at all. David Gutelius, an economist who has spent years in North Africa, explains, "The Sahrawi refugee camps at Tindouf [in Algeria] are actually quite hostile to Islamists in general, as al Qaeda's salafi-jihadi worldview clashes with local custom and religious practice." If Polisario were linked to al Qaeda, it would embarrass Algeria and help Morocco challenge the rival country's regional dominance.

Hydrablog: Beware the Warnings of al Qaeda

And it has finally become the right thing to denounce bin Laden, even earning him a Saudian fatwa. Here the former Libyan AQ leader.

Former LIFG leader: Bin Laden lacks Islamic authority to wage 'Western Jihad' (Magharebia.com)

[Dave The Hat]

A ban on imported Toyotas?!

Ennahar Online - Ban on import and marketing of « Toyota Station » vehicles

[Dave The Hat]

Salafi internet sites taken down:

Des sites salafistes détruits par les services de sécurité algériens:guerre totale contre le terrorisme électronique - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

[Ulrich]

KATI, Mali — A U.S. Special Forces instructor leans toward a steering wheel, showing some 50 Malian soldiers gathered around an army pickup how a passenger should take control of a car if the driver is killed in an ambush.

The elite Malian troops look on, perplexed. "But what can we do if we don't know how to drive?" asks Sgt. Amadou, echoing many of his colleagues' concern.

There are a few laughs, but the Malians are not joking; most of their unit does not know how. The lack of ability to perform such a basic task illustrates part of the huge knowledge gap the U.S. military is seeking to bridge in Africa as it trains local armies to better face the region's mounting threats.

Canadian Press - US Special Forces, Marines train African armies to face terrorists and traffickers in Sahara

U.S. Army jumpmasters assigned to Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara conducted a Basic Airborne Refresher course May 7, 2010 for African paratroopers as part of the Flintlock 10 special operations exercise in an effort to improve capacity building of African forces for future airborne missions.

Airborne soldiers from Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso took part in the training aimed at adherence to standards and attention to detail for safe airborne operations.

AFRICOM: Pre-Jump Training Prepares African Parachutists for Airborne Operations

A U.S. Army jumpmaster gives instructions to paratroopers from Mali on proper slipping techniques to avoid other parachutists and adjust for wind conditions during a Basic Airborne Refresher class May 7 in Bamako, Mali as part of the Flintlock 10 exercise. Flintlock 10 is a special operations forces exercise focused on military interoperability and capacity-building and is part of an AFRICOM-sponsored annual exercise program with partner nations in Northern and Western Africa. The exercise, which includes participation of key European nations, is conducted by Special Operations Command Africa and designed to build relationships and develop capacity among security forces throughout the Trans-Saharan region of Africa. Approximately 1,200 European, African Partner Nation and U.S. participants from 14 nations are involved in military interoperability activities across the Trans-Saharan region during this event.

U.S. Africa Command - Pre-Jump Training Prepares African Parachutists for Airborne Operations

Ulrich

[priffe]

If we are to believe Ennahar, the end is near for the AQIM leadership (north branch).

Ennahar Online - Droukdal surrounded by special forces on the heights of Bejaia

[Dave The Hat]

Abu Abdeldjebbar: "We expected death at any moment"

Abu Abdeldjebbar said that all the elements in the bush and forests have no more convictions of Jihad. They realized that it made no sense.

Ennahar Online - Abu Abdeldjebbar: "We expected death at any moment"

[Dave The Hat]

Are any westerners involved in the aid supply? Will be interesting to see if AQIM make a move on any of the convoys.

Braving bandits on the front-line of Niger’s food crisis

Braving bandits on the front-line of Niger's food crisis - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

[Ulrich]

In the bare and unremarkable desert town of Thiès, a platoon of commandos from Mali and Senegal are scaling a building's edifice, one handful of rope at a time. This is practice.

Their American, Dutch, and Spanish handlers call it Operation Flintlock – an annual, West Africa-wide counterterrorism exercise to prep local militaries.

According to the script, a carload of European sightseers on their way, perhaps, to a waterbuck-filled nature reserve, will be kidnapped by desert bandits, ransomed to Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, and whisked to Senegal's northeastern frontier. And that's where a bit of rope-climbing expertise could save the day, as Senegal's finest shimmy down from hovering helicopters to stage a rescue.

Colonel Crytzer (L) of the US Army -one of the Commanders in charge
of operation "Flintlock 10"- speaks during a press conference with
Colonel Cisse (R) spokesman for Burkina Faso's Army in Ouagadougou
on May 7, 2010. Military exercises bringing together armed forces from
Africa and Europe under US supervision began in Burkina Faso on
May 3, aimed at reinforcing the continent's fight against
extremist groups. The nine African countries participating in the
operation are besides Burkina Faso, Algeria, Mali, Morocco,
Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Chad and Tunisia, with European
contingents from Belgium, Spain, France, Britain and the Netherlands. Collapse
(ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

abcnews - Curbing the Al Qaeda Threat in Africa

Ulrich

[Ulrich]

While kidnappings of Westerners are increasing in the Sahel, Amani Toumani Toure defends the policy of his country.

maliweb - Terrorisme: la riposte du président malien

Gogoonisch - E

Ulrich

[Dave The Hat]

Five Terrorists eliminated in Djelfa:

Ennahar Online - Five Terrorists eliminated in Djelfa

[priffe]

In the ongoing trials against Aqim members in Nouakchott, one Mauritanian was sentenced to eight years for involvement in the kidnapping of Austrians in Tunisia.

Mauritanian in Austrian kidnapping jailed, Mauritania Crime - Maktoob Business

Also, this could become a problem - Aqim recruiting Polisario members

http://www.jamestown.org/uploads/media/TM_008_30.pdf

At present, many Polisario members openly support the jihadi movement
to counteract foreign interference in northern Africa. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been making significant efforts to exploit the confusion among the Polisario ranks, demoralized by decades
of unsuccessful attempts to expel the Moroccans. Consequently, many Sahrawi fighters are adherents to
the jihadi ideology rather than the nationalism that has been the traditional core of Polisario ideology since
the onset of the movement’s struggle for independence from Morocco. Therefore, the military capabilities of
the Sahrawi army may be at AQIM’s disposal in case of any major development on the Polisario front.
...
The first indication of Polisario’s involvement with AQIM was the arrest of one of Polisario’s most
prominent Imams, Mahjub Muhamad Seedi, at his home in the Polisario refugee camp in the Algerian
town of Tindouf. The Algerian forces found weapons, explosives and letters between the Imam and AQIM
leader Abd al-Malik Droukdel (a.k.a. Abu Musab Abdul Wadud) (alalam.ma, January 6). In the same
context, the Mauritanian army arrested three members of Polisario who were suspected of ties with al-Qaeda
in al-Nuss gorge, 60 km east of Um Karin (oujdia.info, January 27).

[Ulrich]

... An area that terrorists hope to reinvest. If the roots are the GSPC in Algeria, the area of operation was extended for at least three years, in desert regions, not only on Algerian territory, but also the Sahel, a semiarid area of Senegal up until 'Mauritania, Mali and touching Niger. The terrorists seem to have found complicity with smugglers different networks involved in trafficking-related informal trade, drug trafficking, including arms and ammunition. ...

L'Expression - Une dizaine de terroristes abattus

Gogoonisch - E

Ulrich

[Ulrich]

"I am a soldier of Al-Qaeda, I say it with pride. I have been trained in their camps," Sidi Ould Sidna, one of the three defendants, told the trial in the Mauritanian capital.

africasia - Accused French tourist killers say they are Al-Qaeda fighters

Ulrich