90Likes
|
|
21 Apr 2010
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: In the heart of Bavaria
Posts: 406
|
|
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.
Quote:
Four Saharan desert states are to open a joint command headquarters in Algeria to co-ordinate efforts to counter the growing regional threat from al-Qaeda.
|
BBC - Saharan states to open joint military headquarters
Quote:
Prior to the start of the military exercise Flintlock 2010, the United States Embassy in Mali held last Monday, 19 April a press luncheon to brief journalists on the issue. Lunch during which they spoke by phone with Max Blumenfeld, Communications Officer Command American in Europe.
|
maliweb - Exercice Flintlock 2010 : Les militaires �* l’avant-garde du terrorisme
Gogoonisch - E
Quote:
ALGIERS, April 20 (Reuters) - Four Sahara desert states will on Wednesday open a joint command headquarters in the south of Algeria to coordinate efforts to counter a growing threat from al Qaeda, the Algerian Defence Ministry said.
Western countries say that unless the region's fractious governments join forces to fight the insurgents, al Qaeda could turn the Sahara desert into a safe haven along the lines of Yemen and Somalia and use it to launch large-scale attacks.
The announcement of the new base followed a ground-breaking meeting last month of senior officials from the region's neighbouring governments that was praised by the United States as a step towards collectively confronting al Qaeda.
|
Reuters - Saharan states to open joint anti-Qaeda command HQ
Ulrich
Last edited by Chris Scott; 18 Mar 2015 at 20:00.
|
22 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,464
|
|
It will be set up in Tam
4 Saharan countries set up joint military base - Africa - msnbc.com
Quote:
A western security official who follows the region closely said enhanced cooperation had been made urgent by several recent cross-border incidents.
In March, army patrols from Algeria and Mali clashed by mistake for several hours near their common border before realizing neither were terror groups, the official said. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he works on intelligence matters, the official said army units in the Sahara sometimes have difficulties knowing which country they are in because there are often no landmarks along the border and they lack radio equipment to link with each other.
...
The new command center aims at much more than just securing the borders, said M'hand Berkouk, a Sahara expert who teaches international relations at Algiers university.
"It's really the first time in Africa that a sub-region decides to integrate its security operations," Berkouk said.
The goal will be to launch joint simultaneous operations in partner states and create a common database of terror suspects and traffickers.
|
|
22 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,464
|
|
Algerian major counter-terrorism offensive
Alg army strikes.
Sahel-Sahara military leaders discuss joint security efforts (Magharebia.com)
Quote:
...Liberté called the "Ennasr" (Victory) offensive Algeria's largest anti-terror military operation since the 2005 Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation.
On Tuesday, local sources in the wilayas of Bouira and Bordj Bou Arreridj told Magharebia that the offensive had "neutralised" around a dozen terrorists. They also said that a key AQIM leader, Abdelmalek Droukdel, appeared to be among the terrorists hemmed in by the soldiers.
A number of other terrorist groups are also believed to have been cornered, according to the sources, and significant military reinforcements have been deployed in all parts of Algeria's eastern, western and central regions.
According to Liberté, security forces have gathered important intelligence regarding terrorist movements. The operation being carried out between Bouira and Bordj Bou Arreridj was made possible by intelligence gleaned from a recently-disbanded terrorist support network.
|
|
22 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: London and all over West Africa
Posts: 678
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulrich
|
A very interesting read from the Touareg perspective. Thanks Ulrich
|
24 Apr 2010
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: In the heart of Bavaria
Posts: 406
|
|
Quote:
The heads of state of major countries of the Sahel, comprising Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Chad have decided at their last meeting held in Tamanrasset, increase the number of actual forces responsible the fight against terrorism 25-75000 components, within 18 months. According to informed sources, the heads of major states have agreed to strengthen security measures and control over drug trafficking, fuel and other devices used by terrorists, like GPS, adding that military units will be established across several strategic sites scattered across the Sahara. Their main mission is the monitoring of slopes Saharan and substitute the inability of air forces in Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad.
|
El Khabar - Les forces de lutte contre le terrorisme au Sahel s’élèvent �* 75 mille éléments
Gogoonisch - E
Ulrich
|
25 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,464
|
|
AlJazeera reporting YouTube - Sahara states counter al-Qaeda threat
Pst Chris/Richard - the YouTube tags doesn't seem to work??
Last edited by priffe; 26 Apr 2010 at 14:53.
|
25 Apr 2010
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: In the heart of Bavaria
Posts: 406
|
|
Quote:
Fight against terrorism in the Sahel: The Military Command based in Tamanrasset
The Committee Staff Joint Operational between Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger will be installed today in Tamanrasset.
Announced by a statement from the Department of National Defence, the creation of this committee was determined after the meeting of army chiefs of Mauritania, Algeria, Mali and Niger, in Tamanrasset, held 12 and August 13, 2009, in order to "coordinate" the operations against terrorist groups operating in border regions.
|
Issikta -Touaregs/Bruxelles - Sahara: Lutte contre le terrorisme au Sahel : Le commandement militaire basé �* Tamanrasset
Gogoonisch - E
Quote:
The United States and the African Union want to deepen their ties
The meeting between the U.S. and Africa, with the objective of strengthening peace and security in the continent, has been marked by the convergence of views on both sides on many issues, such as development, global warming and the fight against terrorism including through the refusal to pay ransom because they are a means of financing terrorism.
|
LIBERTE - Les États-Unis et l'Union africaine veulent approfondir leurs liens
Gogoonisch - E
Ulrich
|
26 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,464
|
|
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:
The armed group called "Al Ansar" and sign its first constitution after its removal mid-2009, we learn generally well informed source. The other three groups AQIM ("Tariq", "El Moulethemine" and "El Vourghane"), had all the past-and-operated in this kidnapping, directly or indirectly. El Vourghane "headed by" Abu Yahya Al Hamam "held recently released the Italians against the likely payment of a" ransom raised to 8 million euros due to the Mauritanian authorities refused to release their comrades held in Mauritania, "reveals our source.
|
And according to El Khabar
Quote:
"Katibat Taregh ibn Ziyad" , "Katibat El Moulethemine " , " El Seriyatt Vourghane " and "Ansar Al Seriyatt" form combat units in the emirate of Sahara (Imaratou Are sahra) of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in South Zone: the Sahara-Sahel , which stretches north-east of Mauritania until the... Somalia ....Hamid Essouffi is involved in several attacks that have targeted military Mauritanian Lemghetiy to Ghallawiya ; and Tourine where he ordered the beheading of Mauritanian soldiers murdered.
|
=11&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=37794&tx_ttnews[backPid]=81&cHash=0711e6824b]Mauritanie : Selon «El Khabar»: L’Emir de «Katibate Taregh ibn Ziyad» a été blessé.
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.
Last edited by priffe; 26 Apr 2010 at 02:55.
|
26 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1,464
|
|
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
|
26 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Oxford, U.K.
Posts: 625
|
|
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.
|
27 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: London and all over West Africa
Posts: 678
|
|
"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
|
27 Apr 2010
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: London and all over West Africa
Posts: 678
|
|
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.
|
27 Apr 2010
|
|
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: In the heart of Bavaria
Posts: 406
|
|
Quote:
AQIM has hit just 24 hours after the official inauguration, April 21 at Tamanrasset, a committee of Staff joint operational between Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. A command which wants an "early implementation" of resolutions taken ...
|
Kassataya - Aqmi: Les confidences d’une source sécuritaire malienne
Gogoonisch - E
Quote:
Twenty-four suspected terrorists were arrested in Rabat, said Monday, April 26 the Ministry of Interior of Morocco. They are members of a terrorist network considered close to Al-Qaeda and were preparing to "take action", according to a ministry statement. This network "about to commit crimes and acts of sabotage against the security and interests in Morocco," explains the text.
The statement also indicates that those arrested were in possession of "gun" and ammunition to a police officer attacked in Casablanca, and several knives seized by security forces. Among the group members, four are former Moroccan prisoners, who had been convicted for acts of terrorism committed in the kingdom.
This small group of Moroccan militants recruited to send "to areas of tension, particularly in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and the Sahel-Saharan Africa", according to preliminary results of the investigation made public.
|
Jeune Afrique - Maroc - Vaste coup de filet contre Al-Qaïda
Gogoonisch - E
Ulrich
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 2 (0 Registered Users and/or Members and 2 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
Next HU Events
ALL Dates subject to change.
2025 Confirmed Events:
- Virginia: April 24-27 2025
- Queensland is back! May 2-4 2025
- Germany Summer: May 29-June 1 2025
- CanWest: July 10-13 2025
- Switzerland: Date TBC
- Ecuador: Date TBC
- Romania: Date TBC
- Austria: Sept. 11-15
- California: September 18-21
- France: September 19-21 2025
- Germany Autumn: Oct 30-Nov 2 2025
Add yourself to the Updates List for each event!
Questions about an event? Ask here
See all event details
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...
2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.
"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)
Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.
Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.
Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!
What others say about HU...
"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia
"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK
"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia
"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA
"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada
"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa
"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia
"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany
Lots more comments here!
Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook
"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.
Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!
New to Horizons Unlimited?
New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!
Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.
Read more about Grant & Susan's story
Membership - help keep us going!
Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.
You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.
|
|
|