Recent Appearances...

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

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 Subsaharan

US, France assemble coalition to confront Islamists in Mali

2012-11-19

The US and France are partnering to create the plan. High-level American and French military and diplomatic leaders met for two days of talks in Paris in October to work out a common strategy.

The US and French military strategy focuses primarily on ways to help regional militaries confront AQIM. According to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, "[o]ur goal in Mali, because of our concern about AQIM, is that we need to work with the nations in the region. They all agree that we're facing the same threat there from AQIM." US Army General Carter F. Ham, chief of the US Africa Command, said that there were no plans for US direct military intervention in Mali, but that the US would support counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations by other countries. France has also determined that it will not to provide ground troops but will provide logistics, training, and intelligence support.

The plan contains the following elements:

Assist neighboring countries to defend themselves. The US has provided money to Mauritania and Niger for military equipment. The US has held military exercises with Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Gambia. French troops have also participated.

Gather intelligence. The US military has launched a series of clandestine intelligence missions to conduct surveillance flights and monitor communications over the Sahara Desert and the region to the south. The US is operating surveillance flights from Special Forces bases in Burkina Faso. France plans to transfer surveillance drones to west Africa by the end of the year.

Establish a base in Algeria. The US and France are lobbying for support from Algeria, which would be an important ally in any confrontation with the Islamists in Mali. Algeria is the strongest state in the area, and it fought and won a brutal war with radical Islamic groups in the 1990s.

It also fought a brutal civil war with the French, which they remember as if it were yesterday...

Algeria is also the home of the former Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) which in early 2007 renamed itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and expanded its previous ambitions to bring down the Algerian government to include all of north Africa.

The US has requested military basing rights in the southern part of the country that is adjacent to northern Mali. In addition, southern Algeria is well-located to provide logistical support for units operating in northern Mali. "There is a strong recognition that Algeria has to be a central part of the solution," said a US diplomat.

Create a UN military force to intervene directly in Mali. The primary effort will be to assemble a UN peacekeeping force to intervene militarily in Mali. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will develop a force consisting of 6,000 African troops, funded and supported by the Western nations. Half of the soldiers will come from Mali's national army, and the remaining half will be drawn from other African countries in the region. The US, France, and Britain will supply the training, logistics, and intelligence support. The headquarters will be set up in Koulikoro, about 30 miles northeast of Mali's capital of Bamako. ECOWAS has agreed to provide 3,300 troops, mostly from Nigeria, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

The US and allied countries are currently working out the details of a plan with Mali's interim government. Mali said it welcomes the support. The final plan will be reviewed by the UN Security Council in mid-November, at which point it could be put into action. The first step will be to establish the base of operations in Koulikoro. Then ECOWAS soldiers will be trained, equipped, and integrated with Malian forces. This will take about six months, at which point the ECOWAS force will be ready to begin operations.

Prognosis

It should be noted that the planned ECOWAS force is similar to one created in Somalia to confront al Qaeda's affiliate, Shabaab. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) force of 16,000 Ugandan, Kenyan, and Burundian troops, supported and trained by the US, was formed in 2007. By 2012, it had successfully driven Shabaab out of most of the populated areas of Somalia.

According to the plan, the ECOWAS force will begin operations in Mali sometime next year. Its first task will be to secure Mali's capital, Bamako, and southern Mali. It will then move to northern Mali to confront AQIM directly. ECOWAS will attempt to drive AQIM and affiliated jihadist groups out of strongholds in Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal and into the mountain ranges of Mali and Niger where their influence can be contained.

AQIM and associated groups are taking the threat of intervention seriously. "Hundreds of jihadists, mostly Africans from Western Sahara have arrived as reinforcements to face an offensive by Malian forces and their allies,"AFP reported, quoting a Malian security source. "They are armed and explained that they had come to help their Muslim brothers against the infidels," a Timbuktu resident said. AQIM has threatened to attack Mali's capital of Bamako if the ECOWAS force is set up.

On the other hand, Ansar Dine recently stated that it is ready to open talks with the Malian government to prevent a conflict. Ansar Dine has also sent delegates to Algeria and Burkina Faso in order to head off intervention. "Ansar Dine reaffirms its availability to immediately engage in a political dialogue with the transition authorities in Mali, in order to reach a complete end to hostilities," the group said. MUJAO also has appeared to back away from the conflict. Its rank and file have begun to defect and its commander in Gao surrendered to authorities in Niger.
Video embedded at site: Interview with US General Carter F. Ham discusses the plan to confront Islamists in Mali.

Link

Africa North

AQIM chief buying arms in Libya: source

2012-03-12

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a top fugitive leader in Al-Qaeda's north African branch, is in Libya shopping for weapons, Malian security sources told AFP on Monday.

"Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the chiefs of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been in Libya for several weeks, notably to procure arms," a top Malian security source said.

"This is yet further proof that terrorists will do anything to create a sweeping network in the Sahel and Sahara," the source said.

Belmokhtar is being tried in absentia in Algeria, accused of perpetrating several "terrorist acts" including a May 2010 attack on soldiers in the southern Djelfa region that left two dead.

Another Malian security said said: "Belmokhtar is in Libya which confirms that AQIM wants to extend its influence."

Belmokhtar, a native of central Algeria, is a founding member of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which later became known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Belmokhtar heads one of AQIM's two main katibas (battalions), controlling the group's southern area.

Nicknamed "the uncatchable", Belmokhtar rules over a large swathe of desert that straddles Algeria, Chad, Niger, Mali and Mauritania and where his men are believed to hold several Europeans hostage.

Belmokhtar has already been sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in 2004 and 2008, and to 20 years in prison in 2007, over similar charges and the killing of 13 customs officers.

In November Belmokhtar told a Mauritanian news website that AQIM had acquired Libyan weapons during fighting that ended in the overthrow and killing of strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

Link

Africa North

AQIM plot foiled in Algeria

2012-01-30

American officials are acknowledging a terror plot in Algeria that aimed to attack US or European ships in the Mediterranean. The plot, which was similar to that of the bombings in Yemen of the USS Cole in 2000 and the Limburg oil tanker in 2002, included ramming explosives-filled boats into Western-flagged ships, but was interrupted by Algerian authorities in the early planning stages.

ABC reported that US officials had been aware of the plot before the Algerian daily newspaper, Echorouk, broke the story, but hinted that Algerian authorities had foiled the plot without the help of the US government.

Three terror cell members were arrested after arousing suspicions among Algerian authorities when they visited jihadist websites at a local Internet cafe. Although no specific US ship was identified as a target, according to US authorities, Echorouk reported that the plotters had already purchased a boat to carry out the attack.

When asked if the US had played any role in uncovering the plot, a US counterterrorism official gave ABC a vague response, saying, "We know that al Qaeda and their sympathizers continue to plot against the US and our allies [and] as such, we are in touch with a number of foreign governments on issues pertaining to counterterrorism."

Authorities believe the plot was directed by the Algerian-based terror franchise known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group, which had earlier called itself the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), was officially welcomed into the al Qaeda fold by then second-in-command Ayman al Zawahiri in a Sept. 11, 2006 video.

Link

Africa North

Mauritanian court convicts prominent Salafists

2012-01-10

A Mauritanian Salafist who once benefited from a presidential pardon is in prison once again after refusing to renounce his jihadist ideology.
Perhaps this is why Hamas won't move to Mauritania...
A Mauritanian court on Tuesday (January 3rd) sent eight Salafists to prison on multiple terror charges, including recruitment.

The convicts include prominent Salafist ideologue Mohamed Salem Ould Mohamed Lemine, also known as Almajlissi, who once benefited from a presidential pardon.

The men were part of a group of 17 suspects picked up last November in a security sweep ahead of Mauritanian Army Day celebrations. The Nouakchott court ordered two other suspects placed under judicial control while the remaining seven were released.

Almajlissi was "one of the leading Jihadist-Salafist ideologues in Mauritania", according to analyst Sidi Mohamed Ould Lakhlifa. "He benefited from a presidential pardon in 2010, together with a group of 43 other defendants who were released after they took part in dialogue with a group of faqihs in co-ordination with Mauritanian authorities."

"After they were released, they even benefited from money grants in the form of gifts and loans to help re-integrate them into life. Meanwhile, Almajlissi refused to receive such assistance because he saw it as a reward for backing down on ideas he had embraced; something which he refused," the analyst added.

Abdullah Ould Mohamed Sidia, a spokesperson for a group of Salafists who benefited from the presidential pardon, said that Almajlissi refused to take part in dialogue with other prisoners, insisting on talks with scholars alone.

"Almajlissi and another group at prison had different ideas from ours, as they had extremist ideas about the takfir of others. His differences with us made him refuse to take part in dialogue with us," he added.

In addition to Almajlissi, another prominent defendant was Sidi Ould Habbot, alias Abu Obeida. He was one of the first Mauritanians to join the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 2004 before it changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), according to Aslam Ould Mustafa, director of the Tahalil website and a terrorism analyst.

"If the dismantlement of this cell is not part of the usual security precautions, it confirms that the terrorist threat is no longer restricted to northern Mali alone, but is now threatening Mauritania as well," Ould Mustafa added.

Link

Africa North

El Para in Serkadji

2011-03-08

[Ennahar] The public prosecutor at the court of Sidi M'hamed in Algiers, ordered yesterday the detention of Amari Saifi, alias " Abderrezak El Para" after his hearing in the matter of membership in terrorist groups activating in inside and outside the country.

The former leader of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
... now known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb...
(GSPC) was taken yesterday under heavy escort to his hearing.

According to information received by Ennahar, the decision to question the accused in cases of terrorism takes place within the lifting of emergency rule. The accused under house arrest fixed by the Interior Ministry under the state of emergency will now be heard. Are concerned those accused of terrorism who have not surrendered but have been nabbed.

According to the sources, the decision to audition El Para was due to the fact that he represented a great danger to national security. He should be tried because he had not surrendered to security services, but was hiding and had been delivered by the Libyan authorities after an arrest warrant issued by the Algerian justice and security.

El Para is best known for the case of the kidnapping of German tourists when his ~~lover~~ companions were sentenced to life imprisonment and others to 20 years in prison.

The case of the companions of El Para had been repeatedly postponed at the request of the defence, for the presence of El Para in person, as the unique witness in the case who could confirm or disprove the allegations to the accused. At trial, the four defendants in the case of the kidnapping have demanded the presence of Amari Saifi, whose name was on the list of the accused, before the public prosecutor waived him for reasons they think beyond their control. El Para was therefore not heard at the hearing and he was not imprisoned, so that the trial took place without his testimony.

Four defendants were prosecuted for the kidnapping of German tourists in southern Algeria, arms trafficking with the aim of supporting the group of Hassan Hattab in the north, before El Para and many of his men are nabbed by the Chadian opposition following armed festivities between them which resulted in serious injuries.

Two other defendants have decamped from Tazoult prison in Batna in 1994 together with 1,200 prisoners who have all joined the bush and strengthened the ranks of the armed Islamist groups at the time, before joining the Salafist Group for Preaching and battle in 1998, then led by Hassan Hattab and their journey into the Sahara with Amari Saifi in search of weapons.

Who is El Para?

Amari Saifi, alias Abderrezak El Para, was born in 1968 in the province of Guelma, of a French mother. He joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) after being dismissed from the ranks of the national popular army where he was part of the paratroopers' Special Forces.

He joined the GIA in 1993 before deciding, with Hassan Hattab, who was chief of the second zone of the GIA in 1996 to dissenting the group led by Zitouni because of the latter's deviation from the ideology. He is considered one of the founders of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in June 1999. Abdelmadjid Dichou designated national emir has directed "El Para" to lead in the fifth zone to the east. He was replaced by Hassan Hattab two months after his death during a meeting in the province of Batna and El Para was appointed his deputy. He participated in drafting the charter of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

El Para was accused in several cases including the kidnapping of 34 foreign tourists in southern Algeria, later released after paying a ransom.

Link

Africa North

Mali resumed negotiations with the Salafi organization

2010-08-21

[Ennahar] Malian authorities have resumed negotiations with the terrorist organization Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in Saharan Sahel region, a few months of break after the successful negotiations that led to the liberation of the French spy Pierre Camatte against the release of four dangerous Boskonians who have, less than a month later, executed his compatriot Michael Germaneau.

The extradition from Nouakchott to his country of Omar Sahraoui, a Malian convicted of the kidnapping of three Spaniards in 2009, two of which are still being held by Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), is seen as a gesture that could help free the hostages.

"For AQIM, the fact that Omar is transferred to Mali is a victory. Mauritania has made a gesture. It is very important," says in Mali a source close to case of Spanish hostages, held in northern Mali.

Mauritania has always shown great firmness against AQIM and its relations were considerably strained with Mali after that country freed four Boskonians in exchange for the release of the French hostage Pierre Camatte in February,.

If this is not a fighter, Omar Sid Ahmed Ould Hamma, nicknamed "Omar the Sahraoui", however, is linked to AQIM: it is for her that he had kidnapped three Spaniards (Alicia Gamez, 39, Albert Vilalta, 35, and Roque Pascual, 50) in Mauritania on 29 November 2009.

Alicia Games, only woman, was released in March, but her two companions remain in the hands of an AQIM group led by the Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, alias Belawar, who had paid "Sahraoui" to kidnap them.

Less than a week after the confirmation on appeal on August 11 for his conviction in Nouakchott to 12 years in prison and hard labor for the kidnappings as "mercenary" of AQIM, he was put on a plane to Bamako.

He was not handcuffed during the trip and was recovered by Mali security forces, who took him to an unknown destination.

"Where will he serve his sentence? Will he put in jail? Will he work of public utility? Will he put under house arrest? To all these questions, there had been no answer yet," admits a source in the Malian Ministry of Justice.

Married to a woman from Western Sahara, Omar Sahraoui, 52, was foremost a businessman, who knows all countries of the Sahel region he used to walk up and down and where he has forged links with various tribes that comprise it.

"His extradition meets several requirements, including the most important for AQIM is primarily the role of an experienced guide of Omar in this great desert, the chain of relationships built in these different countries," said Ould Isselmou Salihi, editor of Mauritanian Tahalil Hebdo specialist of Islamist organizations.

This expertise of the Sahel presents "incalculable benefits which everyone could enjoy," said Ould Salihi. His extradition "may be significant in the process of liberation of the Spanish," he said.

Abu Al Maali, Mauritanian expert of Islamists issues of the Nouakchott Info daily, stresses the "importance" that the extradition of "The Sahrawi Omar" represents for Belmokhtar.

He can thus "show to mercenaries and smugglers working with him to ensure their protection" and "strengthen his audience among the local tribes with whom he remains closely linked," he says.

If Belmokhtar is considered by experts as one of AQIM money man than as a religious, sources in Mali have recently stated that he was "under pressure" of a radical branch of AQIM headed by another Algerian Abdelhamid Abou Zeid.

The latter, responsible for the deaths of two Western hostages, Briton Edwin Dyer and French Michel Germaneau, Belmokhtar would require the execution of the Spaniards in retaliation for a franco-Mauritanian military raid conducted on July 22 to try to find Germaneau which had killed seven of his men.

Link

Africa North

Droukdal declars war on la Belle France, vows Dire Revenge

2010-08-18

[Ennahar] The terrorist organization Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat has threatened reprisals against the state and the French people
Have they stopped being al-Qaeda in North Africa again?
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat has threatened Dire Revenge against the state and the French people after the military operation conducted by the Franco-Mauritanian forces against the organisation on Malian land and which resulted in the deaths of seven terrorists.
"They wuz innocent, just standin' around mindin' their own bidnid!"
In a statement signed by "Abu anas Echenkati" and posted on forums and sites of the terrorist organization, the latter said that the organization will avenge the death of its elements killed by France, calling the French President Nicholas Sarkozy "enemy of God." Echenkati called the tribes of the great desert which include Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Algeria to participate in this revenge.
"Yes! Come and join us in this holy crusade... errr... jihad, Brethren and Sistern! There's enough of La Belle France for all of us!"

Link

Africa North

Al Qaeda no longer worries Algeria, according to a U.S. report

2010-08-09

[Ennahar] Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has no significant popular support and has no capacity to do harm to even worry the Algerian government.

See the report on the salafist men invading the streets of Algiers, then read this post again.

The days when the mere mention of the word Al Qaeda shook the Algerian government are gone away. According to the latest report of U.S. State Department, Algeria has more concern to the extent that transnational organization has no more popular support.

"The success of Algerian counter-terrorism security services, combined with the rejection of terrorism expressed by the populations appear to have reduced the effectiveness of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) during the past two years," we read in this report published before yesterday on the website of the State Department. It was during these two years just as the Algerian security services have decided to strengthen their workforce by hiring 100,000 new elements, between the gendarmes and police.

The operation resulted in a greater security presence in most major urban centers, airports, structures and institutions and sensitive borders.

"The initiative was effective in reducing the impact of terrorist incidents and has also demonstrated the determination of the Algerian Government for fight against terrorism," said the U.S. report. And as further evidence of such determination to uproot terrorism, the American document said that Algeria has hosted the meeting last August of Chiefs of militaryStaff of Mali, Libya, Mauritania and Niger .

This key meeting of the Sahel countries, was in fact to develop a regional strategy against terrorism, and establish a regional center in Tamanrasset. Also on the list of positive points in the assets of Algeria in the fight against terrorism, the report mentions that ransoms: "On the international plan to condemn the payment of ransoms to terrorists."

This is not a scoop media as saying that the security situation in Algeria has been marked by a decrease in the number of terrorist attacks. This, even though armed Islamists still rage against isolated populations. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), now Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) since he had formally pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2006, "has been driven to resort to kidnapping for ransom and operations developed against Westerners in the Sahel region, "reported the American document in his section reserved to terrorism in North Africa.

"The anti-terrorism operations of the Algerian government, which included an increased security presence and the dismantling of several networks of support and recruitment, have diminished the ability of Al Qaeda to commit such attacks in major cities of Algeria ", says the State Department rejoicing that "there was no suicide after the month of March." Moreover, Ramadan 2009 was almost "silent".

However, this period is deemed conducive to terrorist attacks and jihad. But Al Qaeda has not completely disappeared from the Algerian security landscape. AQIM has committed deadly attacks by resorting to ambushes and roadside bombs. "These operations are particularly common in the region of Kabylia, east of Algiers," wrote the report which reiterated in the sense that the year 2009 was punctuated by attacks. There are, in particular the attack on 9 March when two people were killed during the kamikaze attack against a communal guard post at Tadmait in Kabylia, 70 km east of Algiers. There was the attack on June 17, against a police vehicle accompanying the Chinese workers at a site near Bordj Bou Arreridj which killed 18 policemen.

On October 22, 2009, terrorists killed seven people and wounded three elements of security accompanying the workers of a Canadian company. "The majority of these attacks occurred in remote areas," say the Americans who believed that "AQIM has no significant popular support and is not assessed as strong enough to destabilize the Algerian government". For the State Department, these attacks "seek first to discourage foreign investors to settle in Algeria."

Stifled, cornered, Al Qaeda has no way to survive but to resort to acts of banditry as false roadblocks and kidnapping on isolated roads. "In addition to having to depend heavily on money from ransoms especially in the Sahel, Al Qaeda is also funded by smugglers and drug traffickers who swarm in the Sahel, the U.S report concludes : "The Algerian security forces must continually adapt to the changing tactics of AQIM and must admit that an organization that was essentially a local threat has become regional in scope and has international links."

Internationally, the document of the State Department believes that Al Qaeda remains a threat. "The core of Al Qaeda in Pakistan is still the main terrorist threat to U.S. territory and the presence of Al Qaeda in Africa poses a challenge for many countries," said the State Department.

The number of terrorist attacks worldwide and the number of victims in 2009 are at their lowest levels in four years. Extremists have conducted 10,999 attacks worldwide in 2009, killing 14,971 people, according to the report.

Link

Africa North

Algerian terror leaders call for end to al-Qaeda violence, kidnapping

2010-07-17

[Maghrebia] Othmane Touati and Samir Moussaab, two former leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), on Thursday (July 15th) urged their ex-comrades to stop their "crimes" and promised reconciliation for those who renounce terrorism.

Authorities set up a meeting between the former terrorists and reporters from five newspapers in order to read the contents of a letter to the "remaining armed elements in mountains" dated May 31st.

The letter by Touati, a former member of Al-Qaeda's Council of Notables who is also known as Abou El-Abbes, demands that the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) stop its crimes, both planned and under way, against the Algerian people.

"I realize that the path that I was following was not the right path, based on respected ancient and modern scholars' fatwas on the illegality of jihad in our country", said Touati, a GSPC founder and long-time "right hand" to AQIM chief Abdelmalek Droukdel.

He said the terrorist organisation is facing some internal deteriorations.

AQIM has suffered a string of defections in recent months that includes terrorist Grig-Ahsine Abdelhalim, an Algiers native who joined the GSPC in 1994 after escaping from Batna's Tazoult prison. AQIM medical committee head Mokadem Lounis, aka Abou Naamane, surrendered in mid-April, as did former El-Farouk brigade emir Ahmed Mansouri Ahmed, aka Abdeldjebbar.

Those who still embrace jihad should review the approach of armed struggle, said Touati, who was once responsible for co-ordinating terrorist operations in Algeria's Boumerdes, Tizi-Ouzou and Bouira provinces.

Several armed elements who were active in AQIM are planning to issue a review that includes criticism of Al-Qaeda methods such as kidnapping and the killing of Muslims, said Touati.

"I urge my brothers to review their ways... and to think about the consequences of their behaviour", added the former terrorist, who surrendered to authorities on May 26th with the help of his wife and Moussaab.

Moussaab, who was believed to have died in a confrontation with the Algerian army in April 2007, surrendered after a hospital stay that followed the clash.

The former GSPC chief of staff promised reconciliation for those who leave the mountains, telling reporters: "Just as we were the reason for their ascent to the mountains, we will be the cause for them to come back down for reconciliation".

Moussaab appealed to religious scholars who once issued fatwas on the legitimacy of jihad, only to revise that opinion, to reach out to insurgents. He pointed to scholars such as Abdelkader Ben Abdel Aziz, the ideologue of al-Qaeda who recanted his fatwas on the legitimacy of jihad in the land of Islam.

Moussaab also called on Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) leaders and their scholars, such as Khudair Khodr and Nasser Fahd, to convince those still in the mountains to come back to the "right path".

These appeals build on religious reviews and previous appeals made by former leading terrorists, particularly the December 2009 calls by GSPC founding member Hassan Hattab.

Mohammed Mesloub, a researcher on Islamist movements, told Magharebia that disseminating "rational revisions for the jihad groups, as is the case with the [LIFG], would be more effective than visiting scholars and preachers, because the Algerian jihadists have common values with the other jihadists of the Maghreb region".

Hussein Boulahya, a media expert on Islamist groups, called the ideological revisions made by former GSPC leaders "only a prelude" to a series of revisions that ex-insurgents are preparing to release criticising "the approach of the GSPC and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb".

He said that such revisions by prominent former terrorist leaders "will have a positive effect in speeding up the repentance of armed elements who're reluctant to lay down their arms, not because of their belief in the legitimacy of jihad in Algeria, but because of fears of being exposed to violence".

"The fact that leaders of the organisation have not been subjected to any harm may remove some concerns," added Boulahya.

Local press reports quote Algerian officials as saying that for over 9 months, security forces have been pursuing a new initiative for reconciliation and the dismantling of terrorist cells.

Some active terrorists and prisoners who have credibility with their comrades have become part of communications taking place since last March, under a heavy veil of confidentiality, said the authorities. This led to an agreement that would grant the terrorist prisoners conveniences in their cells as a prelude to their release, in exchange for their participation in convincing their former comrades to repent and issuing intellectual and doctrinal reviews.

In recent months, under this scheme, authorities have brought the families of active terrorists to meet with them, including relatives of alleged terrorist Yahya Jouwadi, the commander of the desert Emirate.

The daily Algeria News on July 6th reported that prisoners connected to this aspect of the fight against terrorism will be released in the next few months under a "deal" to bring AQIM terrorists, including Amar Saifi and his comrade Gharika Noureddine, into the fold of national reconciliation.

The paper also reported that 50 terrorists who are entitled to presidential pardons have been chosen within the framework of recent months' behind-the-scenes negotiations, with the participation of former GSPC leader Hattab.

Link

Africa North

Top al-Qaeda emir arrested in Algeria

2010-06-01

[Maghrebia] An Algerian terror suspect sought for 17 years was captured Friday in Bordj Menaiel, Liberte reported on Monday (May 31st). Othmane Touati (aka "Salah") allegedly co-founded the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) before becoming a top aide to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader Abdelmalek Droukdel. According to Boumerdes security sources, Touati commanded AQIM Zone 2 before being named legal chief for the terror organisation. The 48-year-old is reportedly implicated in several bloody attacks in Thenia, Naciria, Si Mustapha and Baghlia.

Link

Africa North

Droukdel reportedly ousted as GSPC emir

2010-03-11

[Maghrebia] Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) on Sunday released a video featuring Mebarek Yazid, aka Abu Obeida Youcef el-Annabi, Ennahar reported on Monday (March 8th). Since the GSPC charter clearly defines Abu Obeida's role as head of the Council of Elders, his appearance in the video to speak on behalf of the entire organisation shows that he has replaced AQIM's Abdelmalek Droukdel as GSPC emir, Ennahar noted. The video reportedly targets would-be terrorists from Mauritania, Mali and Niger to replace the significant decline in Algerian recruits.

Abu Obeida has been an outspoken critic of Droukdel's ideology. According to Ennahar, Droukdel has minimised the role of the Council of Elders ever since declaring allegiance to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

Link

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