Thanks for this.

It largely corresponds with my own experiences and the information coming through. I feel little worry for my own safety in that being on foot and with camels tends to lighten the concern of being hijacked in any way; my experience also is that the rebels are way more angry with the governments and their agencies than with individuals.
Regardless, it is looking increasingly difficult for me to operate in Northern Mali. Out of the question in Northern Niger. The main reason for my hesitation in Mali is the difficulty in getting my camels out of Niger and into that country; I am getting nowhere trying to move the animals out,whether I do it or someone else does. This means I will just be starting in Algeria; I am really not overly concerned about the situation there, and I agree with keeping my movements low key.

I remain slightly skeptical about 'Al Qaeda' presence. Dissatisfied, socially and economically disadvantaged people will go to great lengths to express their anger and outrage at being marginalised. That this is immediately interpreted as religious based terrorism is partly due to the fact that international media are quick to report it as such, leading in turn to those with a vested interest to claim responsibility for it. The fact that the attacks tend to occur around areas where the socio-economic imbalance is most obvious, eg: Algiers, would suggest a closer parallel with the Casablanca bombings - which were not percieved within the country to have anything to do with Al Qaeda, but were widely interpreted externally as being exactly that. I realise it is a bit of a moot point - if bombs are going off then it is largely irrelevent who sets them or why. Nonetheless, it would be an explanation as to why there is collaboration between them and the Tuareg - both locals with the same gripes.

As many travellers in the region would be aware, it is not overly common to come across hardline or antagonistic muslims in the Sahel or Sahara, so I find it a bit of a stretch to think that there are rampant cells of Al Qaeda in the region. However, this is a personal opinion, and one I realise most media outlets disagree with.

The reality is definitely that there is rather less than stability in the region as a whole. Again, I am inclined to think this poses little danger to the independent traveller, but actually getting permission through to do the travel in the first place remains the hard part....

Paula

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