Mali Mali Army Occupies AQIM Trenches in the Wagadou Forest

2011-07-19 15:25


Wagadou Forest - Malian forces are building up their defences in the Wagadou forest, braced for a counter-attack by al-Qaeda fighters three weeks after wresting the base back from the jihadi group.

Three units are now hunkering down in the dense forest, backed by two surveillance aircraft - a gift from France - carrying out flyovers every day and two helicopter gunships.

"The abandoned trenches you see here were under construction for the past five months" by members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim), Colonel Gaston Damango, head of operations in the forest zone, told AFP.

About 2m deep, the trenches were designed to keep the base supplied with ammunition and allow for jihadists to move around unseen.

"There were some real military strategists amongst them," said Damango.

Situated 500km north-east of the capital Bamako, on the border with Mauritania, the Wagadou Forest was to be used by Aqim as a base from which to carry out attacks in the region and store heavy weapons.

The forest, 80km long and 40km wide, is made up mainly of shrubs and bushes but also includes taller trees with dense foliage that Aqim could use as an observation post.

Anti-tank mines

• The Mauritanian army, which said the base was "a real threat" against its country, carried out a raid on June 24 in which 15 Aqim followers were killed as well as two soldiers.

• The remains of eight burned out vehicles and thousands of spent cartridges scattered on the ground bear witness to the growing intensity of clashes between the Mauritanian army, supported by Mali, and the north African al-Qaeda branch.

• "On the day of the attack, the head of operations from the Mauritanian army asked us to bombard an Aqim position in the south-east of the forest," said Damango."The Malian army fired a total of 15 shells on the enemy position."

To Damongo, it is of little importance whether Aqim members left of their own volition, or were flushed out: "The result is they are no longer there today, that they suffered a defeat."

The two armies carried out weeks of operations to secure the area, both before and after the raid in a joint operation called "Benkan", a word from the Bambara language meaning unity.

The Mauritanian soldiers returned home 15 days ago, but are only a few kilometres away.

• Military engineering Commander Baidi Diakite said one of the aryl’s priorities is demining the area of "very dangerous" Czech-manufactured anti-tank mines laid by Aqim.

Security headache

The arrival of the Malian army in the Wagadou Forest has also benefited the local population who have received medical care and food supplies.

"In several days we have carried out hundreds of consultations and four operations," said doctor, Colonel Sidiki Beret at the hospital of nearby town Niono.

In the nearby village of Diabili, two trucks pulled up and soldiers in Bermuda shorts distributed some of 100 tons of food - a gift from the Malian government which will also benefit Mauritanian villages on the other side of the border.

Keeping al-Qaeda out has become the two countries' biggest security headache, as the organisation carries out armed attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel desert region where it is also involved in arms and drugs trafficking.

Mali and Mauritania are among the countries hardest-hit by Aqim activities, along with Niger and Algeria, where the organisation has its roots. The nations work closely together in efforts to crack down on the organisation.

Aqim is holding four French citizens kidnapped in Niger in September 2010 as well as an Italian woman taken hostage in Algeria in February.

The Rest @ News 24

Possible Al Qaeda Suppliers Caught near AQIM in Mali

Two suspected Al-Qaeda backers arrested in Mali
(AFP) – 1 day ago

BAMAKO — Malian security services said Thursday they have arrested two men identified as supporters of Al-Qaeda's north African branch in the northwestern Timbuktu region.

"Our troops have arrested two men regarded as the main backers of AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) in the Sahel region. They were picked up in the Timbuktu area and transferred to Bamako. Investigations are ongoing," a security official said.

• The source merely described them as "Arabs" who helped AQIM in its fight against the Mauritanian army by providing information.
• The suspects also "helped buy weapons and food for the terrorists," he added.

AQIM, which has its roots in Algeria, has camps in Mali which it uses as a launchpad to carry out armed attacks and kidnappings in the Sahel desert region where the group is also involved in arms and drugs trafficking.

Malian and Mauritanian have been leading joint operations against the extremists inside Mali.
But the withdrawal of Mauritanian troops from Mali two months ago has been followed by the establishment of new AQIM units near the border.

Last month the neighbours agreed to lead another joint military operation in northeastern Mali's Wagadou forest to thwart the group's expansion.

On July 5, AQIM launched an assault on a Mauritanian army base close to the Malian border, losing six of its men.

The four nations most affected by AQIM operations -- Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger -- work closely together on security and military issues in efforts to crack down on the Islamic extremist movement's activities.

The Rest @ AFP

Offensive Against AQIM (North)

The two countries will work together to stop Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) further establishing itself in Mali's Wagadou Forest near the Mauritanian border.

AQIM members have been regularly spotted in the region, suggesting it has become a base for the group.

"We are quickly going to carry out joint military operations," the source said following talks between officials in the village of Segou, north of Mali's capital Bamako. The closed meeting began on Friday.

The two countries agreed to patrols and information exchanges as part of the joint action, the source added.

Mali and Mauritania have previously expressed concerns about the activities of AQIM along with Nigeria and Algeria.

The group has several bases in Mali from where it launches operations in the Sahel desert region, carrying out attacks, kidnappings of foreigners and drug trafficking.

© 2011 AFP

Mauritiania - RFD reocognizes Aziz - Unified by Al Qaeda

Mauritania - Mauritania's main opposition Rally for Democratic Forces (RDF) finally recognizes the election of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, after disputing his presidency for more than a year."The executive office of the RFD has decided to overcome his grievances against the elections of July 2009," AFP quoted a party statement sent to it.

The party took the decision in the wake of the challenges facing the country, including a threat from al-Qaeda, it said, adding, “The country today finds itself on the front lines ... of the war against terrorism.” Al-Qaeda's North African wing known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been blamed for a number of kidnappings and attacks in the Sahel region around the Sahara desert, in countries including Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

Western countries have been training security forces in West and North Africa to help them tackle AQIM but they do not normally admit being involved in operations. Despite the RFD protests, the international community has recognized last year's presidential election as free and fair.

AQIM and Polisario, How Smuggling works in the Sahel

September 7, 2010 ------ Al Qaeda is using cash, and coercion, to increase its power in the area south of Algeria. This can be seen in how al Qaeda arranged the release of one of their members (Omar Ahmed Ould Sidi Ould Hama) from a Mauritanian prison last month.

This was apparently part of a secret deal to get two Spanish aid workers released by al Qaeda. Hama was aided by the intercession of UN recognized rebel group Polisario, and officials in Mali (where Hama was expelled to) who looked the other way as Hama promptly disappeared.

Malian officials and Polisario have both been seduced by al Qaeda cash.

• Hama had been convicted of masterminding the kidnapping of three Spanish aid workers in late 2009, and sentenced to life. Now he is free again.
• Polisario is an armed rebel group that could prove very useful to al Qaeda.
• Back in 1991, Morocco finally won the war against Polisario Front rebels, who were seeking independence for the Western Sahara (a region south of Morocco).
• Polisario is powerful in Mauritania, where the rebel group has official recognition and maintains several refugee camps. Because Polisario was so well-subsidized by Algeria, back when Algeria was a radical state, Polisario still has enough diehards out there to keep lots of people in Western Sahara unhappy.
• This provides a potential resource for al Qaeda and other Islamic radicals. For two decades, the UN has been trying and work out a final peace deal between Polasario and Morocco.

In the 1990s, Algeria cut off all support for Polasario. But that, and UN efforts to mediate the differences, have just not worked.The contested area is largely desert, and has a population of less than 300,000.

Logic would have it that the area is better off as a part of Morocco. But there are still thousands of locals who would rather fight for independence, than submit to Morocco. Some resistance of this is tribal, with the Moroccans seen as another bunch of alien invaders (the area was administered, until 1976, as a Spanish colony).

If the fighting breaks out again, possibly inspired by Islamic radicals, it could go on for years, just as it does in many other parts of Africa, and the immediate neighborhood.

*******************

Al Qaeda has established a lucrative cocaine smuggling operation in West Africa. As a result, the Islamic militants are believed to be building fortified bunkers in the mountains along the Mali border.

• They are doing this in cooperation with local tribal groups, who provide cover.
• Local security forces on both sides of the border are always out hunting for Islamic terrorists, so no one down there openly identifies themselves as such. But an increasing number of known Islamic terrorists from the north have been killed, captured or spotted in the south, and especially along the Mali border.
• The Islamic radicals are armed, and have turned to kidnapping foreigners and drug smuggling to pay for supplies, bribes and gifts for their new tribal buddies.
• Foreigners have been warned to stay out of the area, but there are always a small number of them too dumb, or adventurous, to stay away.

The Islamic terrorists are believed to be helping move 50-100 tons of cocaine (and other drugs) a year, north to Mediterranean ports.

Some of the smuggling fees are shared with local tribesmen, who have long engaged in some smuggling on the side. But the drugs are very valuable cargoes, and the Islamic radicals had the international connections (all up and down the coast of West Africa, as well as in South America) to put this deal together.

The local tribes are suitably impressed. So are Western counter-terror forces.

The relations with the local tribes, especially the powerful Tuareg, are complicated. The Tuareg are not fond of Islamic terrorism, but young Tuareg are allowed to work with al Qaeda as hired guns.

• The pay is good, and, so far, not too dangerous. But the young Tuareg are picking up some radical ideas from their al Qaeda bosses, and that is causing some tension with tribal leaders.
• The drug smuggling is actually handled by Arab gangsters that are not terrorists.
• Al Qaeda gets paid lots of money to provide security for the drugs as they make the long run through the Sahara.
• The Tuareg provide local knowledge of the terrain, and people, at least in the far south.

Meanwhile, along the border, Islamic radicals openly talk (on their web sites) of planning to overthrow the governments of Algeria, Mauritania and Mali.

Given the sorry track record against Algeria, Islamic terrorism in Algeria's neighbors is seen more of a nuisance than real threat.

In the more populated northern Algeria, the Islamic terrorists are able to launch one or two operations a month, and spend most of their time dodging army and police efforts to find the terrorist bases (mostly in rural areas.)

The Rest @ The Morrocco Board

Mokhtar Belmokhtar

The claimed assassination of Michel Germaneau indicates AQIM is willing to trade Islamist objectives for fund raising.

This is a small surprise from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, AQIM's head. He has always been a business person first, a Smuggler. He married wives from three desert tribes to keep his routes through the Sahel. Now, he is about to give up funding for military objectives alone.

This shows that the multi country task force operating in his backyard are being effective.

Hostage taking for ransom as a fund raising activity is one of the sources for funding AQIM, along with trafficking in people, drugs, cash, and even more mundane contraband like cigarettes. Hostage taking for funds, which stepped up in the last year, is about to dry up,
Mokhtar Belmokhtar. No one will pay anymore if they don't get their people back.

-Shimron Issachar

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Prime minister: France is at war against al-Qaida
(AP) – 2 hours ago

PARIS — France is "at war" with al-Qaida and will step up efforts to fight its North African offshoot after it executed a French hostage in the Sahara, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday.

Fillon acknowledged that the group may have killed 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau before — not after — a failed last-ditch raid to try to free him.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb said in an audio message broadcast Sunday that it had killed Germaneau in retaliation for a raid last week by Mauritanian and French forces that killed at least six al-Qaida militants.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed the killing Monday, vowing that the perpetrators "will not go unpunished."

His prime minister said Tuesday that France will reinforce efforts to work with governments in northwest Africa fighting al-Qaida in the sparsely populated swath of desert that includes the borders dividing Mauritania, Mali, Algeria and Niger.

"We are at war against al-Qaida," Fillon said on Europe-1 radio. He said France "thwarts several attacks every year," without elaborating.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday from Mauritania that the Sahel region in question "will not be left to terrorist bands, arms and drug traffickers."

"The combat risks being long but we will continue it," Kouchner said after meeting with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Sarkozy sent the minister to the region this week to discuss, among other things, security for French citizens.

Fillon said it was unclear when Germaneau was killed. He said French authorities considered the possibility that the hostage "had already been dead" at the time of a July 12 ultimatum issued by the terrorist group. Fillon said that was only an "assumption" based on "the abnormal, strange character of this ultimatum and of (the group's) refusal to engage in discussion with French authorities."

French forces agreed to take part in what he called a "last chance" operation in the hope they could still save Germaneau, the prime minister said.

Asked whether France would seek to find Germaneau's remains, Fillon said only that when British hostage Edwin Dyer was beheaded in the region last year, "his remains were never found."

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or North Africa, grew out of an Islamist insurgency movement in Algeria, formally merging with al-Qaida in 2006 and spreading through the Sahel region.

Amid increasing concerns about terrorism and trafficking in northwest Africa, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger opened a joint military headquarters deep in the desert in April to jointly respond to threats from traffickers and the al-Qaida offshoot.

Associated Press writer Ahmed Mohammed contributed to this report from Nouakchott, Mauritania.

The Rest @ The AP

Sahara States to Cooperate against al Qaeda

By Salah Sarrar

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Sahara-region states must work together to fight an emerging alliance of Islamist militants and drug traffickers with South American links, the head of a regional body said on Monday.

Western governments believe that al Qaeda-linked insurgents and drug smugglers -- using the politically volatile and sparsely populated Sahara as a safe haven -- are forging ties which could make both groups a more potent threat.

Disputes among regional governments have hampered efforts to mount a coordinated response, frustrating the United States and the European Union, which fear the region could become a launching pad for al Qaeda attacks elsewhere.

"The most important issue is the lack of security and smuggling, especially drug smuggling which has now crossed into our region from South America," Mohamed Al-Madani Al-Azhari, Secretary-General of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, told Reuters in an interview.

"It seems that there is coordination and cooperation between smugglers and those extremists who practice terrorism and kidnap foreigners," he said after a meeting of the organisation's executive council in the Libyan capital.

"We have to face all of this frankly," said Al-Azhari, who is Libyan.

"Stability is a central issue because in the absence of stability we cannot have development."

The United States has responded to the al Qaeda threat by sending troops to take part in what it calls training and assistance programmes in some of the region's states.

But some of the bigger powers in the Sahara, led by Libya and Algeria, are resisting Western military involvement.

Al-Azhari said his organisation would coordinate efforts to "lay down a complete and comprehensive strategic plan to fight the lack of security and to not allow the foreign intervention which has begun to appear in our region".


WESTERN HOSTAGES

U.S. officials have said traffickers use the Sahara region as a staging post for flying illegal drugs from South America into Europe and that Al Qaeda militants could tap into the smugglers' network of aircraft and secret landing strips.

A group called al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) kidnapped a Frenchman and three Spaniards in the Sahara late last year. It has said it will kill the French hostage by the end of this month unless Mali frees four al Qaeda prisoners.

AQIM has waged a campaign of suicide bombings and ambushes in Algeria but in the past few years has shifted a large part of its activities south to the Sahara desert.

Last year it killed a British tourist, Edwin Dyer, after kidnapping him on the border between Niger and Mali while he was attending a festival of Tuareg culture.

The group also said it shot dead a U.S. aid worker in Mauritania's capital in June last year, and carried out a suicide bombing on the French embassy there in August that injured three people.

Senior foreign ministry officials from the Community of Sahel-Saharan States' 28-member countries met in Tripoli to coordinate their positions before a summit of the African Union to take place in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa that began on Monday.

Saharan states for more than a year have been planning a regional conference to map out a joint response to the al Qaeda threat, but the gathering has been postponed repeatedly.

Disputes among neighbouring countries -- including long-running rows between Chad and Sudan and Algeria and Morocco -- have blocked efforts to hammer out a joint approach.

(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Michael Roddy)

The Rest @ Reuters

AQIM's Ramadan Kidnapping Plans

This is an excerpt from a new US government travel advisory. Several advisories like this were issued suggestingAQIM has an explicit plan to kidnap Americans for ransom. Nothwithstanding the statement below, I believe the American Citizen shot and killed on June 23rd was killed because he was a Christian, not because they were attempting to kidnap him.

-Shimron Issachar

On August 8, 2009, a suicide bombing near the French Embassy in Nouakchott injured two French guards and one Mauritanian citizen. The bomber is believed to have acted on orders from AQIM. On June 23, 2009, a private U.S. citizen was shot and killed in Nouakchott in an apparent kidnapping attempt by individuals associated with AQIM. Terrorists also killed 11 Mauritanian soldiers out on patrol approximately 40 miles from the northern town of Zouerate in September 2008. The Israeli Embassy and an adjoining nightclub frequented by Westerners were attacked in Nouakchott in February 2008. In December 2007, terrorists shot and killed four French tourists and wounded a fifth near the town of Aleg in southeastern Mauritania. Two days later, terrorists killed four soldiers near the town of El Ghallaouiya in northern Mauritania. The perpetrators of these attacks are all believed to be linked to AQIM.

As a result of these safety and security concerns, Peace Corps has temporarily suspended its volunteer program in Mauritania. The State Department, Peace Corps, and Embassy Nouakchott are continually evaluating the security situation in preparation for a return of the Peace Corps’ volunteer program at the first possible opportunity.

Travelers should avoid all non-essential travel to the Hodh El Charghi region of southeastern Mauritania, the eastern half of the Tagant region of central Mauritania (east of Tidjika) and the Zemmour region of northern Mauritania due to increased AQIM activities in these areas. Travel in the unpopulated areas of eastern Mauritania (areas east of Zouerate and Chinguetti and north of Nema) is strongly discouraged unless traveling with Mauritanian government escorts, due to the threats of terrorism and banditry.

U.S. citizens should not venture outside of urban areas unless in a convoy and accompanied by an experienced guide, and even then only if equipped with sturdy vehicles and ample provisions. There have been reports of banditry and smuggling in the more remote parts of Mauritania. Landmines also remain a danger along the border with the Western Sahara. Travelers should cross borders only at designated border posts.

Given AQIM's threats to attack western targets in Mauritania and the region, and due to indications of a desire to kidnap Westerners for ransom, U.S. citizens should remain aware of their surroundings at all times and maintain good personal security practices, including always locking their homes and cars, varying routes and time of travel, and avoiding drawing attention to themselves. When going out, they should avoid being part of large, highly visible groups of Westerners, and avoid sitting in areas that are easily visible from the street when in restaurants or cafes. U.S. citizens should be particularly alert when frequenting locales associated with Westerners, including cultural centers, social and recreation clubs, beach areas, and restaurants.

The Rest @ Overseas Security Advisory Council

al Qaeda acting up in Mauritania

Mauritanian Elections are coming on 18 July, and as usual Al Qaeda in the Maghrebia ( AQIM) feels obliged to turn up the pressure. This editorial is a good summary,

-Shimron Issachar


There is no short cut to democracy in Mauritania and no place for cosmetic reform, notes Gamal Nkrumah

Is it too soon for Mauritania's civilian leaders and the generals who hold sway in the sprawling desert country to kiss and make up? Without doubt Mauritanian democracy has been found seriously wanting. The pressing question about the future of Mauritania is not really whether the country's ousted president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdullahi's crisis-cum-coup bounce will be high and lasting enough to win the forthcoming general election. It is much more about underlying issues of racial inequality that plague the country.

Mauritania's presidential elections are scheduled to take place on 18 July. And Abdullahi happily announced that he was "ecstatic to be the first elected president to have consented to give up power to preserve the greater interest" of Mauritania. He had given up his claim to power and officially resigned last week.

Even if Abdullahi's move staves off disaster, it does not remove the threat of yet another military takeover if a civilian is elected president next month. Mauritania's politicians -- civilian and military -- all pretend to understand this.

If the Mauritanian military leaders think they can escape unpunished for usurping power, that could embolden future adventurism. Many regard Mauritania as small, distant and politically unimportant. It straddles, on the contrary, a strategically vital region that could play a critical role in the international war on terrorism, so-called.

On Sunday, an American aid worker Christopher Ervin Leggett was assassinated in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott when two young men overpowered the middle-aged American. Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the "execution" of Leggett because he was "trying to convert Muslims to Christianity".

AQIM spokesman Salah Abu Mohamed said in a televised audio statement to the Qatar-based pan-Arab television channel Al-Jazeera that Leggett was proselytising among the poor in the low-income neighbourhood of Al-Kasr, Nouakchott. AQIM issued a separate statement claiming that it killed more than 100 "foreigners and their local lackeys" in 17 separate attacks throughout May and June, this year alone. The United States and France have issued warnings of the increasing power of AQIM especially after a group of French picnickers were abducted and killed in 2007 in Mauritania, prompting the organisers of the Dakar Rally to cancel the internationally renowned trans- Saharan car race.

Incidents of the abduction and assassination of Westerners in North and West African countries by AQIM have been on the rise recently. A British national Edwin Dyer was killed in neighbouring Mali last week. AQIM has apparently taken advantage of the political crisis in Mauritania to step up its activities in the country, and using it as a springboard for its activities in the entire Saharan and Maghreb regions.

It does not take the "execution" of an American aid worker for converting Muslims to Christianity to understand that Mauritania, as spooks put it, is on a downward spiral. That was all apparent when the military took over the reigns of government last year. But it need not be so.

Mauritania is a country of tremendous economic potential. In spite of the global financial crisis, Mauritania has fared well. It became an oil exporter this year -- currently producing some 75,000 barrels a day. And, it is awash with rich mineral deposits including uranium and iron ore.
Economic development, however, has become increasingly hampered by political unrest. The civilian parties are criticised for their incessant bickering over mundane subjects. The nascent Mauritanian democracy includes a coterie of corruption-ridden parties with conflicting political agendas such as the People's Progressive Alliance (APP), the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) led by charismatic leader Ahmed Ould Daddah and the former ruling Republican Party for Democracy and Renewal (PRDR). There is growing concern that it is bound to falter and fail. These civilian parties cannot propel the pace of democratisation forward.

On 11 March 2007 the first presidential elections in the country were held. However, there was widespread discontent with the nepotism and corruption that characterised the democratically-elected governing party. It was against this backdrop that the military stepped into the political arena. The coup that toppled the regime of Abdullahi was a palace coup. It was led by the head of the Presidential Guard General Mohamed Ould Abdel-Aziz who was in turn sacked by President Abdullahi days before the coup.

General Abdel-Aziz was implicated in the last Mauritanian coup in 2005 that ousted the former Mauritanian strongman Mouaaouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya. Under his rule Mauritania increasingly became a vital Western ally. The main instigator and ringleader was Colonel Ali Ould Mohamed Vall, who has announced that he is running for the presidency on 18 July. Taya was toppled in a bloodless coup d'état partially because he established diplomatic relations with Israel, a most unpopular move.

Moreover, tribalism and clan politics have curtailed efforts to democratise Moorish communities in the country. Abdullahi hails from Aleg, the provincial capital of the ancient emirate of Brakna. The generals hail from rival Moorish clans. Meanwhile, the darker skinned Mauritanians, including Moors as well as the members of non-Arabic speaking ethnic groups, are systematically excluded from high political office.

The APP, a party that represents the interests of former slaves and the descendants of slaves in Mauritania, made significant gains at parliamentary and municipal levels. Slavery was only officially abolished in Mauritania in 1982.

The down-trodden Haratin, the exonym with pejorative connotations of a people who make up a numerical majority of the country's population, are yearning for a bigger share of the national cake. The Haratin, descendant of slaves who identify ethnically with the Moorish elite, are now asking pertinent questions regarding their political future, social status and economic well-being.
The race for intensifying the democratisation of Mauritania continues unabated. Some 28 secular political parties participated with the aim of being represented in the 95-member Mauritanian assembly.

The lighter-skinned Arabic-speaking Moors, after whom the country's name is derived, have monopolised power in Mauritania since independence from France in 1960 and are not prepared or willing to relinquish power. Their powerful position is buttressed by their holding the reins of Mauritania's military establishment.

With an illiteracy rate of over 46 per cent, the majority of Mauritania's three million people lack not only the most essential amenities of modern living, but also the means to fight for social justice. So when democracy has come to Mauritania, it has invariably been a poor match for high-pitched rhetoric.

The Rest @ Al Ahram Weekly

Analysis from Western Sahara

- Zouërate is the town closest to Tourine, where the assault happened. It's a mining town of economic importance to Mauritania, nowadays with a significant Sahrawi population who have moved out from the Tindouf refugee camps.

-Meaning Mauritania. The Mourabitoun was an Islamic medieval movement that emerged in Mauritania and went on to found a dynasty in modern-day Morocco; an obvious local role-model for today's jihadists.

Also note that the soldiers are alleged to be taken prisoners, not killed as initially reported. This is also what international and Mauritanian media has begun to talk about.

• It could be based on this statement, but I did read somewhere that army units returning to Tourine could not find bodies or equipment, even while there was blood on the scene. Finally, let's keep in mind that so far this is just something someone posted on a website -- not authenticated as an AQIM statement.
  
• Adrian pointed out that there have been rumors of Mokhtar Belmokhtar stepping back, being replaced by Yahia Jouadi as leader in the south. Now a communiqé supposedly from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM, ex-GSPC) attributes the recent attack in Mauritania to this latter commander, labeling him the Emir of the Sahara. Either they're split threeways in some amicable division of labor, or Jouadi has moved up front (or some organizationally fuzzy combination of the two);
• It seems reasonably clear that Belmokhtar, for whatever reason, is no longer the Emir of AQIM's southern branch. I wish to apologize to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Yahia Jouadi and Abdelmalek Droukdel, and their families, for any damage or inconvenience my statements may have caused.
  
  Well, what do you know -- commenter Adrian turns out to have a blog with lots of interesting stuff on the Touareg rebellions in Mali & Niger. He also has a meaty thesis on the whole thing, available in PDF. Read! Learn!
  
  The Rest @ The Western Shara Blogspot
  
  More(Adrian) @ Arab Media Shack
  
  

Mauritanian Coup Leaders Blame AQIM for Ambush of Army Patrol Near Zouerat

Al-Qaeda-linked group kills 12 Mauritanian soldiers: security source
1 day ago

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Members of Al-Qaeda's north African branch killed a dozen Mauritanian soldiers on Monday as they patrolled in the northern part of the country, a security official told AFP.

Members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), ambushed the unit when they were 70 kilometres (45 miles) east of the mining town of Zouerat, the source said.

• The official did not know how many people were injured in the attack -- the country's deadliest in three years --
• but said 10 soldiers managed to return to base afterwards
• Reinforcements had been sent to the area near the Moroccan border.
• Seven people were injured in the ambush, including one seriously.
  

But another security source urged caution: "For now, we have to assume they are missing. We must wait for more information before we can talk about who has died or disappeared."

Opposition politicians blamed the ruling military junta for the attack, suggesting they were more interested in retaining the control they acquired during an August coup than defending their country.

"The army leaders left the borders defenceless against armed groups and brought the military to Nouakchott to defend their powers," opposition lawmaker Khalil Ould Teyeb said at a press conference.

His criticism drew a quick retort from pro-coup deputy Moustapha Ould Abeiderrahmane.
"Our country is victim of an ignoble attack and regardless of our political positions, there are some red lines we cannot cross," he said.

• Last month a statement by AQIM appeared on the Internet condemning the August 6 military coup in Mauritania and urging the Mauritanian people "to prepare for war."
• The suspected head of Al-Qaeda in Mauritania, El Khadim Ould Esseman, also urged the country's Muslims not to recognise the ruling military junta, calling it an "infidel regime."

Faced with a mounting threat from Islamic militants, security in Nouakchott was beefed up in the last three days, with checkpoints set up along the capital city's main crossroads.

Monday's ambush took place near Zouerat, "the iron capital," where the national industry and mining company, SNIM, employs a large number of foreign workers.

It also came as the African Union's security and peace commissioner, Ramdane Lamamra, was to meet coup leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to try to broker an end to the country's constitutional crisis.

More than 30 suspected Islamic militants are being held in Mauritania in connection with the attacks IN April, 2008.

The Rest @ AFP Google

Mauritania Coup -What the Blogs Say

The president of Mauritania was today deposed in a coup led by the former chief of his official guard, who appointed himself the head of a junta ruling the west African nation.

Troops seized Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who became Mauritania's first democratically-elected leader last year, after he announced the dismissal of senior members of the impoverished country's armed forces.

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the head of the presidential guard, was among those sacked.

A brief announcement, read out on state television several hours after the president was detained, said Abdel Aziz would head a new "state council" to govern Mauritania.

The message described Abdallahi as the "former president", annulling the decree that brought the sacking of Abdel Aziz and other senior military figures.

Mauritania, a former French colony that recently became Africa's newest oil-producing nation, has suffered several coups since gaining independence at the end of 1960.

Earlier, a spokesman for the deposed president said he was being held at the presidential palace in the capital, Nouakchott.

Soldiers also detained the prime minister, Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef, the spokesman added.
State radio and television went off the air and soldiers were seen being deployed throughout the capital, although no violence was reported.

The president's daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, said troops had arrived at the presidential palace shortly before 9.30am local time (1030 BST).

"The president has just been arrested by a commando, who came to fetch him, arrested him here and took him away," she told France's RFI radio. "This is a real coup d'etat."

Mauritania has been in the throes of a political crisis in recent weeks. On Monday, almost 50 MPs quit the ruling party following a vote of no confidence in the government.
Soldiers began gathering at the presidential palace early this morning after the country's state-run news agency published a decree announcing that the top officers had been sacked.
Abdallahi last year replaced a military junta that had ruled since toppling an earlier president, Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, in a bloodless coup in 2005.

Taya had ruled after seizing power in a coup of his own in 1984.

Mauritania became Africa's newest oil-producing country after offshore fields began operating in 2006.

The largely desert nation borders Algeria to the north and Mali and Senegal to the south and east.

Despite hopes of prosperity from country's still mainly unexploited reserves of oil and gas, it remains desperately poor and imports more than 70% of its food.

It also faces pressure from international human rights groups to eliminate slavery, which was outlawed in 1981. Amnesty International says there is evidence that the practice still exists in the country

The Rest @ The Guadian

The Moor Next Door Says:

My Mauritanian sources tell me that when the troops entered the Presidential Palace, they forced Sidi to take off his dara (the long flowy robe Mauritanian leaders often wear) and shirt (in order to establish some kind of hierarchy).

• His daughter, also an aide to the President, phoned AFP to put out news of the coup. She was forced to hang up (though evidently not before putting out the news;
• The President’s wife smacked one of the soldiers whilst shouting. He popped her back (three times).
• I am also told, by the same source, that after Sidi [tried to] sack Chief of Staff Ghazouani, the new CoS (Col. Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Ismail) showed up at Army HQ and informed the guard that he was the Chief of Staff.
• The guard responded with “tiyer” or “**** off.”

Western Sahara Info says

a tragedy for Mauritanian democracy, on the one hand, but that didn't stand much of a chance anyway; but more importantly, a giant setback for the country's broader chances of political development.

• While President Abdellahi and his cronies aren't exactly angels, Colonels Ghazouani and Abdelaziz represent the very worst military-parasitic element of the Mauritanian regime, and their refusal to let the civilian side of the regime settle down in power threatens to undo it completely in the long run.
• If the last coup, in August 2005, could be met with cautious understanding by the international community, having unseated President ould Tayaa, and eventually with praise as it led to a real transformation, this time around it is different.
• What happened in 2005 was that a military-personal-tribal dictatorship was overthrown and the chance arrived to replace it with a civilian semi-authoritarian structure that respected most democratic norms most of the time, and which made sensible moves towards national reconciliation, refugee return and economic development; not heaven, but infinitely better.
• This change is now being reversed. The putschists -- even though they are some of the same people as acted in 2005 -- must be condemned and the result of the coup overturned if possible;
• Mauritania had a golden opportunity to break its vicious circle, and it is now slipping away.

Four AQIM Leaders added to the OFAC List

SALAH GASMI
AKAs:Salah Abu MuhamadSalah Abu MohamedBounouadher
DOB:l3 April l97lPOB:Zeribet El Oued, Biskra, Algeria

• Gasmi is the head of AQIM's information committee and is responsible for developing statements, circulating claims of responsibility for terrorist activities, and creating videos for AQIM.
• As AQIM's representative to the media, Gasmi issued AQIM's claim of responsibility for its kidnapping of the Austrian hostages. Gasmi is one of the principal figures negotiating with the Austrian government for the release of the hostages.
• He represents AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel's interests in the negotiations. Droukdel was added to the U.N. list on August 27, 2007 and was named an SDGT by the Treasury Department on December 4, 2007.
• Gasmi also directs AQIM's internet communications with al Qaida senior leadership.
  

YAHIA DJOUADI

AKAs:Yahia Abu AmarAbu AlaAbou Alam

DOB:1 January 1967POB:M'Hamid, Sidi Bel Abbas, Algeria

• Djouadi is based in northern Mali and serves as the leader of AQIM in Africa's Sahara-Sahel region (also known as the AQIM South Zone).
• He is responsible for managing AQIM members in the South Zone and was actively recruiting Mauritanians as of early 2008.
• Djouadi provided financial and operational support to a Moroccan AQIM-affiliated extremist who planned to establish an AQIM support base in North Africa.
• Djouadi headed the AQIM military committee prior to his appointment as AQIM South Zone Emir.

AHMED DEGHDEGH

AKAs:Abd Al IllahAbu Abdallah
DOB:17 January 1967POB:Anser, Jijel, Algeria

Deghdegh is AQIM's finance chief.

• Deghdegh has relayed AQIM messages in ongoing hostage negotiations; as AQIM's designated negotiator, Deghdegh communicated stipulations for the release of the hostages and issued ransom demands.
• Deghdegh has acknowledged that AQIM has worked to undermine the interests of countries that support U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

ABID HAMMADOU

AKAs:Abid HamaduAbdelhamid Abu ZeidAbdelhamid Abou ZeidYoucef AdelAbu Abdellah
DOB:12 December 1965POB:Touggourt, Ouargla, Algeria

• Hammadou is the deputy leader of AQIM's Tarek Ibn Zaid battalion and is based in northern Mali.
• Hammadou was involved in kidnapping the Austrian tourists for AQIM in February 2008.
• In 2003, Hammadou participated in the kidnapping of 32 foreign tourists in Algeria by the GSPC, AQIM's predecessor organization.
• Hammadou was appointed by regional AQIM leader al-Para to lead the Tarek Ibn Zaid battalion, which carried out the kidnapping (El Para, AKA Saifi Ammari, was named an SDGT on December 5, 2003).
• Hammadou and other members of the battalion received part of the ransom paid to liberate the tourists and allegedly used the funds to purchase weapons.
• In June 2005, Hammadou led a unit of AQIM operatives in an attack on a Mauritanian military outpost that killed fifteen soldiers and wounded at least another fifteen.
• Hammadou established a camp for AQIM recruits in northern Mali that included training in combat techniques, making and defusing bombs, and guerilla tactics.

This means that any of their financial assets found anywhere that touch any US Bank will be siezed, and that significant US resources may be used to find them.

-Shimron

The Rest @ the US Office of Foreign Asset Control

35 Al qaeda Recruits Captured in Morocco

Police in Morocco have arrested 35 members of a network, which is sending its members to carry out suicide bombings in Iraq on behalf on Al-Qa’ida or to join Islamists in neighboring Algeria, the state news agency MAP reported on Wednesday.

According to the report the arrests were carried out in several cities across the country.

Ever since a string of suicide bombings in the country’s economic capital killed 45 people, the government, which is considered key ally of the U.S. in the war on terror, has launched a crackdown on local Islamists and is currently holding some 1,000 people in jail on terror-related charges.

The suspects heading for Algeria were to take part in the fight against the government as members of Al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is the official branch of Al-Qa’ida in North Africa.

Since its entry into the region AQIM, which is made up of a mix of local Islamists and veterans from Afghanistan, has introduced methods previously unseen in the region, such as suicide bombings.

Members of AQIM are also suspected of trying to set up cells in Mauritania. The West African country was, until the arrival of AQIM, considered a quiet and stable country, but in the last couple of months the country has experienced jailbreaks and shootouts with police in residential neighborhoods.

The Rest @ The Media Line

AQIM Claims Bombing on JEwsih Embassy in Mauritania

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) took responsibility for the shooting attack during the early morning hours of February 1 against the Israeli embassy in Mauritania’s capital of Nouakchott.

Three bystanders were wounded in the attack at an adjacent restaurant and disco called the VIP. The International Herald Tribune carried the group’s claim:

• “In this blessed raid that has been carried out by the champions of al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa, targeting the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott on Friday morning … the mujahideen have attacked it with the fire of their weapons and their bombs and were able with the support of God to injure an unlimited number in the ranks of Jews and their guards,” the statement said.
• [There was other rhetoric claiming the attack was in reposnse to Jewish oppression of Palestinians]-Shimron

Cearly significant for this attack, Mauritania is only the third member of the Arab League besides Egypt and Jordan to have diplomatic relations with Israel.

The attack follows on a recent surge of attacks in Mauritania, a country previously little affected by terrorism of this variety.

A family of French tourists was attacked by AQIM in December and a contingent of Mauritian soldiers targeted shortly thereafter. The heightened threat environment led to the cancellation of the Dakar Rally, a cross-desert auto race.

Three people have since been arrested for the attack amid speculation that the embassy was not the intended target, but in fact was the VIP restaurant next door.

The Rest @ Threats Watch

Guinnea Bissau Captures and Extradites 5 al Qaeda Suspects to Mauritania

BISSAU, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Guinea-Bissau extradited five suspected members of al Qaeda to Mauritania on Saturday, a day after they were arrested in connection with the killing of four French tourists in Mauritania last month.

"Guinea-Bissau will pay for what it has done," one of the five Mauritanians said as he was bundled into a plane by the security forces in Bissau. "Watch out! If I'd had a gun I would have killed you all," he shouted to the security officers, speaking in the local Creole language.

On Dec. 24, three attackers, who Mauritanian officials said were suspected Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda, gunned down four French tourists and wounded a fifth as they enjoyed a Christmas Eve picnic on a road in southern Mauritania.

Police in Guinea-Bissau arrested the five Mauritanians on Friday and said later two of them had admitted belonging to al Qaeda. At least three of the men were wanted in direct connection with the killings, the authorities in Bissau said.

The Rest @ Reuters Africa

China and Sudan to Build Railway to Mauritania

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Sudan's Danfodio Holding and China's Transtech Engineering have signed an agreement to build a 460 million euro ($634 million) railway linking Mauritania's capital Nouakchott with southern phosphate deposits at Bofal.

The deal for the 430 km (290 mile) line, which will run close to the Islamic Republic's southern frontier with Senegal, was signed late on Friday in Nouakchott with private Mauritanian investors and Transport Minister Ahmed Ould Mohameden.

"This line will allow the exploitation of the Bofal deposits and open up isolated areas of Mauritania with considerable animal, agricultural and mineral resources," Mohameden said at the signing.

The Mauritanian government hopes the line can link Mauritania to an existing West African rail network covering Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso.
The proven reserves of phosphate, commonly used in fertilisers, at Bofal are around 165 million tonnes. The government forecasts an annual production of 2 million tonnes over 30 years.

Transtech and its parent company China Railway Engineering Corp., one of the world's largest railway builders, won a $1 billion contract earlier this year to build a 700-km railway in Sudan connecting the capital Khartoum with eastern Port Sudan

The Rest @ Reuters