Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB
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Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)
-   North Africa (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/north-africa/)
-   -   Islamist activity in the Sahara in relation to travel security (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/north-africa/islamist-activity-sahara-relation-travel-49806)

Dave The Hat 10 Jan 2011 14:00
Tuaregs intercept drug smugglers at Tamesna, North Mali, with fatalities:

Nord du Mali : Sept morts et plusieurs blessés dans des combats armés - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

kirkley 11 Jan 2011 07:23
via the cables:

"
ATT said he thinks
Algeria's intelligence services and army are holding up
cooperation, and believes the Algerian army is infiltrated
with Salafists."

Encouraging.

priffe 11 Jan 2011 22:45
Sadly the last two kidnappings in Niger has caused Point Afrique to cancel the rest of the season
for Atar, Mopti and also Chad.
Ennahar Online - Hostages: Point Africa tour operator suspended its last flights in the Sahel
"AQIM (al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb) won the first round. The fear has been installed. The tourists stop coming," said Mr. Freund.
"There are not enough people. Our financial reserves melt," he summarized, explaining for example that there were only "nine people on the plane in early January between Paris and Atar.
Same for serving the Mopti: "I will maintain the flights until 23 January for the return of holidaymakers. There are 80 people per flight where financial balance is 120".

Dave The Hat 11 Jan 2011 23:39
Will this scare off the tour operaters still running trips in the region?

We have developed several months warning against travel tour operators in this region;" some accept the advice of the Government, others consider that they know better as our diplomats and our experts."

"I want to remind them it's their criminal liability which is committed if, tomorrow, there is an accident," he said.

Fillon met en garde les tour-opérateurs sur les risques au Sahel | News by Country | Reuters

Dave The Hat 13 Jan 2011 18:43
Is this article accuarte? I thought Ag Bahanga returned to mali a while ago?

Mali : un ex-chef rebelle touareg de retour après son exil en Libye - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

If he is back there, do you think there is any significance to his return? Preparing to have a go at the AQIM bases and/or sort out the drug traffickers?

priffe 14 Jan 2011 01:30
I think Sarco may have twisted Maurice Freund's and other operators' arms a little but mainly economic factors decide. If they can't fill the flights they wont take off. And the tours will be cancelled.
As for Bahanga, I do believe there was substance to the rumours he was in Bamako last fall, negotiating terms for a return to Mali, reaching an agreement where he will be allowed to operate if he doesn't attack the Malian army. God knows what else may have been on the table. He may well have been involved in the clashes that have occurred between aqim/smugglers and touaregs since then.
Like the last one at Tin Zahouatine. These are fights over territory and right of passage, not a real war against aqim.
At least that is how I understand it.
Now his return is finally made official.

Dave The Hat 19 Jan 2011 13:01
AQIM leader exploits Tunisia, Algeria unrest (Magharebia.com)

Dave The Hat 6 Feb 2011 00:16
Ennahar Online - Abu Hafs, coordinator of the Salafist Group, killed in an ambush

priffe 6 Feb 2011 15:01
Recent arrests in north Algeria lead to the names of 211 aqim fighters
211 étrangers dans les rangs d’AQMI|Algérie Plus

Quote:
The security forces come in to dismantle a terrorist network that Aures has identified some 211 foreigners operating in the ranks of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb Islamia, according to the daily El Watan and El Khabar. These aliens are from Mali, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Sudan, Morocco, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso.

The operation, conducted in late December, resulted in the arrest of fourteen terrorists including two Mautaniens. One of them was Ibrahim Mohamed Ould Ouldna presented as the "mufti" (exegesis) of AQIM, who had joined the ranks of AQIM in Algeria in 2008. He is known by the pseudonym Abu Anas Chenguit. He had arrived in Algeria with the project to reorganize the terrorist cells.

His confession led to the first arrest of another Islamist, Abu Mustapha Debchi said Mohamed Al Othman. This ingenious electronics was arrested at the port of Annaba while preparing to embark to Europe in order to implement AQIM cells, the source said. His revelations led to the arrest of all members of the network in Algeria.
Also even better
Un groupe d'Al Qaîda démantele Batna Il devait installer des cellules terroristes en Europe - El Watan

Quote:
It is almost the final blow that security forces have given the terrorist organization, who is thus deprived of its most important support..

priffe 7 Feb 2011 19:30
Aqim new threats to assasinate Mauri president
Ennahar Online - AQIM threats to kill Mauritanian president for his ties with France

priffe 9 Feb 2011 07:34
Compilation of Wikileaks concerning intertribal relations in N Mali and ATT (Mali president) exchange with US ambassador Jovanovic
WikiLeaks: President of Mali Links Drug Trafficking to Terrorism | Middle East news, analysis, opinions | the Crethi & the Plethi
Quote:
...northern Mali is quickly splitting into two political camps: one allied with the Telemsi Arab and Imghad Tuareg communities of Gao Region, and the other allied with the Kounta Arab and Ifoghas Tuareg communities of Kidal Region. These two camps are now formalizing their political existence as the Kounta/Ifoghas led “Reseau de Plaidoyer” and the Telemsi/Imghad “Forces du Changement.”
By way of background, the Kounta and Ifoghas have been the traditional leaders of the Tuareg and Arab communities of northern Mali for the past century and a half. The Telemsi and Imghad have been under their tutelage. Part of the current friction arises from the arrival of a form of democracy to northern Mali in recent years, with allegations arising that the Telemsi, among other groups that have traditionally been smugglers/traders, are using their wealth to buy elections (particularly in the April 2009 communal elections) and are using the means of the state to usurp traditional authority in northern Mali.

priffe 9 Feb 2011 07:43
Nouveau "Flamme de la Paix" in Kidal
AFP: Mali destroys hundreds of weapons
Quote:
On Tuesday Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure ended a two day visit to Kidal where he launched a development program focused on areas of safety, hydraulics and agriculture.
The president has often stated the need to develop the region where several Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) units are active, to prevent the organisation from forging ties with the communities.

Dave The Hat 14 Feb 2011 15:33
4 terrorists killed near Algeria/Niger border

Ennahar Online - Four terrorists killed near the border between Algeria and Niger

Richard Washington 14 Feb 2011 16:16
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave The Hat (Post 324159)
AQIM are being squeezed again.

The article says the chopper(s) came from Ouargla which is about 1200 km north of the Niger border. In a Mi-8, which Algeria has more than 30 of, the journey would take 4.5 hours at max speed + however long to refuel.
Can Ouargla be correct? Surely Tam or Djanet or In Guezzam - the last of which has choppers visible on GE.

priffe 18 Feb 2011 15:20
Increased cooperation between Mali and Niger for border security

Le Niger entérine un accord de coopération militaire avec le Mali pour renforcer la sécurité transfrontalière - Temoust.org | Le portail du peuple touareg berbère Kel Tamasheq

Quote:
APA-Niamey (Niger) Niger endorsed Thursday a military cooperation agreement with Mali to secure the borders and fight against terrorist attacks by sharing information and conducting joint military operations, the government said in a statement.

The agreement, signed September 23, 2010 in Bamako, covers various areas related to technical assistance, joint patrols on the border land, river and air, said a statement of the Council of Ministers held in Niamey on Thursday.

A committee of senior officers Niger and Mali will be set up to hold its session once a year for monitoring, evaluation and strengthening of this cooperation agreement.

Countries located in the heart of the Sahel, Mali and Niger in recent months have seen cases of abductions, particularly in their band north-east and west where recently two young French, abducted in Niamey, were killed by men armed members of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.

In 2009, the Saudis, tourism, were killed by gunmen in the territory of Niger, near the Malian border theater a few months earlier violent clashes between Nigerian soldiers and an armed group that caused the death of twenty people, including civilians, it says.


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