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Islamist activity in the Sahara in relation to travel security
In this thread should only be written entries on the fight against al qaeda in the maghreb.
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It will be set up in Tam
4 Saharan countries set up joint military base - Africa - msnbc.com Quote:
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Algerian major counter-terrorism offensive
Alg army strikes.
Sahel-Sahara military leaders discuss joint security efforts (Magharebia.com) Quote:
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AlJazeera reporting YouTube - Sahara states counter al-Qaeda threat
Pst Chris/Richard - the YouTube tags doesn't seem to work?? |
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AQIM Four groups
In the Issikta article cited by Ulrich it is also mentioned that
"...one month after the announcement in Sirte, Libya, following a meeting which was attended by Algeria, Mali, Niger and Libya, setting up a joint force of 25,000 men, including 5,000 Malian Tuareg, charged with hunting down terrorists." The announced size of the force is impressive, and the integration of Malian touaregs seems a key factor to success. This is where the Mali government have repeatedly failed, integrating touaregs in the army and power structure in general. Which is of course also a failure of the touaregs. Takes two to tango. Now Malian touaregs will work out of Tam? Interesting. The ability to work across the borders should make a difference. The Issikta blog also reports that AQIM in the desert consists of around 470 individuals divided into three fractions, led by MBM, Abu Zeid and the latter's deputy Abu Zahia forming the third unit with around 20 people. Centered in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal respectively. This rhymes with what I have been told elsewhere and also read here before. Issikta also writes that Abu Zeid is weak and unable to perform many kidnappings, and that MBM is behind mosy of them, including the proposed one near Niger/Alg border Wednesday evening. However. Journal Tahalil like the other magazines/newspapers etc like El Watan or El Khabar rely on specific sources (often it seems only one or a few nameless individuals) leading to a dizzying multitude of accounts of what is really going on. In this article :::Journal Tahalil Hebdo::: concerning the kidnapping in Niger of one French and one Algerian, they suggest that there are four distinct groups within AQIM in the desert Al Ansar Tariq El Moulethemine El Vourghane Quote:
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The suicide bomber of the French embassy in Nouakchott 2009 is said to have belonged to El Vourghane. News from Algeria 2009 I'll post this now and add to or edit it later as I have time to read more, if you allow it. It would be interesting to have these four groups pinned to certain individuals and geographical areas. |
Recruitment video released Saturday by AQ Al-Andalus
24 minutes of islamist kitsch Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Operation Al-Damoos pls note -the website contains malware - according to AVG |
There has been an array of opinion on STF about the usefulness of the command centre in Tam. Here's my view.
For the counter-insurgency (COIN) to be successful, the command centre is vital. This is why. AQIM make excellent use of the borders in the Sahara (esp Mali, Niger, Alg) - making a hit in one country before crossing back to another. This seems to have been an explicit tactic of theirs. The borders may be imaginary on the ground but they are real politically. If the Algerians, for example, were to do a follow up/hot pursuit of the insrugents from southern Algeria into N Mali without getting permission from Mali first, it would amount to an invasion of Mali by Algeria and would spawn a diplomatic incident. But if the joint command centre is working properly, authority to do the hot pursuit can be obtained as quickly as it takes to radio a message to and from the centre. Default permission for various kinds of follow ups may even be established in principle, so that explicit permission is unnecessary. In that way the hot pursuit can continue seemlessly across borders in the region - just what is needed for the COIN ops to be successful. The Algerians have the kit to do hot pursuits. The Russian made Mi-24 chopper is perfect and Algeria has many. In the Sierra Leone civil war, just one of these machines held off a major rebel attack on the capital and saved hundred, maybe thousands of lives. There were no ground forces to help that day (the UN troups were too scared to come out of the bases). The pilot only returned to base once every warning light on the flight panels was glowing. These machines can handle a lot of grief. Added to the hot pursuit by chopper - it helps a lot to have stopper groups in place on the ground. The Malian military could be useful here. So the joint command centre doesn't have to do that much - it really just has to be in place to give permissions on the ops at the crucial times. Without a joint command centre, this really isn't possible. |
"In the same wake, Mali will increase its forces in 8000 elements, while Niger contributes with 5000 elements. They will be responsible for monitoring and border surveillance. For its part, Mauritania will raise its forces from 15 to 20,000 items. In addition, the office of security coordination between the armies of the Sahel countries, located in the wilaya of Tamanrasset has been promoted to an aerial command authority to issue orders and monitor military operations in case of emergency and transmit a request for emergency coverage."
"In this sense, the security services involved in the fight against terrorist groups in the Sahel region have established a list containing the names of most dangerous terrorists belonging to Al Qaeda in the Sahel-Saharan Africa. It consists of 37 wanted persons Les forums de Kidal.info || Kidal.info |
Maliweb Spyware Warning
Sorry, a little bit off topic, but the news website MALIWEB is a great website for us Sahara lovers, but you will most likely pick up a spyware file if you use this site. The file is called "Bloodhound" and is not considered a major threat, but somebody else talked about this on the Kidal Information forum. Just a warning if your computer isnt protected. Everytime I open the maliweb page I get a warning from Symantec that the site is trying to hack my PC.
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Troop levels under the command of the Tamanrasset HQ supposedly to reach 75.000 by 2012:
Sahara states to triple anti-Qaeda force:Algeria TV | News by Country | Reuters |
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