Tunisia - Ghannouchi Claims Global Arab Spring will End Israle

According to Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia, all the land between the mosque in Mecca and Jerusalem is the heart of the Muslim nation and, thus, the presence of any foreign power in control of any part is a challenge to the Muslim nation (umma). Ghannouchi extolled the Tunisian revolution, describing it as a true popular revolution. He spoke also in favor of the revolutions in other Arab Muslim countries, including Egypt, Yemen and Syria and expressed his hope that the revolution in Libya would succeed.

Ghannouchi said that the revolution sweeping through the Arab world is a good omen for the Palestinians for it would bring Israel to an end. According to Ghannouchi, Arab regimes that have been supporting the West would all fall, and he quotes the prophecy of Sheikh Ahman Yassin that Israel will fall before 2027.

Reports identify Ghannouchi as a leader of the Islamist movement Al Nahda of Tunisia, in exile. Al Nahda has ties with the international Muslim Brotherhood.

Ghannouchi alleges that the "Jews everywhere are behind a worldwide campaign against Islam" and that Islam and the West could reach an accommodation "were it not for the worldwide machinations of the Jews."

On his return to Tunisia Ghannouchi is reported to have developed a new strategy for post-revolutionary Tunis which he calls "The Jurisprudence of building, economic growth and construction," which embraces a proposal for closer cooperation between different Islamic groups and the establishment of a democratic Tunisia.

The Rest @ (Ahlul Bayt News Agency)

*Ahlul Bayt News Agency, in the view of the editor, is a news agency that appears to discuss world wide news from a global shiite Islamic view point.

Rachid Ghannouchi is tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood by his:

• Membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR)
• Important position in the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS),led by Global Muslim Brotherhood Youssef Qaradawi. Ghannouchi is known for his thinking on the issue of Islam and citizenship rights.

"Assuming a valid distinction can be made between Islamists who are 'extremist' and 'reformist,' Ghannouchi clearly belongs to the first category. Since his last visit to the United States, he has openly threatened U.S. interests, supported Iraq against the United States and campaigned against the Arab-Israeli peace process. Indeed, Ghannouchi in exile has personified the rejection of U.S. policies, even as he dispatches missives to the State Department."

-In 1994, scholar Martin Kramer University of Tel Aviv

AQIM Squad Hits Tunisia Checkpoint

(Reuters) - Men who opened fire on Tunisian officers in the north of the country on Wednesday were suspected members of Al Qaeda, a security source told Reuters.

The group of nine armed men killed four military and policemen at a checkpoint, the source said, revising an earlier figure. Three of the assailants were killed.

The men were thought to be members of al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), the source said.

The Rest @ Reuters

Two AQIM Arms Smugglers Caught I Tunisia

The men, thought to be members of al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), were arrested near Ramada in the south of the country.

The men were carrying Afghan identity papers and were of Libyan and Algerian origin, the source said, adding that they were also connected to two men arrested in Tunisia last week.

• Arab and Western officials have said that al Qaeda could be exploiting the Libyan conflict to acquire weapons and smuggle them into other countries.
• A senior security official in Algeria told Reuters last month there were signs al Qaeda was working to acquire arms to smuggle them to a stronghold in northern Mali.

Tunisian authorities have called on the public to report any suspect activity and warned them not to shelter any foreigners who might threaten national security.

The North African country, which is an important destination for Libyan migrants fleeing the conflict, has tightened security along its border with Libya since the start of the unrest, searching cars and questioning people trying to cross.

The Rest @ Reuters

T

Al Qaeda Tries to Leverage North Africa Unrest

DUBAI, Jan 28, 2011 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda has hailed Tunisia's uprising but also warned about an attempt to replace ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali with another "agent" of the West, the US-monitoring group SITE said on Friday.

"Your revolution was no ordinary uprising, rather it was a devastating earthquake that struck the throne of the tyrant Ben Ali... The criminal ran away in a very humiliating scene," Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said.

The United States "and France, with the infidel West, will not accept any real change that does not serve their interests in Tunisia. They are now busy planning to find an alternative agent who is acceptable to them," added the statement issued on jihadist forums on Thursday.

"France was the one that supported the tyrant Ben Ali until the last moment and supported him to the furthest extent, such that it even offered him its expertise in the field of oppression," AQIM charged.

The United States and France will "play the same dirty role in Tunisia in the future, unless the strikes of the mujahedeen... stop them," said the statement.

French officials frequently justified their support for Ben Ali because of what they deemed his effectiveness in fighting political Islam.

Paris had warm ties with Ben Ali's regime during his 23 years in power but made a U-turn after the authoritarian ruler bowed to popular protests and fled the country this month.

It was not until after Ben Ali was ousted that French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed the protest movement and the fugitive was denied refuge in France.

AQIM also criticised Saudi Arabia for hosting Ben Ali, SITE reported.
"He was given sanctuary... by the one who claims to be the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," AQIM said of Saudi King Abdullah.

"If he had in his heart an ounce of passion for (Islam)... he would not have accepted to host on this pure land a criminal who was refused from all the nations."
Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it wanted to contribute to ending "bloodshed" in Tunisia by granting asylum to Ben Ali.

Riyadh has kept a blackout on Ben Ali's activities since his arrival on January 15 with six family members, after his ouster in a wave of protest in which dozens of people were killed.

by AFP

The Rest @ Zawya

What Happens NExt in Tunisia?

The Tunisian Revolution does not appear to be the work of Islamists or a military coup. A
Series of events Begining December 7th appear to have led to a social media-fueled near spontaneous protests in the street. When the military refused to fire on the protesters, The president fled.

However, political leaders who were in exile plan to returne Tunisia for presumed elelctions. Of note is Sheik Rachid Ghannouchi of the al Nadhar party, with an islamist agenda. Note also that Al Qaeda in Magharebia (AQIM) has pledged support for an ismalist uprising that may occur in the future.

-Shimron

***************
(from TIME) 16/1/2011

Tunisia appeared to tip towards all-out chaos on Sunday evening as fierce gun battles exploded in the heart of the capital, with the military attempting to root out thousands of well-armed militia loyal to the ousted dictator Zine Abidine Ben Ali. Two days after Ben Ali abandoned his 23-year rule and fled the country, forced out by an extraordinary month-long popular revolt, the street battles topped a tautly tense weekend, in which the country seemed perched between armed conflict and near-normality.

As sun set on downtown Tunis, machine-gun fire exploded on the streets outside my hotel, amid office and apartment buildings, cafes and train stations. Shortly before, soldiers had ordered hotel guests inside and cordoned off several blocks of the city center, before unleashing a no-holds-barred battle with the armed militia prowling the streets.

• The battle began with small arms fire and was then followed with the sound of heavy automatic fire.
• One hour into it, police aligned with the military burst into the rooms of hotel guests, ordering us to close curtains, for fear of attracting the attention of military snipers hanging from the open doors of two helicopters circling overhead.
• Masoud Ramdhani of Tunisia's League of Human Rights said by telephone that the military was attempting to corner about 3,000 of the 6,200 of Ben Alis well-armed Presidential Guard still not arrested.
• The gunfire around the hotel only began to die down towards 8 p.m., two-and-a-half hours after it had begun. Meanwhile, wire reports had a fierce battle taking place in front of the presidential palace in Carthage, about 10 miles away.

Earlier in the day, while the sun was out, calm and chaos seemed to be competing for primacy the capital. On one block, a group of six small boys kicked a football around an empty street, laughing; and on the next block, police hauled away three armed militia, after being alerted by locals who suspected that the trio were harboring caches of weapons.

While men crowded into the sole barber shop open in downtown Tunis, teenage boys in the Montplaisir neighborhood erected a barricade to protect their street from looters and gunmen.

Food has grown increasingly scarce as mass protests and strikes have shut almost all businesses.

Crowds gathered outside the few stores that dared unlock their metal shutters and sell essential items like bread and orange juice.

It is still uncertain how this Jasmine Revolution, as it is dubbed in the Tunisian media, will unfold. Whatever government is formed will need to amend Tunisia's constitution to allow banned political parties to contest an election — a basic demand of the masses of protesters.

Since yesterday, opposition parties, for years were barred from challenging Ben Ali, have been in talks with the interim president Fouad Mebazaa, their closed-door discussions focused on how to form a temporary unity government to run the country until they can organize democratic elections.

Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi said on state television that the new government would be announced on Monday. Mebazaa, who had been parliamentary speaker, the constitutionally designated next-in-line to the presidency, had been hastily sworn in as head of state 24 hours after Ben Ali fled (a loyalist of the dictator served for only one day in between).

But elections will still be a problem even if a unity government is put in place. The constitution mandates that one must take place within 60 days. But officials have said they are more likely to need six months to organize.

After decades of one-party rule, there is a dire shortage of political talent at home; and several major contenders for leadership have been in exile for years.

Reached by phone in Paris on Sunday, Moncef Marzouki, a physician and leader of the Congress of the Republic, a secular liberal party, said that he planned to return to Tunis on Tuesday, after more than 10 years as a refugee. Despite excitement over Ben Ali's overthrow, Marzouki said he was still uncertain whether he would be permitted to organize his party freely. "I am afraid that the dictator has left, but the dictatorship system is still there, and there is still repression."

Another factor in Tunisia's future is its major militant Islamist leader, Sheik Rachid Ghannouchi, head of the banned al-Nadhar party, who was exiled to London in 1988. By phone on Sunday, Ghannouchi said he has not yet booked his ticket home, but plans to return "soon," perhaps within weeks. "After more than 20 years of absence I will have to have time to reorganize our movement," he said, adding that he does not intend to participate in the elections.

The sheik has said previously that he would like to see a far more conservative Islam take root in Tunisia, which is remarkably secular, with numerous beach resorts featuring scantily clad women. His impending arrival prompted one group of Tunisians to post a Facebook site on the weekend, vowing to greet Sheik Ghannouchi at the airport wearing bikinis.

Indeed, the revolt which drove Ben Ali from power found little inspiration in Islam, in stark contrast, say, to the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

• The uprising began on Dec. 17, after a 26-year-old computer science graduate Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight, after police ordered him to stop selling vegetables on the street; he had been unable to find a job in his profession.
• When Bouazizi died shortly after from his burns, the country erupted in a seemingly spontaneous mutiny against Ben Ali, mobilizing giant protests and strikes through Facebook, Twitter and mass-distribution text messages on mobile phones.
• They stormed into the street to demand a change of leadership, defying Ben Ali's iron-fisted rule.
• Last Friday it became clear that Tunisia's professional Army, which has fielded hundreds of soldiers in U.N. peace-keeping missions around the world, would not fire on protesters in order to protect the president.
• Within hours, Ben Ali and his family fled, leaving the country in turmoil.

Ordinary citizens, however, seemed to be rooting for the restoration of normality and civic life. Across Tunis, locals appeared to join the military's efforts to restore order.

• Fares Bouslimi, 40, a philosophy professor in a city high school, took a plastic bag from his home, and began clearing the debris from Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the boulevard where hundreds of thousands of people protested last Friday outside the Interior Ministry building, a spectacle that finally drove Ben Ali out. "This is sacred ground," Bouslimi told me, explaining why he opted to spend his Sunday morning cleaning the street, despite the fact that soldiers were perched atop tanks along the avenue, ordering people not to walk outside. "This is a true revolution," he said, "like the French Revolution or the American Revolution."
• In the studio of Tunisia's most popular radio station Mosaïque FM on Sunday, Ibrahim Letayef, a journalist and film maker, called the past month's events a digital revolution, much of it fought by educated, middle class youth whose seething frustration at unemployment, corruption and repression drove them into the streets, toppling Ben Ali. "He saw the way the street was going, and he chose to save himself," said Letayef. Then, his mobile phone beeped: it was one of the many anonymous text messages he and thousands of other Tunisians have received during the past month, which helped organize the revolt.
• After weeks of upheaval, in which stores, schools and universities have been shut, and streets have been emptied of regular traffic, this text message was not a rallying cry to join in a mass protest. Instead, it said: "For the love of Tunisia, conquer your fears and return to work. Please pass on this message."
  

The Rest @ Time

AQIM's 'Abd Al-Wadud Praises Tunisia Regime Change

On January 13, 2011, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader Abu Mus'ab 'Abd Al-Wadud released two audio clips, produced by AQIM's media wing Al-Andalus and disseminated on various jihadi forums, in which he called on the Tunisians and Algerians, respectively, to escalate riots against their governments. The clips were released in light of fierce ongoing riots in Tunisia and recent riots in Algeria.

'Abd Al-Wadud called on the Tunisians to send their youth to join the ranks of his organization, where they could arm themselves and undergo military training. He added that those unable to join should carry out attacks on Western targets independently.

Following are the main points of the audio clips:

• 'Abd Al-Wadud praised the Tunisians for taking to the streets
• standing up to their "tyrannical" government after suffering decades of oppression at its hands
• offered the jihadists' help in supporting the Tunisians' "uprising."

The Rest @ MEMRI

Tunisia's Ben Ali Overthrown -What it means

Tunisia is in a state of flux following the ousting of its long-standing president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

After 23 years in office Ben Ali fled the country amid a mass uprising giving way to leadership changes that came at a dizzying speed.

In the last 48 hours, Tunisia has had three presidents. The first is the fugitive Ben Ali who fled on Friday; the second Ben Ali's longtime ally, prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, who stepped in briefly with a vague assumption of power that left open the possibility that Ben Ali could return and finally Fouad Mebazaa, leader of the house of parliament, who was given 60 days to organise new elections by the head of the Constitutional Council.

The council declared Ben Ali's departure was permanent and Mebazaa was sworn in on Saturday under Article 57 which stipulates that when the post of the president falls vacant due to his demise, resignation or total incapacitation ... the speaker of the parliament ... shall immediately undertake the presidential duties on temporary basis for not less than 45 days; and not more than 60 days.

The piece of legislation states that it is not permissible during the transitional presidential period to amend the constitution or impeach the government. And during this period, a new president shall be elected for the term of five years. The newly elected president may dissolve the parliament, and call for premature parliamentary election (in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph Second of Chapter 63).

The country's constitution provides the only framework for the interim government and the opposition to negotiate but it is more suited to leaders personally chosen by the absconded president.

Skepticism

Mebazaa promised to create a unity government that could include the long-ignored opposition, but it is not clear how far the 77-year-old Mebazaa, who has been part of Tunisia's ruling class for decades, would truly go to work with the opposition.

It was also unclear who would emerge as the country's top political leaders, since Ben Ali utterly dominated politics, placing allies in power and sending opponents into jail or exile.
Everything looked to have been choreographed to make sure of strict compliance with the constitution.

Observing the legal niceties is important as it sends an important signal to Tunisians that the rules are expected.

But back in 1987 Ben Ali, the then prime minister, became president in much the same way that Ghannouchi did on Friday. But instead of stepping aside he held on to power. Tunisians this time do not want to get fooled once more, but they remain divided on how things should be done.
While some opposition leaders call for the revision of the whole constitution, which they say was tailored to suit Ben Ali and his predecessor Lahbib Bourguiba, others accepted to talk to Ben Ali’s guards on forming a transitional government with the aim of getting the country out of this situation and to have "real reforms".

"We discussed the idea of a coalition government and the prime minister accepted our request to have a coalition government," Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the Union of Freedom and Labour party, told Reuters news agency.

"There will be another meeting with the aim of getting the country out of this situation and to have real reforms. The results of these discussions will be announced tomorrow."
However, that seems optimistic.

Stumbling block

When talks get down to the details of who gets which post, and how many members of the old guard will sit at the cabinet table, things could become less congenial.

Another stumbling block is the opposition of some Tunisians to the two-month deadline for having a presidential election, which they consider as too short. That's not surprising. They have been harassed and marginalised for years and they want time to register on the consciousness of ordinary Tunisians.

And Ghannouchi himself, who is tasked to hammer out a compromise, is persona non grata in many Tunisians' eyes for being too closely aligned with the ousted president.

"We will be back on the streets, in Martyrs Square, to continue this civil disobedience until ... the regime is gone. The street has spoken," Fadhel Bel Taher, whose brother was one of dozens of people killed in the protests, said.

Ben Ali's departure is just the beginning for tension across the country to be defused. Tunisia is at the crossroad and the hard work is still ahead for Tunisians to close the chapter of the past and move into a prosperous future.

The Rest @ Al Jazeera

Analysis....
People across the region have watched enthralled as street unrest forced Ben Ali to flee the North African country he has ruled for 23 years -- an unprecedented spectacle in the Arab world, where authoritarian leaders can usually only be dislodged by army coup, assassination or their own mortality.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged free and fair elections in Tunisia, a call echoed by other Western leaders -- many of whom had turned a blind eye to Ben Ali's repressive style.
But Arab capitals have largely kept quiet, apparently stunned by the seismic explosion of protest in Tunisia.

"What will worry many governments in the region is that the crisis was spontaneous and not organized," said Henry Wilkinson of the Janusian Security Consultancy.

"Events in Tunisia have shown the risk of a pressure cooker effect: if you have a system of intense suppression without addressing the causes of discontent, a crack in that system can lead to an explosion."

A cautious statement from the Cairo-based Arab League called for Tunisia's "political forces, representatives of Tunisian society and officials to stand together" and keep the peace.
Saudi Arabia, a monarchy that gave Ben Ali refuge, expressed support for Tunisians as they overcome this "difficult stage."

In Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has ruled for almost 30 years, the foreign ministry said it respected the choices of the Tunisian people and trusted their wisdom "in fixing the situation and avoiding the collapse of Tunisia into chaos."

Sudan said it welcomed the political change in Tunisia, using similar language about respecting the will of Tunisians.

The military overthrow of Sudan's president Jaafar Nimeiri in 1985 after a wave of popular protests is perhaps the closest parallel in modern Arab history to Ben Ali's ouster. Sudan's current president, Omar al-Bashir, took power in a 1989 coup.

In Iraq, where a coup backed by violent unrest toppled the Hashemite monarchy in 1958, the government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, sidestepped comment on the upheaval in Tunisia.
"This is an internal issue for Tunisian people. We do not interfere in the affairs of other countries and respect the choice of the people in the region," he said.

Iraq can boast a government that was formed, albeit with huge difficulty, after a genuine election, unlike those in most Arab countries, which offer more form than substance.

PEOPLE POWER

The reticence of Arab leaders over Tunisia may reflect their fears that, as North Africa analyst Camille Tawil argues, "what happened in Tunis proved that the people can topple a government in the Arab world by taking to the streets and demonstrating." But it does not necessarily mean they will stand by if their own people are inspired to replicate Tunisia's revolt.

"Other autocrats will not have the squeamishness about suppression with violence that the Tunisians showed," said Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya and Iran.

He said some, such as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, "will conclude that they are still right to never give an inch, whether to Islamists or just reformers" and that regime survival is best served by resisting any Western pressure for change.

Arab rulers often justify repression by suggesting the alternative is to see radical Islamists seize power, but Tunisia offers little obvious support for this argument.

"Ben Ali's regime overplayed the Islamist card, trying to scare people about al Qaeda. People saw through it," said Saad Djebbar, an Algerian lawyer and political analyst.

"And as it turned out there were few beards in the street in the protests, even though, to be fair, many Tunisian Islamists prudently don't wear beards."

Arab leaders with more wealth at their disposal also have options to deal with dissent that the Tunisian leader lacked.

"Tunisia simply had fewer cards to play. The country doesn't have the recourse to hydrocarbon rent to make all problems go away," said North Africa analyst Geoff Porter, citing moves by Libya and Algeria to reduce food prices by forgoing tax revenue.

Even resource-poor countries such as Jordan have tried to forestall unrest by taking similar measures they can ill afford.

For Beirut-based commentator Rami Khouri, the message of the Tunisian insurrection was clear.
"It marks the end of acquiescence and docility among masses of ordinary Arab citizens who had remained remarkably complacent for decades in the face of the mounting power of Western-backed Arab security states and police- and army-based ruling regimes."

He said the grievances of Tunisian protesters were shared across the Arab world, except perhaps in small rich Gulf states.

The Rest @ Reuters

FBI Seeking Information Abderraouf Jdey

Abderraouf Jdey

Aliases: Abd Al-Rauf Bin Al-Habib Bin Yousef Al-Jiddi, Abderraouf Dey, A. Raouf Jdey, Abdal Ra'Of Bin Muhammed Bin Yousef Al-Jadi, Farouq Al-Tunisi, Abderraouf Ben Habib Jeday


DESCRIPTION
Date of Birth Used: May 30, 1965 Hair: Brown
Place of Birth: Tunisia Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'0" Sex: Male
Weight: 209 pounds Complexion: Olive

DETAILS
Abderraouf Jdey is being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States.


REWARD

The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading directly to the capture of Abderraouf Jdey.


SHOULD BE CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS PERSON, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FBI OFFICE OR THE NEAREST AMERICAN EMBASSY OR CONSULATE.


ROBERT S. MUELLER, III
DIRECTOR
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535
TELEPHONE: (202) 324-3000



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| New York Field Office | Seeking Information - War on Terrorism |
| FBI Home Page | FBI Field Offices |

Tunisian Government Officials Receive Terrorist Convictions

Fri, Jul 18, 2008 (8:21 a.m.)

The Associated Press

Two government officials have been convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with an alleged plot to carry out terror attacks and overthrow the Tunisian government, according to their lawyer and court documents.

The documents were the first public information about the case against national security official Souhail Guezdah, deputy prison chief Sami Belhaj Aissa and three other defendants.

Guezdah, a local chief of Tunisia's national security force, and Hicham Barrak, a sports teacher, were sentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization and of having provided information to help plot terrorist attacks.

Hedhili Djait, a cell phone vendor, was sentenced to eight years on similar charges and for having provided the group with its hideout.

Aissa, deputy chief of the Borj El Amri prison near Tunis, and Faouzi Ayachi Alimi, whose profession was not identified on the court documents, were handed four-year sentences for not having warned authorities that terrorist attacks were being planned.

The court in the capital, Tunis, said the men, who belonged to the Salafist strain of Islam, had rented a house as a hideout in the central Tunisia town of Kairouan, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital, Tunis. Kairouan is considered one of Islam's holiest cities.

The defendants denied all the accusations and defense lawyer Samir Ben Amor said he intended to appeal.

"Their file is empty," Ben Amor told The Associated Press, saying that no documents or other material evidence had been produced to back the accusations. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say that Tunisian court proceedings often fail to meet international standards.

Ben Amor said that about 1,000 people have been sentenced or indicted in Tunisia under a tough new law passed in 2003 to boost anti-terrorism efforts. The government has not confirmed that figure.

A moderate Muslim nation and a Western ally, Tunisia is a mass tourism destination and does not face the same terrorism threats as its neighbor, Algeria. But various security observers say the country has experienced a rise of radical Islam similar to the rest of North Africa.

The Rest @ Las Vegas Sun

Malta a no-show at North Africa-Southern Europe Counter-Terroism Meeting in Mouritania

In the wake of a US State Department report citing concern over Malta’s potential as a staging post for terrorists entering Europe and another warning from Malta’s security service, Malta missed a crucial meeting this week between southern European and north African security ministers on the subject of trans-national terrorism risks threatening both regions.

Malta’s absence from the meeting, which placed the increasing terrorist threat against Europe by North African militants at the top of its agenda, was even more conspicuous by the fact that a report drafted by the Security Committee of Malta’s National Security Service tabled in Parliament this week urged politicians and the country’s law and order structures to keep a lookout for terrorism threats in the light of heightened terrorist group activity in North Africa.

But the reason behind Malta’s absence, where the country was to have been represented by newly installed Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, was not for lack of effort on the part of the government but rather the failure by both sides of Parliament to come up with an agreement on parliamentary pairing.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi remarked it was regrettable Malta had not been represented at the Mauritania meeting because of Parliament’s failure to strike a pairing agreement.

Contacted yesterday, a Justice and Home Affairs spokesperson confirmed the minister had been unable to attend due to the pairing issue, and that Malta had not been represented at the meet on the grounds that it had been a ministerial meeting and as such there had been no point in sending a replacement for the minister.

The meeting came at a critical stage, with the Africa-Europe irregular migration season now coming into full swing, and with an apparent pick-up in terrorist group activity in North Africa.The terrorism phenomenon is gaining ever more ground in north Africa, and the subject matter was treated in depth at the two-day meeting held on Wednesday and Thursday in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott.

In recent years, North African countries have suffered bomb blasts and other attacks carried out by Islamic militants, including the North African branch of al-Qaeda.

Spain and other southern European States have also been targeted.Terrorist activities in North Africa have been on the increase once again of late.

• In the meeting’s host nation, {Mauritania] al-Qaeda gunmen have killed French tourists and local soldiers over the last six months.
• Last year Tunisian authorities killed 12 Islamic extremists while breaking up a plot to attack the US and British embassies as well as hotels and nightclubs in Tunis.
• The last 12 months have been particularly bloody for Algeria, with eight suicide attacks killing over 100 people.
• Morocco also appears to be another hotbed, with the Moroccan Islamist Combat Group believed to be responsible for the 2004 Madrid bombings that killed 191 people.Just this week Moroccan authorities arrested 11 al-Qaeda linked suspects allegedly planning a terrorist attack in Belgium
• Southern EU States are also said to be particularly concerned about militant attacks in Algeria.

In its 2007 annual report, Malta’s National Security Service noted that the recent merging of the North African al-Qaeda group and the Salafista “Preach and Combat Group” into the so called al-Qaeda in the Land of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group “could have serious implications for the Mediterranean and the European Union as this organisation is taking advantage of the extensive network of operatives that could be exported to the European continent”.

The report also observed how AQIM had affiliated itself with a number of other like-minded groups in North Africa where it had also established extensions and other assets in the Maghreb region, which had reached Europe and Iraq.The amalgamation had taken place in 2006 on the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack against the United States, and the group is said to have been growing quickly since.

While the group is still concentrating many of its actions against Algerian military forces and authorities in, according to Osama bin-Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, a “jihad to liberate Algerians from America, France and the children of France”, is thought to be setting its sights increasingly on European targets – presenting a worrying picture for European security forces.

A recent report by the EU’s criminal intelligence agency Europol said that most of the 340 arrested in the EU on terrorism charges between October 2005 and December 2006 had come from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria – many of which had ties to AQIM.

Another recent report by the US State Department highlighted the potential of Malta serving as a staging post for would-be terrorists seeking clandestine entry into Europe, given Malta’s high influx of undocumented irregular migrants.

The US State Department, in its 2007 Country Report on Terrorism for Malta, noted that, “Malta could become increasingly attractive to terrorist organisations seeking entry into Europe” given the country’s geographic location between North Africa and Europe and Malta’s status as an EU member State.

This week’s 5+5 meeting in Mauritania was held as part of the Inter-governmental Conference of Interior Ministers from the Western Mediterranean. A total of 14 meetings of the forum have been held in which Malta participated, with the exception of this week’s meeting.The meeting saw the participation of Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania from the North African side, all of which insisted on the importance of communication and education to halt the phenomenon of terrorism.

Southern Europe, meanwhile, was represented by France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, while Malta had been absent from talks that centred around ways of improving exchanges of information and collaboration to confront trans-national security risks seen threatening both regions.

Participating States agreed to share intelligence and work together to fight terrorism, drug-trafficking and illegal migration in the Mediterranean – all areas integral to Malta. The issue of irregular migration is central to the fight against terrorism, while drug trafficking is featuring as an increasingly strong source of financing for North African terrorist groups.

The Rest @ Malta Independent Online

Mali Army Officers (Tuaregs) are Executed When Eent to Negotiate Austrians' Release

This article appeared April 22, 2008, and I did not catch it until now.
However, therre are some Key names,dates, and events in the Mali Tuareg rebellion.

-Shimron

BRIEFSMYSTERIOUS MURDERS OF TUAREGS NEGOTIATING WITH AL-QAEDA KIDNAPPERS IN MALIThe bodies of three brutally executed men were found in the desert region of Kidal in northern Mali last week.

The victims turned out to be two Tuareg negotiators and a driver, assigned to mediate the release of two Austrian tourists, Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber, who were kidnapped in February by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) while on an “adventure holiday” in Tunisia. The kidnappers are believed to be under the command of AQIM leader Abdel Hamid Abu Zayd, thought to be the Saharan amir of AQIM, Yahia Abu Amar, selected the mediators and made arrangements for the meeting.

• In exchange for the Austrians, AQIM is demanding a ransom and the release of an Islamist and his wife that the group claims are being held and tortured in “the Austrian Guantanamo” (AFP, April 7).
• The murders of two of the six mediators appointed to negotiate the release of the two Austrians came only several days after negotiation efforts began (Al-Jazeera, April 16).
• The mediators were former rebel Tuareg commanders who were recently integrated into the Malian army as part of a peace deal struck last year.
• A student who was acting as a driver for mediator Baraka Cheikh was also killed after apparently being mistaken for Colonel Muhammad Ould Midou, another Tuareg officer (El Khabar [Algiers], April 20).
• On arrival at a tent sent up for the purpose of negotiations, the men were tied up and repeatedly shot in the head. The military commander of the Malian Tuareg rebels is Lt. Col. Hassan Fagaga, who has twice been integrated into the Malian army but has returned to the desert rebellion both times. Fagaga is now reported to be in league with rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, who held out from last year’s accord with the government (Reuters, April 8).
• In March Fagaga threatened to “eliminate” any al-Qaeda operatives who ventured into the area controlled by the Tuareg rebels, though he acknowledged that some AQIM members had infiltrated the area around Kidal, close to the Algerian border and the scene of heavy fighting between the rebels and the Malian army last month (El Khabar, March 5).

Though there is little evidence so far as to who is responsible for this crime, some Tuareg suspect intelligence agents connected to the Malian Army of carrying out the murders. Referring to continuing ethnic tensions within Mali, Hassan Fagaga claims: “There is a plan to execute the commanders in the Malian army of Tuareg origin in the north…” (El Khabar, April 17). After the announcement of an unofficial truce earlier this month between Tuareg rebels and the Malian army, the heavy fighting seen in March has slackened off, though both sides remain on a war footing. The Tuareg rebels have their own hostages: 33 Malian soldiers who were captured last month but not released as they were supposed to be under the terms of the latest ceasefire.

• Negotiations for the release of the Austrians appear to have been suspended, though the Austrian Foreign Ministry asserts that efforts are continuing to obtain the release of the pair.
• Libya has also become involved in the negotiations at the highest levels, but three deadlines set by AQIM have already expired.
• Austria has denied sending its “Cobra” Special Forces team (Einsatzkommando Cobra, or EKO) to Mali to retrieve the hostages (El Khabar, March 26).

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