kidnapping in rabouni [near Tindouf, Algeria]

[florence of arabia]

AFP: Two Spaniards, Italian kidnapped from Algeria camp

Spanish, Italian aid workers abducted in Algeria | Top News | Reuters

[Chris Scott]

Brought in from other threads to keep it all under one heading:


UN map showing location of Rabouni near Tindouf.

Seems to be being attributed to MBM (as it's on the west side?)...
CS


My guess is that AQIM were after Spanish and Italians - most likely because payments have previously flowed for these nationals. Aid agencies are also more likely to pay than some governments. The recent kidnappings of aid workers in N.Kenya shows this move to be a wider trend. It is also consistent with wanting to remove western influence from North Africa - all the way from the Indian to Atlantic Ocean.

The last few AQIM raids have been on targets that are fixed in space. I think this is because the raids, and the get-away, can be more easily planned. The Italian women in SE Algeria was taken from a popular camp spot. AQIM were expecting many more tourists that night. The Areva mine and Tindouf can be scoped out well in advance - with insiders sharing the details on routines and the extent of security. Taken together, this suggests that tourists in their own vehicles following an unusual route the finer details of which are kept confidential, will be less likely to be targeted. Either way, its turning into a long wait if you do get caught and for British and French nationals, it will be particularly difficult.
RW


The camp workers were protected by sahrawi guards, and one was wounded, along with one or more of the hostages.
PF

Now I think about it, I agree the Spanish and Italian were probably targeted as their countries/organisations pay readily. There must be several nationalities of aid workers to choose from in the camps around Tindouf. And as also mentioned, aid workers and the like are sitting targets, though I'm not sure if it's anything as ideological as 'removing western influence'.
CS

Polisario claim they are pursuing the kidnappers and are some 50 miles behind them.
Le Front Polisario aux trousses des ravisseurs - Actualité - El Watan Some harsh words between Mali and Polisario.
Aren't any of the Algeria 75,000 desert troops stationed in the west?
...
edit: the plot may thicken some when we recall that several Polisario members were reported to have been arrested in eastern Mali a few months back with a ton of drugs.
The value of these hostages would then compensate for the loss of the drug.
Hmmm...I get a headache trying to figure this out. But there is something going on between Polisario and the touaregs, and Polisario and the Malian government. And the general speculation is that this could be part of it.
PF

The complex in Rabouni where the three hostages were taken is a place where humanitarians check in after arriving in Tindouf and before leaving for their assignment in the camps, usually nobody stays there for long ...
FoA

Algerian military looking for the hostages destryoed two 4x4, four dead, near the Malian border. El Khabar
PF

[Chris Scott]

AFP: Three Qaeda hostages seized last week alive: mediator

[priffe]

The 'mediator from a West African country' says that men wearing Polisario uniforms were involved; in any case it appears that sahrawis from inside the camp orchestrated the kidnapping and selected the victims. More credible coming from an Algerian newspaper? But it is the same source.
Trois coopérants enlevés en Algérie détenus par Al Qaïda au Maghreb islamique - A la une - El Watan
Now there are 8 western hostages in the Malian desert.

[priffe]

Some more details

AQIM likely responsible for Tindouf kidnappings (Magharebia.com)

"All the evidence says that al-Qaeda carried out the kidnapping," analyst Said Ould Habib told Magharebia. "Another indicator is the relationship of al-Qaeda with the drug trafficking networks that control that area, and therefore, there was co-ordination between al-Qaeda and those bands."

"The hypothesis of co-operation between al-Qaeda and smugglers became certain following the discovery of SUV tracks after they had passed through the secret ‘Brouk’ road, which links the ‘Chkat’ region in northern Mauritania to the ‘Foum Zghid’ region in the south-west of Morocco or Western Sahara, down to the region of ‘Aricha’ in the north of Mali," analyst Mohamed Naji Ould Ahmed explained.

[florence of arabia]

Originally Posted by priffe

Some more details

"The hypothesis of co-operation between al-Qaeda and smugglers became certain following the discovery of SUV tracks after they had passed through the secret ‘Brouk’ road, which links the ‘Chkat’ region in northern Mauritania to the ‘Foum Zghid’ region in the south-west of Morocco or Western Sahara, down to the region of ‘Aricha’ in the north of Mali," analyst Mohamed Naji Ould Ahmed explained.

it must be cooperation between the king and alqaida, as Foum Zguid is in Morcco proper

[Chris Scott]

I also spotted that detail and searched for the intriguing Brouk road, Chkat etc. Funnily enough, could not find it on Google maps.

To be fair it does say FZ region and anyway, we have to presume there is some locally sanctioned smuggling between mainland MK and its southern neighbours - specifically the Saharawi area of far west Alg. Even if (as we know) there are regular Moroccan army observation posts along the Oued Draa/Jebel Ouarkaziz border.

Ch

[Richard Washington]

I have heard Chegga in N.Mauri referred to as Cheggat by the Mauritanians. Cheggat sounds like Chikat.

[Yves]

Other articles not yet referenced here:

30.10. 8 personnes suspectes arrêtées à Bechar et Tamanrasset
El Khabar

31.10, Installation d’un groupe de travail algéro-malien pour avorter le rapt des ressortissants étrangers
El Khabar

[pera]

Here you can find some interesting words. Post number 36. Sorry, it´s Spanish but Google translates it well.

OTRO SECUESTRO! 2 Espannoles en el Sahara Occidental !

Possibly refers to comments on this article a few weeks ago: Google Translate
that there is more to this kidnapping than a simple AQIM grab.
Ch

[pera]

Yes, before in the same conversation AOV refers Isabel Ramos Rioja´s cronicle. AOV has first hand info, he lives at Burkina Faso.

[Dave The Hat]

Ennahar Online - Alleged kidnappers of three European arrested in Mauritania

[priffe]

Spanish ex ambassador gets involved
Un exembajador intentará resolver el secuestro del Sáhara · ELPAIS
`Belmokhtar operates one of the two main katibas (terrorist cells) operating in northern Mali, but the group suffered a split this year. This branch is part dissident Mohamed Ould M'Barek Hakim, a Saharawi attributed some responsibility for kidnapping three Rabuni. The splinter group has applied for membership in Al Qaeda as a katiba independent, but Belmokhtar opposes it because he said, its members are common criminals and not real militants.`
That the kidnapping hasn`t been claimed after six weeks says something.

[priffe]

A splinter group of AQIM author of the Taking of Hostages
Le Temps d'Alg

The mysterious mediator of Burkina's Blaise Compaore says he can do the job, like he did last time Spaniards were kidnapped, near Nouadibou.
1,000 spaniards ignored the travel warnings and went to Tindouf with the airlifts Dec 6-8 to show solidarity with Western Sahara.

Polisario may be on the job - kills a clan of traffickers near Lemgheity, Mauretania, while searching for the hostages. http://politica.elpais.com/politica/...11_811372.html
detains ten others for interrogation, working with the Algerian army.

[priffe]

Here's the new group "Jihad in West Africa"
Algérie : des dissidents d'Aqmi revendiquent l'enlèvement de trois Occidentaux | Jeuneafrique.com
'Al-Qaeda splinter group' claims kidnap of Westerners
"This is the Jamat Tawhid Wal Jihad Fi Garbi Afriqqiya in west Africa. We claim the operation carried out on October 23 at Tindouf when two Spaniards and an Italian were kidnapped," said the audio and written message sent to AFP's correspondent in Bamako.
run by sahrawi
exactly what the region needed....not
If they're not halted now there will be trouble ahead also along the western route to Africa.

Tomorrow a meeting in Nouakchott, defence ministers from ten countries - Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania.
Both Morocco and Algeria at the table - now if they won't let the algerians run things anymore, there may be hope for actual action. Also this weekend a meeting in Bamako between political parties, international organizations.