Recent Appearances...

Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Africa North

French reporter kidnapped by jihadi rebels in northern Mali

2021-05-06

[AlAhram] Dubois was reporting in Gao in northern Mali and did not return to his hotel after lunch on 8 April

The chief of Reporters Without Borders says that jihadi rebels kidnapped French journalist Olivier Dubois on April 8 while he was working in Mali's northern city of Gao.

A video was released Wednesday that shows Dubois saying he was kidnapped by the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM.

...Group to Support Islam and Moslems (GSIM), or in Arabic Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin, the regional Al Qaeda in North Africa affiliate. Organizationally they reported to Abdelmalik Droukdel’s group, which once upon a time was the Algerian jihadi group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. Whether they still do, given he was killed by the French last year, is an interesting question. ...

In the video he calls on his family, friends and authorities to work for his release. The video could not be independently verified.

Reporters Without Borders chief Christophe Deloire confirmed the kidnapping to The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, and called for the news hound's release.

``We ask the Malian and French authorities to do everything possible to obtain his release and send all our support to his family and loved ones,'' he posted on Twitter.

Dubois was reporting in Gao in northern Mali and did not return to his hotel after lunch on April 8, Deloire said. Dubois usually works for LePoint Afrique.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed his disappearance, saying they are in touch with his family and Malian authorities.

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted mutinous soldiers to overthrow the president. The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to an Islamic insurgency and a French-led campaign that ousted the jihadists from the cities they controlled in northern Mali in 2013.

But faceless myrmidons remain active and hard boy groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State

Link

Africa North

100 Jihadists Killed in French-Malian Offensive

2021-01-27

[AnNahar] A 100 jihadists were killed this month in a joint Franco-Malian offensive in the West African country's lawless center, the Malian army said Tuesday.

They’re probably the Group to Support Islam and Moslems (GSIM), or in Arabic Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin (JNIM), the regional Al Qaeda in North Africa affiliate. Organizationally they report to Abdelmalik Droukdel’s group, which once upon a time was the Algerian jihadi group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. Whether they still do, since he was killed by the French last June, is an interesting question. The other possibility is that the deaders are AQ in North Africa, which also has bases in Mali, belatedly following Mr. Droukdel to Hell...

"A 100 forces of Evil were neutralized, about 20 captured and several cycle of violence

s and war equipment were seized" during the operation with La Belle France's Barkhane force, which aims to eradicate jihadists in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, the Malian army said on its website.

Link

Africa North

French forces kill Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb leader Abdelmalik Droukdel

2020-06-06

What, another one? Photos or ears are the usual proofs, I believe.

[NEWS.YAHOO] French forces have killed the leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Algerian Abdelmalik Droukdel
... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb....
, in Mali, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Friday.

Droukdel was killed on Thursday in the northwest Mali town of Tessalit. "Many of his close associates" were also "neutralised", said Parly.

"Abdelmalik Droukdel, member of al-Qaeda's ruling committee, commanded the whole of the jihadist groups in North Africa and the Sahara" including Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Moslemin (JNIM) -- an umbrella group of al-Qaeda affiliates, Parly said.

AQIM stems from a group started in the late 1990s by radical Algerian Islamists, who in 2007 formally subscribed to al-Qaeda's ideology.

The group, formerly known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
, has bases in northern Mali from where it regularly carries out attacks and abductions of westerners in the sub-Saharan Sahel zone.

La Belle France also claimed on Friday to have captured a leader of the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) group, which carries out frequent attacks over Niger's western borders.

Operations against EIGS "the other great terrorist threat in the region" are continuing, said Parly.

La Belle France has over 5,000 troops deployed in its anti-jihadist Barkhane force in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
Mali is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in 2012 and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.

Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed the centre of the country and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
and Niger.

Link

Africa North

HRW Says Rabat Kept Belgian-Moroccan for Years in 'Abusive Solitary'

2020-01-19

[AnNahar] Human Rights Watch on Friday accused Morocco of holding a dual Belgian-Moroccan citizen in "inhuman" and "abusive solitary detention" for more than three years following his 2009 life sentence on terrorism charges.

Abdelkader Belliraj

...age 60, and member of the Algerian jihadi group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) since at least the 1980s, for which he murdered six Jews and an imam in Belgium. GSPC pledged to Al Qaeda in 2007, while Mr. Belliraj rose to lead a 35-man cell, which plotted assassinations of senior officials and strikes against Jewish targets in Morocco while merrily robbing in Europe. Mr. Belliraj was granted Belgian citizenship in 2000, the same year the blissfully unaware Belgian intelligence service recruited him as a paid informant...

was the alleged criminal mastermind of a terrorist network of 35 people dismantled by Moroccan authorities in 2008, and was convicted in a trial criticized for rights violations.

His wife told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that since 2016 Belliraj had been confined to a cell for 23 hours a day and deprived of contact with other inmates, which the watchdog said would contravene United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
standards on the treatment of prisoners.

Moroccan prison authorities did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

The New York-based rights group said it contacted Morocco's Inter-Ministerial Delegation for Human Rights in November but received no substantive response from it or prison authorities.

Belliraj, whose sentence was confirmed on appeal in 2010, was also accused of committing six murders in Belgium in the 1980s and 1990s, which he denied. His wife Rachida Hatti lives in Belgium and is allowed to speak to him regularly on the phone.

He was arrested in February 2008 with a number of other people, allegedly in possession of a large arsenal of firearms.

Despite protestations of innocence, Belliraj was convicted in a mass trial alongside 34 co-accused, among them politicians of moderate Islamist parties.

Some of their sentences were later reduced on appeal and eight -- including six moderate Islamists -- were later pardoned by the king.

HRW said eight of the convicted men are still serving their sentences.

The 2009 trial was criticized for violating the rights of the accused. According to HRW, Belliraj's conviction was based on confessions which he and his co-defendants said were obtained under torture.

"It is bad enough when a man gets a life sentence as the result of a miscarriage of justice, but keeping him in inhuman prison conditions for years is like twisting the knife," said HRW's acting Middle East and North Africa director Eric Goldstein.

"Belliraj and all prisoners in Morocco should be treated humanely, and that includes having daily contact with other human beings."

Link

Africa North

U.S. Says French Strike Likely Killed al-Qaida Ally Belmokhtar

2016-11-29

[AnNahar] Algerian myrmidon Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of al-Qaeda's key allies in North Africa, is thought to have been killed in a French air strike, a U.S. official said Monday.

The official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed a report in the Wall Street Journal that U.S. intelligence had helped La Belle France target the jihadist.

Belmokhtar, notorious commander of an al-Qaeda-linked faction of the al-Murabitoun jihadist group, has been reported killed on several previous occasions.

But the official told AFP the latest strike is believed finally to have killed the elusive one-eyed myrmidon, known for kidnapping European citizens for ransom.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, citing experts and unnamed officials, the strike reflects closer U.S. and French intelligence cooperation.

Belmokhtar became one of the world's most desperados in January 2013 after a spectacular assault on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria left at least 38 hostages dead.

This year, his group grabbed credit for an attack on luxury a hotel in Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
that killed another 20 people, most of them foreigners.

And reports he had arrived in Libya have fuelled concern that jihadists will take advantage of the political turmoil there to establish a base of operations.

Washington put a $5 million bounty on the 44-year-old's head, dubbing him the leader of the Khaled Abu al-Abbas Brigade, also known as the "Signatories in Blood."

In May last year, he insisted al-Murabitoun remained loyal to al-Qaeda, despite another of its leaders pledging allegiance the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Belmokhtar was born on June 1, 1972 in the ancient desert city of Ghardaia, 370 miles (600 kilometers) south of the Algerian capital.

- 'Mister Marlboro' -
In a rare 2007 interview he said he joined the mujahideen rebels fighting the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in 1991 when he was barely 19 years old.

In Afghanistan, he claimed, he lost an eye to shrapnel and had his first contact with the group that became al-Qaeda, eventually rising to a senior position.

He returned to Algeria in 1993, a year after the Algiers government sparked civil war by cancelling an election that an Islamist party was poised to win.

He joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and thrived thanks to his intimate knowledge of the remote deserts of southern Algeria, northern Mali and Niger.

In 1998 the "Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
" (GSPC) broke from the GIA and Belmokhtar went with them.

Nine years later, GSPC formally adopted the global ideology of Saudi-born jihadist kingpin the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones...
and renamed itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Belmokhtar was best known as a smuggler, known by some as "Mister Marlboro" for trafficking cigarettes.

But in 2013 he emerged as the hardline leader of the "Signatories in Blood," blamed for attacks across the Sahara and the Sahel in Algeria, Mali, Chad and Niger.

Link

Africa North

Algeria convicts 'El Para' aides

2013-11-14

[MAGHAREBIA] An Algiers court on Tuesday (November 12th) sentenced four faceless myrmidons to 20 years in prison for their involvement in the kidnapping of 15 foreign tourists in 2003, APS reported.

Nasser Attia, Gouasse Abdelmajid, Bouabdelli Benallia and Seriani Abdelbassat, belonged to Batna, Djelfa and Tebessa factions of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC), later renamed al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Former GSPC leader Amari Saifi (aka Abderrazak El Para) allegedly ordered the kidnappings.

The court also found the defendants guilty of attacking ANP troops and killing civilians. Attia and Abdelmajid admitted to their participation in an attack against Tazoult prison in Batna, following which they freed 1,200 prisoners and stole weapons.

Link

Africa North

Algeria launches repentance campaign

2013-08-30

[MAGHAREBIA] Algeria is offering pardons to thousands of armed myrmidons, provided their hands are unstained with citizens' blood.

The Algerian army recently launched an initiative to convince the fighters to renounce armed action. The ANP urged those it called "deceived people" to return to society and their families, confirming that "those who repent from their guilt are like those who committed no guilt".

Army units are distributing leaflets and flyers in Tlemcen, Sidi Bel Abbes and Ain Témouchent, urging Death Eaters to lay down arms and benefit from the 2005 Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, Ennahar daily reported this week.

"Algeria is waiting for your repentance and return to your senses and reason," the leaflets said. The leaflets posed questions: "Why are you still lost in mountains and caves and living under terrible conditions marred by fear, panic and apprehension? Why deprive yourselves of the warmth of your families and society and tolerance of the state? Why do you bring sadness and misfortune to your families and children?"

The call comes at a time when Algeria is witnessing terrorist operations targeting security agencies, On Tuesday (August 27th), four soldiers died at the hands of al-Qaeda gunnies in western Tipasa and Ain Defla.

Last year, Algerian authorities beefed up security along the border with Mali. They also stepped up checkpoints along the borders with Libya, and more recently, with Tunisia, following deadly attacks on Tunisian troops in Jebel Chaambi.

The initiative to persuade gunnies to repent is showing success, according to judicial official Merouane Azzi.

"Thirty active AQIM fighters turned themselves in between January and July," he said.

The files of repentant jihadists are under examination by judicial and security authorities to verify their right to benefit from national reconciliation measures," Azzi added.

Since the charter took effect in 2006, some 8,500 gunnies had repented and renounced armed action, he told Magharebia. During the same time, security forces had also killed 1,600 terrorists, including several prominent members of AQIM precursor Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC).

Security analyst Mohammed Adnan noted that the ANP's elimination of AQIM leaders "made many group leaders and forces of Evil abandon armed action".

"The Algerian army's shift to targeting the grey matter of AQIM made the elements that refused to turn themselves in and preferred armed action face the duality of army professionalism and major intelligence work. This enabled the army to locate and neutralise myrmidons," he added.

He confirmed that the outreach initiative launched by the army did not mean that the military approach to security would end.

"Such calls are usually followed by strong security operations targeting the elements that refuse to take part in peace and reconciliation," he said.

Link

Africa North

Qaida Replaces North Africa Chief Slain in Mali

2013-03-25

[An Nahar] Al-Qaeda has named a replacement for Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, a key commander of its North African branch who was killed in fighting with French-led forces in northern Mali, Algerian TV reported on Sunday.

The appointment of Djamel Okacha, a 34-year-old Algerian also known as Yahia Aboul Hammam, still has to be approved by a meeting of the leadership of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the head of Algeria's Ennahar TV, Mohamed Mokkedem, told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Okacha is a close aide of AQIM chief Abdelmalik Droukdel
... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb....
and considered the "real leader" of the group, Mokkedem added.

Okacha takes charge of the group's operations in both southern Algeria and northern Mali, where it had seized a vast swathe of territory last year but is now facing a massive counter-offensive by French-led troops.

His predecessor Abou Zeid, 46, was credited with having significantly expanded the jihadist group's field of operation to Tunisia and Niger, and for kidnapping activities across the region.

La Belle France confirmed on Saturday that Abou Zeid had been killed "during fighting led by the French army in the Ifoghas mountains in northern Mali in late February".

"The elimination of one of the main leaders of AQIM marks an important stage in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel," the office of French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it...
said.

Okacha has had a meteoric rise in the group despite not having gone to Afghanistan as other key gun-hung tough guys such as Mokhtar Belmokhtar did.

Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist leader who criminal masterminded an assault on an Algerian gas plant that left 37 foreign hostages dead in January, was reportedly killed by Chadian troops in Mali earlier this month.

Okacha spent around 18 months in prison in Algeria in the 1990s when the country was mired in Islamist violence.

As a member of feared Death Eater organizations the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GPSC), which later became AQMI, he was active in northern Algeria, Mokeddem said.

Born in the northern town of Reghaia he was later condemned to death by a court in southern Algeria for acts of terrorism.

Link

Africa North

Algeria attack mastermind targets Maghreb

2013-01-27

Useful background on the gentleman in question.

[MAGHAREBIA] The criminal mastermind of the Algerian gas facility attack is well known to Maghreb security officials.

The In Amenas siege that left nearly 40 civilians dead last week is the latest terror operation by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, also known as Khaled Abou El Abbas or Laaouar.

For nearly 20 years, the one-eyed terrorist has left a bloody trail across Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Niger and Mali.

Born in Ghardaia in 1972, Belmokhtar fought in Afghanistan before returning to Algeria in 1993, where he joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). He eventually linked up with the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC), which became al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

In recent years, Belmokhtar took charge of AQIM's El Moulethemine Brigade. Amid leadership disputes and internal quarrelling over ransom payments, he broke away from AQIM last fall, while still affirming loyalty to the global al-Qaeda network.

In a video released January 17th, Laaouar claimed credit for the Algeria attack. He blamed the siege in part on Algeria's support for the international military intervention in Mali, where Belmokhtar and other al-Qaeda leaders have taken refuge.

Belmokhtar has used his ties across the Sahel-Saharan region to build his operation.

"He is the first to penetrate the social fabric of the Touareg and Arabs of northern Mali and the Sahara in general. He wove relationships with various tribal leaders by virtue of intermarriage and money," explained Sid Ahmed Ould Abdel Kader, a Sahel expert and veteran of the 1990s Touareg rebellion.

"Laaouar was married in Azawad and local brokers managed his money," he said.

"The Libyan revolution also contributed to his rise by weapons and new recruits available," analyst Abdul Hamid Ansari pointed out.

The transnational nature of the terrorist's activity highlights the need for Maghreb and Sahel states to co-operate on security, experts say.

"Such co-operation could provide security for their people and protect their borders from the threat of terrorism," Mauritanian analyst Bechir Ould Banah told Magharebia.

He added, "If co-operation had taken place to the required extent, the terrorist Laaouar and his group would not have been able to infiltrate and threaten the interests of the region for over a decade."

"All countries of the Maghreb should go beyond the narrow view of borders when it comes to security and the war of terror," the analyst concluded.

Analyst Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed Ahmed agreed with the need for a concerted approach to security.

"The number one reason that Laaouar can pose a threat is the lack of security co-ordination between the countries of the Maghreb, due to political differences lurking beneath the surface," he said.

After Belmokhtar separated from AQIM and created his own brigade, he was able to expand his terrain, security expert and strategic analyst Hamdi Ould Dah noted.

Because of the new terror map, a pan-Maghreb approach is needed, Ould Dah said, adding that this would require "a lot of co-ordination among Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and, to some extent, Mauritania".

Link

Africa North

Stratfor's Analysis of Mali's Kidnapping Brigade

2013-01-25

Good historical background on the group -- they were always in the kidnapping of groups of foreigners for ransom biz, a good fundraiser for the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, and an even better one for Al Qaeda in North Africa.

Link

Africa North

Algerian Kidnapper Belmokhtar: Islamist or Brigand?

2013-01-18

[An Nahar] Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed Islamist whose men seized dozens of hostages in a deadly attack on an Algerian gas field, is a wily desert fox branded as a terrorist by some but perhaps just a common brigand.

He was born in 1972 in the ancient desert city of Ghardaia, 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of the Algerian capital, noted for its date production and manufacture of rugs and fabrics.

But in a rare 2007 interview, he said he was drawn away from home by his fascination with the exploits of the mujahedeen combating the Soviet invaders of Afghanistan, whom he joined in 1991 when he was barely 19 years old.

It was in Afghanistan that he claims to have lost his eye when it was hit by shrapnel and where he had his first contacts with al-Qaeda, whose ranks he joined, eventually rising to a senior position back home before being dumped.

Belmokhtar, now nicknamed Lawar (The One-Eyed), returned to Algeria in 1993, a year after the government sparked civil war by canceling an election the Islamic Salvation Front was poised to win.

He joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which conducted a violent campaign of civilian massacres in its battle against the government, sometimes wiping out entire villages in the process.

Belmokhtar thrived thanks to his intimate knowledge of the nearly lawless "Grey Zone" of southern Algeria, northern Mali and neighboring Niger. That success was strengthened by a network of tribal alliances that he cemented through marriage.

In 1998, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC) broke away from the GIA. Belmokhtar, now also nicknamed "The Uncatchable" by a former chief of French intelligence, went with them.

Nine years later, the GSPC formally adopted to the jihadist ideology of the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest...
and renamed itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

These Islamists have spun a tight network across tribal and business lines that stretch across the sub-Sahara Sahel zone, supporting poor communities and protecting all kinds of traffickers.

They are comfortable operating in the harsh desert terrain and have made millions of dollars from the ransoms of European hostages.

Along with a splinter group, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), AQIM had already been holding more than a dozen Western hostages when Belmokhtar's men carried out their bloody operation on Wednesday morning.

-- "Signatories of Blood' --

A group calling itself the "Signatories for Blood," led by Belmokhtar, grabbed credit for the operation, to avenge Algiers' "humiliation of the Algerian people's honor... by opening Algerian airspace to French planes" operating in Mali.

They called for an end to the French offensive in Mali, where the former colonial power launched a military offensive last week to stop Islamists who seized the north in March from pushing into southern government-controlled territory.

The seizure of northern Mali effectively turned the area into an Islamist state and raised fears that the al-Qaeda franchise could use it as a staging ground for attacks in the region and beyond.

Belmokhtar was pushed out as one of AQIM's top two leaders in northern Mali in October for what one regional security official said were his "continued divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
activities despite several warnings."

The precise details are not entirely clear, but his third nickname, Mr Marlboro, could provide a hint.

With a reputation as a smuggling baron -- dealing in contraband cigarettes, stolen cars and even drugs, as well as profiting from illegal immigration networks -- Belmokhtar's commitment to AQIM's puritanical brand of Islam was questioned by some members of the group.

A Malian official said AQIM supremo Abdelmalik Droukdel
... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb....
had said Belmokhtar hads been "dismissed for straying from the right path."

But while still in the AQIM saddle, he vowed in July that the group would act "with firmness and determination" against anyone collaborating with a foreign military force that might intervene in Mali.

In a statement released by Mauritania's private news agency Nouakchott Informations (ANI), an AQIM mouthpiece, Belmokhtar said: "We will not stand by with our arms crossed and we will act as the situation demands with firmness and determination.

Belmokhtar, with yet more blood on his hands, kept his word.

Link

Africa North

Algeria convicts 'El Para' aides

2013-01-10

[MAGHAREBIA] Convicted terrorist Amar Gharbia was sentenced Tuesday (January 8th) to life imprisonment by the criminal court of Algiers for his involvement in the kidnapping of 15 foreign tourists, APS reported.

Malian national Mohamed Ben Youcef was tried in the same case and cleared of the kidnapping charges, but was sentenced to seven years in prison for belonging to "an armed terrorist group", his lawyer Hassiba Boumerdassi announced.

Both belonged to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC). Former GSPC leader Amari Saifi (aka Abderrazak El Para) allegedly ordered the kidnappings.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More