Africa North |
ICC convicts al-Qaida-linked leader of atrocities in Mali |
2024-06-27 |
[AFRICANEWS] The International Criminal Court has convicted an al-Qaeda-linked Islamic bully boy leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali’s Timbuktu. Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohammed Ag Mahmoud was accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by He was accused of involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery. Prosecutors say he was a key member of Ansar Dine ...a mainly Tuareg group that controlled areas of Mali's northern desert together with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and MUJAO in early 2012... , an Islamic bully boy group with links to al-Qaeda that held power in northern Mali at the time. Al Hassan faces up to life imprisonment when a sentence is handed down at a later date. Prosecutors say he was a key member of Ansar Dine, an Islamic bully boy group with links to al-Qaeda that held power in northern Mali at the time. Women and girls suffered in particular under Ansar Dine’s repressive regime, facing corporal punishment and imprisonment, the court's then-chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said at the start of Al Hassan's trial nearly four years ago. "Many were forced into marriage," Bensouda said. "Confined against their will and repeatedly raped by members of the gang." Al Hassan was involved in organizing such marriages, the prosecutor told judges. Related: Timbuktu: 2024-05-21 Black flags over the Dark Continent. Who is the Russian Afrika Korps fighting with? Timbuktu: 2024-01-06 ISWAP Leader, Ba'a Shuwa, Scores Of Fighters Reportedly Killed By Nigerian Military Airstrikes Timbuktu: 2023-12-10 Mali: Minusma hands over one of its last camps to the authorities Related: Mali: 2024-06-24 PMC SADAT and the Afrika Korps Mali: 2024-06-22 BRICS Games hit by major DDoS attack Mali: 2024-06-18 Two key US Congress Democrats approve major arms sale to Israel: Report Related: Ansar Dine 07/28/2022 Al-Qaeda terrorists heap pressure on Mali's military, 18 toes up in coordinated attacks Wednesday Ansar Dine 06/05/2022 The Puzzle of JNIM and Militant Islamist Groups in the Sahel Ansar Dine 10/13/2021 Malian extremist apologizes to world court for Timbuktu destruction Related: Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohammed Ag Mahmoud 02/21/2020 ICC judges okay trial for alleged Islamic extremist from Mali Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohammed Ag Mahmoud 04/06/2018 Militant accused of demolishing Timbuktu’s shrines faces crimes court Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohammed Ag Mahmoud 04/01/2018 Mali war crimes suspect in custody, says International Criminal Court |
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Terror Networks | ||
Black flags over the Dark Continent. Who is the Russian Afrika Korps fighting with? | ||
2024-05-21 | ||
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov [REGNUM] On May 15, ISIS reported attacks on local soldiers and the Wagner Group (as they still call all Russian forces) in Mali and Niger, including the bombing of 20 people on mines in eastern Niger and the hijacking of a Red Cross ambulance in the western part of this country. Thus, the local branch of the terrorist organization is trying to demonstrate its activity in the region and at the moment is probably the main opponent of the Afrika Korps of the Russian Defense Ministry, which was deployed in a number of countries in the Sahel - a region also called the “Greater Sahara”. There is a whole mosaic of terrorist groups and organizations operating here that oppose local governments. But the main role is played by two terrorist organizations: in addition to the one indicated, Al-Qaeda. They have integrated smaller factions and are still present in many countries in the region, despite attempts to combat them (or imitate it) by anti-terrorist forces led by the United States and France. Therefore, Western forces are leaving this part of Africa today, in many countries of which new governments have come to power. AFRIKA KORPS, THE TURKISH FACTOR AND FIRST SUCCESSES The Russians are acting in Africa not to impose enslaving agreements on local governments, as the Americans and French did, but only to ensure security from international terrorism, preventing its spread throughout the region and the world.
Russia does not make such demands and is ready to provide assistance to either a military or civilian government, democratic or Islamic, only in order to prevent terrorist leaders from taking the place of this government. However, Western countries and Russia are not the only external players in the region. For example, in Niger, the piquancy of the situation is added by the fact that, according to Syrian opposition sources, a group of 300 fighters of anti-government Syrian formations from the Sultan Murad, Al-Hamza and Suleiman Shah groups, operating under under the auspices of Turkey. According to sources, they are in Niger to help the new government of this country in the fight against terrorism after it asked the Americans to “exit”. In addition, Ankara supplies Bayraktar drones to Mali and Burkina Faso, where Russian units also operate. Therefore, it is possible that Africa will become a field of cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the counter-terrorism field.
And earlier this year, the Burkina Faso Air Force, where Russian forces and advisers are also deployed, killed the second-most senior leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara, Abdulmalik Haroun Oulel, as a result of an air strike on a convoy. It is a major victory for Burkina Faso's army and a sign that the country's recent military-led modernization campaign, led by Russia, is allowing them to more effectively target jihadists. FULANI, SAHRAWI AND TUAREG It is significant that Abdulmalik came from the new generation of ISIS-BS leaders, since he was a native of the region and a representative of the local Fulani people, semi-sedentary inhabitants of the Sahel, who were discriminated against by local governments. Therefore, the Fulani often joined the ranks of terrorists and constituted the majority in their ranks. This applies to both ISIS and al-Qaeda. The two previous ISIS leaders in the region with the corresponding surname al-Sahrawi (i.e. "Sahrawis") were from Western Sahara and Morocco and had previously operated in Algeria before retreating to the Sahel, where they led local Fulani militias. In October 2015, Adnan Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi, a jihadist fighter originally from Morocco, along with several supporters from the Mourabitoun group operating in Algeria and Mali and associated with al-Qaeda, pledged allegiance to " Islamic State". However, at that time the activities of Abu al-Walid’s group in Africa went almost unnoticed. This was also related to the delay in recognition of this branch by the “headquarters” of the terrorists, which took place only in 2017. And when this group was nevertheless included in the “caliphate”, it was first reassigned to the branch of “ISIS - West Africa velayat”, from which “ISIS in the Greater Sahara” remains dependent to this day, despite recognition as an independent factions. During those years, the dominant jihadist organization in the Sahel was Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It has carried out terrorist attacks as far away as Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and Grand Bassam in Côte d'Ivoire. Back in 1998, Hassan Khattab, the commander of one of the scattered extremist units during the “black decade” (civil war) in Algeria, formed his own organization called the “Salafi Group of Preaching and Combat.” In 2006, its leadership joined the global al-Qaeda network and swore allegiance to Bin Laden. A few months later, they renamed themselves Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group then moved its activities from Algeria to the Sahel, primarily to Mali. AQIM was able to unite several disparate groups in the north and central part of Mali, including the remnants of the Mourabitun movement. Then, in early March 2017, an organization associated with AQIM, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), appeared. In it, in addition to the Fulani, who make up the majority in ISIS, there are also Tuaregs, along with their Salafi-jihadist group “Ansar al-Sunna”. "SAHEL PHENOMENON" Unlike the Syrian-Iraqi conflict arc, where ISIS waged an irreconcilable fight not only with Iraqi and Syrian government forces, but also with its competitors from Al-Qaeda, in the Greater Sahara, the dominant JNIM tried to maintain friendly relations with ISIS -BS. In the expert community, such relations between the two groups were defined as the “Sahel phenomenon” or “Sahel exception”: local factions of the two largest terrorist groups were able to move in parallel courses for some time without coming into conflict with each other. The ideas of reconciliation with ISIS (contrary to the general course of Al-Qaeda) were promoted by three AQIM field commanders. The first of them, al-Humam, was known for openly supporting the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, 2015. The second, Abu Iyad al-Tunisi, leader of the Ansar al-Sharia group and member of the AQIM Shura, believed that ISIS could be “returned to the right path.” A noticeable number of his yesterday's recruits from Ansar al-Sharia were already in the ranks of the organization in Syria, and some occupied important positions. Both were killed by French troops on February 21, 2019 in Elak, north of Timbuktu. The third AQIM commander who tried to get closer to ISIS, Abu Yahya al-Jazairi, was killed during an attack on Malian armed forces in Bamba on April 6, 2020. After this, the two groups moved on to open confrontation. In 2020, ISIS invaded JNIM-controlled territories, committed atrocities against civilians (potentially alienating locals from the jihadist movement itself), and demonstrated the ability to overshadow JNIM activities with terrorist attacks. The weakening of JNIM and the strengthening of ISIS in the Sahel was also facilitated by the fact that the then government of Mali began negotiations with prominent Tuareg JNIM leaders and openly announced this. These negotiations split the ranks of AQIM/JNIM and pushed its most radical elements to join ISIS. A significant part of the Tuaregs also left the JNIM, moving to the more moderate group “High Council for the Unity of Azawad”, which does not share the jihadist views of Al-Qaeda. As a result, the Mali government refused to negotiate not only with radical jihadists, but also with Tuareg rebel groups and moderate Islamists. This caused great displeasure in Algeria, which actively lobbied for the peace process and blamed “the machinations of the UAE” for its failure. As a result, the failure of the negotiation process led to certain groups of the local population calling on the “jihadists” to unite with each other again. UNITY ON ETHNIC GROUNDS The combination of ISIS and AQIM/DNIM could create new risks not only for local governments, but also for the Russian military present in the Sahel countries. Let us recall that it was Russian PMCs (Wagner) that played the main role in the capture of Kidal in Mali in November 2023. After this, they started talking about the possibilities of restoring ties between ISIS and AQIM/DNIM. Then a new group appeared on the scene: Wahdat al-Muslimin (Unity of Muslims), which called on warring terrorist organizations to unite against common enemies “to preserve the blood of Muslims.” Wahdat al-Muslimeen is not a jihadist group per se, but rather a pro-jihadist (or simply anti-government) propaganda group that seeks to unite ISIS and AQIM/JNIM to fight local armies and their allies, including those from Russia. This group is associated with local Fulani communities in the triangle between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. As already noted, representatives of this nationality feel alienated and stigmatized by the armies of the three countries in which they live. The local military often baselessly accuses all Fulanis of having links with terrorists, bringing down repression on them and thereby facilitating the transition of many Fulanis to these organizations. Therefore, as both JNIM and ISIS-BS become more and more “Fulani” in their ethnic composition (Tuaregs, on the contrary, tend to move into more moderate groups), the threat of unification of the two groups on an ethnic basis remains. This is an important example of the fact that any actions of the Russian military in Africa must be provided with appropriate expert and diplomatic support, taking into account all regional specifics and ethnic diversity. The argument that since a certain group has raised this or that terrorist flag, it must be destroyed is not always adequate to local conditions. In reality, such a group can go through a whole chain of “ideological rebirths,” pursuing not religious, but purely tribal goals and objectives, and simply looking for allies among those who are able to protect this tribe or ethnic group from repression and discrimination. This applies not only to the Fulani, but also to the Tuareg. Terrorism in the Sahel is still identified with the Tuareg movement. Indeed, jihadist groups and Tuaregs fighting against states in the region are sometimes forced to cooperate with each other. However, jihadists and Tuaregs still should not be identified. They are temporary fellow travelers, sharply diverging in their ultimate goals. Previously, jihadists had repeatedly knocked out the Tuaregs from their bases, and the Tuaregs, as noted, moved into more moderate movements. In this regard, information about the nature of certain groups and factions coming from local authorities and the military must be carefully checked. Often, under the pretext of fighting terrorism, groups that are not related to terrorist activities can also be “purged.” Instead of gaining new supporters in the fight against terrorism, this may lead to increased support for the terrorists themselves from ethnic groups subject to various forms of discrimination. Related: Wagner Group: 2024-05-11 All US military personnel have been ordered to leave Niger, media reports Wagner Group: 2024-05-09 Pentagon chief Austin says US will withdraw troops from Niger Wagner Group: 2024-05-07 Tele Sahel: Russia delivered military equipment and humanitarian aid to Niger Related: Mali : 2024-05-19 Senegal's Sonko wants to reassess ties with France Mali : 2024-05-17 Larry Hogan wins GOP Senate primary in Maryland Mali : 2024-05-13 Mali national dialogue recommends junta rule extension Related: Niger : 2024-05-20 Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger Finalise Plans To Form Confederation After Quitting ECOWAS Niger : 2024-05-20 Niger and the United States agree on the timing of the withdrawal of American troops Niger : 2024-05-17 Benin grants temporary authorization for export of Nigerien oil Related: Sahel: 2024-05-13 Sudan's descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold Sahel: 2024-05-11 All US military personnel have been ordered to leave Niger, media reports Sahel: 2024-05-09 Pentagon chief Austin says US will withdraw troops from Niger Related: Sultan Murad: 2023-08-15 IED blast causes casualties among SNA faction in Syria’s al-Bab Sultan Murad: 2023-08-08 Military tension erupted between 2 SNA factions in Syria’s Afrin Sultan Murad: 2023-08-06 SNA factions storm wedding in Sere Kaniye over marriage refusal, re-arrest 15 north of Raqqa Related: Al-Hamza: 2022-03-23 Deaths, injures caused among opposition factions over smuggling in Ras al-Ain Al-Hamza: 2022-02-09 SOHR: 150 Syrian Mercenaries Arrive in Libya Al-Hamza: 2022-02-06 Turkey Dispatches More Syrian Mercenaries to Libya Related: Suleiman Shah: 2023-08-30 SNA hands over 5 fugitives to HTS in NW Syria Suleiman Shah: 2023-08-25 Turkey deports 80 refugees to HTS in Idlib Thursday, 300 to SNA and 32 to HTS Wednesday, SNA faction arrests Kurdish returnee Suleiman Shah: 2023-08-23 Turkey deports Syrians, arrests Kurds, sends reinforcements to Syria de-escalation zone Related: Menaka region: 2023-01-18 UN: Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist groups driving insecurity in Mali Menaka region: 2021-01-03 Mali: Targeted attack kills two French soldiers Menaka region: 2019-11-03 French Soldier Dies in Mali as Explosive Device Detonates - Paris Related: ISIS in the Greater Sahara: 2023-01-18 UN: Al-Qaeda and ISIS terrorist groups driving insecurity in Mali ISIS in the Greater Sahara: 2018-05-17 U.S., Gulf States Slap Sanctions on Nasrallah, Qassem, Hizbullah Officials ISIS in the Greater Sahara: 2017-10-21 Some blame an ISIS-linked group for Niger ambush Related: Mourabitoun: 2022-12-11 US indicts Mauritania national over terror attacks in Mali Mourabitoun: 2022-09-27 Palestinian rioters face off with police in East Jerusalem for 2nd night in a row Mourabitoun: 2022-07-28 Al-Qaeda terrorists heap pressure on Mali's military, 18 toes up in coordinated attacks Wednesday Related: JNIM 03/04/2024 Brutal Attacks in Northern Burkina Faso Claim 170 Lives, Including Women and Children JNIM 12/19/2023 South African paramedic Gerco van Deventer, hostage in the Sahel since 2017, freed JNIM 09/08/2023 Al Qaeda Affiliate Claims Responsibility For Killing 53 Members Of Burkina Faso Security Forces Related: Ansar al-Sharia: 2023-07-17 Key Terrorist in 2012 Benghazi Attack Detained by Turkey and Deported to Libya, Where He May be Released Ansar al-Sharia: 2023-02-07 Tunisia launches probe into decade-old political killings Ansar al-Sharia: 2022-10-31 US woman who led female IS battalion faces up to 20 years in prison | ||
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
The Hidden System of American Imperialism in Africa |
2023-10-20 |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Text taken from an article which appeared in afrinz.ru Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics [ColonelCassad] The US established an extensive network of outposts in more than a dozen African countries under the pretext of fighting terrorism after the events of September 11, 2001. 29 military bases in 15 countries stretch from one end of Africa to the other. The US Africa Command (US AFRICOM), created in 2008, is responsible for their coordination in accordance with US strategic goals, which remains a key instrument for promoting Washington’s “global leadership” policy on the continent. In the material of military analyst Darko Todarovski for the “Africa Initiative” about how the US military presence in Africa works. AFRICOM is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense. The operating budget of AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany alone was $375 million in fiscal year 2023. Officially, AFRICOM, in addition to counterterrorism operations, is responsible for “fighting regional conflicts” and supporting military relations with 53 African countries. His area of responsibility covers all of Africa, with the exception of Egypt, which is in the sphere of interests of the US Central Command. AFRICOM has a force of more than 7,200 troops. The largest concentration of US military facilities is in the Sahel states in the west of the continent and in the Horn of Africa in the east. The largest US military base in Africa is Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The strategic importance of this site is due to its proximity to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which a significant part of world trade passes. There are about 300 military personnel permanently stationed at the base itself. Their main attack weapons are drones and patrol aircraft. US military facilities in West Africa are officially used for anti-terrorist operations. Burkina Faso and Chad provide infrastructure for US drone reconnaissance flights. Bases in Cameroon and Niger also house permanent US Army contingents involved in African military training programs. In eastern Africa, the United States is actively cooperating with Kenya, Somalia and the Seychelles. The last two states provide the United States with airports for reconnaissance UAVs. The United States also has agreements with 19 African countries on the right to host American fuel reserves on their territory and provide refueling services for US Air Force aircraft. In addition to conducting African drone surveillance, cross-border raids, reconnaissance and interrogation programs, AFRICOM has assumed responsibility for security training for African countries. In addition to AFRICOM, there is also the Special Operations Command Africa, or SOCAFRICA, which oversees elite units and plays a huge role in the US military effort on the continent. Under the leadership of SOCAFRICA, Washington constantly sends Green Berets and Navy SEALs to hot spots on the continent. According to a list provided by SOCAFRICA to Rolling Stone reporters, in 2021, US commandos were deployed to 17 African countries - Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Tunisia. And in 2022, they were added to at least five more African countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal and Somalia. Roughly 14% of U.S. commandos deployed overseas in 2021 were sent to Africa, ranking the continent second in the number of deployments behind the Greater Middle East. In 2019, Yahoo News, using documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, public records and leaks from the US Department of Defense, compiled a list of 36 special operations that the US has conducted or is conducting in Africa. Many of these operations are conducted in countries that the US government does not recognize as combat zones, but in which US troops are nonetheless fighting and, in some cases, even suffering casualties. SOF operations in Africa are so-called “127e programs,” named for budgetary authorities that allow them to use host nation military units as executors in counterterrorism missions. At least 15 US-trained officers took part in 13 coups d'état in West Africa and the Greater Sahel from 2014 to 2023, Responsible Statecraft found. These include soldiers from Burkina Faso (2014, 2015 and twice in 2022); Chad (2021); Gambia (2014); Guinea (2021); Mali (2012, 2020, 2021); Mauritania (2008); Niger (2023) and Gabon (2023). AFRICOM's vision is to coordinate not only military command and control, but also diplomatic efforts and other functions of US government agencies in Africa. The US military calls it a "whole of government" approach. AFRICOM engages senior officials from the State Department, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Energy, Commerce, Justice, and other departments. But for every civilian employee working on U.S. policy in Africa, there are seven in the military, and in many embassies across the continent the number of military attaches outnumbers the number of diplomats. The current version of the official US strategy in sub-Saharan Africa was published in August 2022, several months after China adopted a concept of relations with the African continent. The frankness of the provisions of this document, which can well be called aggressive, is noteworthy, wrote Nikita Panin, an expert at the HSE Center for African Studies, in his article “African Strategies: Comparing the Approaches of Key Players on the Continent” for the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). The document openly outlines the US’s readiness to intervene in the internal processes of African countries where and when it suits Washington’s interests in order to “renew Africa’s faith in US global leadership.” The point about encouraging open societies begins with the thesis that such societies “are usually more willing to work in common with the United States, attract more American goods and investments, improve the living conditions of their citizens and fight the harmful activities of the PRC, the Russian Federation and other external forces.” In the document, the United States openly declares a list of African countries in which, according to Washington, there is a setback in development and democracy: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia and the Sahel states. According to the strategy adopted by Washington, it is the United States that “can give Africans a choice about how they determine their future, limiting the opportunities for negative state and non-state actors through a calibrated combination of positive incentives and punitive measures such as sanctions.” At the same time, the United States works not only with the official authorities with which its embassies and representative offices are accredited, but also supports “investigative journalism to combat authoritarianism” and interacts with the judicial system “to protect democracy and human rights, fight corruption, and hold fair elections " The United States intends to support “civil society, including activists, workers, reform-minded leaders, marginalized groups, incl. LGBT+." However, democracy promotion can also come from the United States training “professional, capable, accountable government security forces.” In turn, AFRICOM’s official priority areas for the period from 2020 to 2025 are: - countering narratives from America’s strategic competitors - China and Russia; The current commander of AFRICOM, 60-year-old General Michael Langley, was appointed to his post by executive order of US President Joe Biden in June 2022. Langley is the first black Marine to become a four-star general in the U.S. Army. He served in Afghanistan, Somalia and Okinawa, and served in several senior positions at the Pentagon and Military Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East. In his public statements, Langley is clear about his priorities: “The most long-term strategic threat to the United States in Africa is not terrorism. The biggest threat to the United States in Africa is China. Not only for security reasons, but also because of economic competition,” Langley stated publicly. It is also important, he said, to pay attention to the Kremlin, which is using Wagner PMCs to “fuel instability” and “turn chaos into money.” PS. It is worth noting that over the past month, the Mali army, with the support of the Wagner PMC, has liberated more than 15 cities, towns and military bases from French-backed militants in northern Mali. After the failure of plans to organize an intervention in Niger, France is increasingly relying on supporting various militants in order to destabilize countries that have fallen out of its sphere of influence. PS2. By the way, the site itself https://afrinz.ru/category/news/ , which took off on hype after the recent African Forum, is really not bad, there is a lot of different information on African affairs. Previously, it was necessary mainly to monitor what was happening through the profile collection on Twitter and selected channels in Telega. PS3. By the way, Pushkin reached the Congo. In the capital of the country, with the help of specialists from Voronezh, they have now established the process of education in Russian. The local population is taught the Russian language, history, culture and geography of Russia. |
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Africa North | |
Al-Qaeda terrorists heap pressure on Mali's military, 18 toes up in coordinated attacks Wednesday | |
2022-07-28 | |
[AFRICANEWS] Mali's armed forces said, Wednesday, murderous Moslems had simultaneously attacked a military camp located in the western town of Kalumba, and the camp in Sokolo. The armed forces of Mali also denounced "terrorist infiltration attempts" in "the Hamadoun Bocary Barry camp" as well as an attempt at "the Air Force compound" in the city of Sevaré, central Mali. In the last few days, the jihadists of the Sahel-based al-Qaeda nebula have stepped up the pressure on the Malian junta, with an unprecedented level of coordination of operations. This comes at a time of deteriorating security context. The West African country has been plagued by war since 2012 and shaken by two coups d'état in two years (2020, 2021).The Group for the Support of Islam and Moslems (GSIM, JNIM in Arabic), affiliated to al-Qaeda, looks to extending its influence amid the confusion. One of the lastest major event was the Friday attack on an army building in Kati, a garrison town 15km from Bamako and the heart of Mali's military apparatus where the president of the transitional authorities resides. One soldier was killed in the attack. It is the first time that such a strategic and symbolic site is targetted. al-Qaeda jihadists had in recent years been targeting security posts in rural and peri-urban areas in Mali's north and centre. STRATEGIC THREATS It is a way to tell "(the authorities) that they can strike anywhere, as far away as possible" from their base, said a Malian observer of the security situation in Sévaré (centre). The day before the Kati attack, six coordinated attacks were launched simultaneously in the centre and south of the country at 5am. A first. These southern regions (Sikasso, Koulikoro, Kayes), formerly spared by the foot soldiers of the jihad, are now a target. Most of the attacks are claimed by the GSIM, created in 2017 by the merger of several factions: al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi, a pioneer of Sahelian jihad, born in Algeria in 2007), the groups Ansar Dine ...a mainly Tuareg group that controlled areas of Mali's northern desert together with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and MUJAO in early 2012... of Malian Iyad Ag Ghali and al-Mourabitoune of the late Mokhtar Belmokhtar, and the Katiba Macina of Amadou Koufa ![]() ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity... tribe extant in Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, which appeared in 2015 for the purpose of jihading against the farming tribes of Dogon and Bambara. Amadou was reported killed in a French raid, but he arose from the dead sometime around January 2019, to continue jihading as usual... 15 troops, 3 civilians killed in coordinated Mali attacks: Army [AlAhram] At least 15 soldiers and three non-combatants were killed in coordinated "terrorist" attacks in Mali, the chronically unstable country's army said Wednesday, the latest deadly violence to rock the Sahel state. In Kalumba, near the Mauritanian border, "the corpse count on the friendly side is 12, including three civilians from a road construction company", the army said in a statement. The army corpse count in Sokolo, in central Mali, was six with 25 others maimed, five of them seriously. A third attack, in centrally-located Mopti ended without casualties overnight. Over the weekend, Mali's army said it had thwarted a new attack on a military camp in the centre of the country, two days after a deadly suicide kaboom in a strategic garrison town near the capital. The Malian army has intensified its anti-jihadist operations in recent months, relying on what it describes as Russian instructors. Despite a deteriorating security situation, the junta turned its back on La Belle France and its international partners, instead leaning on Russia to stem the threat posed by jihadists to Mali, as well as 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.
In Wednesday's coordinated attacks, three military bases were targeted, according to the army statement. The army said in a statement that 48 militants were killed in Sonkolo. | |
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Africa North |
Malian extremist apologizes to world court for Timbuktu destruction |
2021-10-13 |
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Malian holy warrior apologized on Tuesday for his role in destroying the fabled shrines of Timbuktu as he asked judges at the International Criminal Court to release him from prison. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who was sentenced to nine years imprisonment in 2016, was a changed man who had learned to play guitar and to sew while in jail, his lawyer told the ICC. "I stand before you today to express to the whole world my remorse, my sadness and my regret for all the crimes I have committed in the past and the damage resulting from these crimes," al-Mahdi told the court. "I assure you that I have completely separated myself from the world of crime and I will never return," added al-Mahdi, who had cut his long curly hair short and shaved his beard for the hearing. Al-Mahdi was the first person to be convicted by the ICC for the war crime of attacking a nation’s cultural heritage, over the destruction of the UNESCO world heritage site at Timbuktu. The town was occupied by the holy warrior group Ansar Dine ...a mainly Tuareg group that controlled areas of Mali's northern desert together with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and MUJAO in early 2012... , one of the al-Qaeda-linked groups which controlled Mali for around 10 months in 2012 before being driven out by a French-led international intervention. They took pickaxes to 14 of the town’s famous mausoleums of Moslem saints. "Mr al-Mahdi has spent six years in detention and during those six years, he has become a much better person... he is not the same person he was when he arrived in The Hague," his lawyer Mohammed Aouini told the court. "He has learned French, English, computers and maths in the detention center; he has learned to cook, to sew, and to play piano and guitar," he said. Prosecutors said they would be inclined to look favorably on a reduction in his sentence. The ICC has estimated the value of the damage caused by al-Mahdi at 2.7 million euros ($3.1 million). Related: Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi: 2018-04-01 Mali war crimes suspect in custody, says International Criminal Court Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi: 2016-09-28 Mali: ICC - Mali Fighter Jailed for Destroying Timbuktu Sites Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi: 2016-08-25 ICC prosecutors urge ‘nine to 11 years’ for Timbuktu attacks |
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Africa North | |
Mali frees a nun abducted by militants in 2017 | |
2021-10-10 | |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [REGNUM] Colombian Franciscan nun Gloria Cecilia Narvaez, abducted in 2017 by militants of a radical group associated with Al-Qaeda, was released in Mali. This was reported on October 9 by the office of the President of the country on Twitter. According to the office, the nun was abducted on February 7, 2017 near the Mali-Burkina Faso border by terrorists from the Masina Liberation Front extremist group. In the summer of 2018, video footage filmed by the terrorist organization Support Group for Islam and Muslims, where the nun was captured together with another hostage, French citizen Sophie Petronen, who was abducted in Mali in 2016, was leaked on the network . What specific group of militants held Narvaes is not specified. During the entire period of the nun's stay with the militants, information about the ransom for her release was not received. Earlier IA REGNUM reported about the death of a UN peacekeeper in Mali when an improvised explosive device was detonated.
Related: Gloria Cecilia Narvaez: 2020-10-09 Mali: Four hostages released by extremist fighters Gloria Cecilia Narvaez: 2018-02-05 Al-Qaeda Hostage Colombian Nun Turns to Pope Francis: ‘Do the Impossible’ to Free Me Gloria Cecilia Narvaez: 2017-07-03 Al-Qaeda in Mali releases video showing 6 foreign hostages alive | |
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Africa North |
Peacekeeper killed in blast in Mali's troubled north: UN |
2021-10-03 |
![]() "One dead and three seriously injured after one of our teams hit an improvised bomb near Tessalit", close to the Algerian border, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, Minusma, said. "This incident is a sad reminder of the permanent danger hanging over our peacekeepers and of the sacrifices made for peace in Mali", head of Minusma El-GhassimWane was quoted as saying in a statement. "Today's cowardly attack only strengthens Minusma's determination to support Mali and its people in their quest for peace and stability," he said. In April, four Chadian peacekeepers from Minusma were killed in a jihadist attack on their camp in Aguelhok, also in northeastern Mali. Minusma, deployed in Mali since 2013, is currently the deadliest United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... peace mission in the world, with 145 killed in hostile acts recorded as of August 31, according to UN statistics. |
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8 die in terrorist bus attack in Burkina Faso | |
2021-02-20 | |
[DefensePost] At least eight people were killed on Thursday near Burkina Faso’s northern border with Niger, an area notorious for jihadist attacks, a security source and local official said. “Armed men this morning stopped a bus going from Markoye to Dorbel in Niger. At least eight people were killed and the same number were wounded,” the security source said, an account confirmed by the local official. The attack occurred at around 8 am near Tokabangou, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Markoye in Oudalan province.
Related: Burkina Faso: 2021-02-16 France to Meet Sahel Leaders as it Mulls Troop Drawdown Burkina Faso: 2021-02-11 20 U.N. Peacekeepers Wounded in Mali Attack Burkina Faso: 2021-02-10 Senegal Uncovers Jihadist Cell in East of Country | |
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Africa North |
LNA Forces Arrest Al Qaeda Commander in Southern Libya |
2020-11-29 |
[LIBYAREVIEW] On Saturday, the General Command of the Libyan National Army (LNA) announced the arrest of seven bully boyz affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Ubari, southwestern Libya.In a statement, LNA front man Ahmed al-Mismari said that Special Operations units of the Tariq Bin Ziyad Brigade and the 116th Infantry Brigade carried out an operation earlier on Saturday in the al-Taraqin al-Sharib neighborhoods of southwestern Libya, targeting bad boy hideouts. Al-Mismari pointed out that seven AQIM holy warriors were arrested, including Hassan al-Washi, an al-Qaeda Commander who returned from Mali during the past week, and Omar Washi. He noted that LNA forces seized large quantities of ammunition, weapons and very important documents. The LNA front man said that this operation comes within the framework of security operations aimed at pursuing and eliminating Takfiri ![]() terrorist cells, enforcing the law, maintaining control over its entire geographical territory, securing its citizens, and achieving and preserving national security. Related: Ubari: 2020-06-26 13 pro-Iran fighters arrested for anti-US rocket attacks, according to Iraq officials Ubari: 2020-04-17 Libyan Air Force LNA targets convoy of GNA Benghazi defense forces west of Ghadwa, in southern Libya Ubari: 2019-09-20 Cape fearless: SA surfer rides emotional rollercoaster to Olympics |
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Al-Qaeda in North Africa appoints new leader to replace Droukdel | ||
2020-11-23 | ||
Algerian Abu Obaida Yusuf al-Annabi,
Al-Annabi has been on the American "international terrorist" blacklist since September 2015, according to the Counter Extremism Project. He has regularly appeared in the group's propaganda videos, and in 2013 famously demanded that Muslims retaliate against France's intervention in Mali. AQIM also confirmed the death of Swiss national Beatrice Stoeckli, who was abducted in Timbuktu while working as a missionary in 2016. | ||
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Africa North |
Islamist pleads guilty to Mali hotel, restaurant attacks |
2020-10-31 |
[Jpost] A Mauritanian suspected jihadist pleaded guilty on Wednesday to shooting dead five people in an attack in the Malian capital Bamako in 2015 and planning two other attacks in the country that year that targeted Westerners and killed 37 more people. In a court appearance in Bamako on Wednesday, Fawaz Ould Ahmed described in detail how he carried out the attack on La Terrace restaurant in March 2015. He said he was also involved in planning a raid that killed 17 at Hotel Byblos in the town of Sevare in August and another that killed 20 people at Bamako's Radisson Blu hotel that November. The attacks marked a brazen new phase in jihadist operations across West Africa, in which top hotels and tourist destinations frequented by Western tourists, aid workers and diplomats were no longer considered safe. "I regret nothing," Ahmed told the court, adding that he had been seeking Dire Revenge for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad printed in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ... ![]() In January 2015, two months before Ahmed's first attack, Islamist Death Eaters in Gay Paree had stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo and rubbed out 12 people because of the cartoons. Ahmed described taking a taxi to La Terrasse restaurant and carrying out the shooting. "On arrival I went to the toilets, put on a balaclava, took out my Kalashnikov and shot those unbelievers," he said. At the time, Death Eater groups Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al Mourabitoun grabbed credit for the attacks in Mali as well as for attacks on a restaurant in neighboring 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... 's capital Ouagadougou and a beach resort town in Ivory Coast. That’s ok — the Malian al-Mourabitoune is an Al Qaeda in North Africa affiliate. Ahmed was captured in Bamako in 2016 as he was preparing to carry out another attack armed with grenades and a suitcase filled with weapons on behalf of al Mourabitoun, according to local authorities.If convicted of the charges including murder and complicity in murder, Ould Ahmed and the one other suspect could face the death penalty ![]() Related: Hotel Byblos: 2015-08-09 Nine Killed, Four Rescued From Hotel in Mali, Says Official Hotel Byblos: 2015-08-08 Hotel standoff in Mali, U.N. employee among 8 dead Related: Bamako: 2020-10-10 French aid worker freed by captors returns home from Mali Bamako: 2020-10-09 Mali: Four hostages released by extremist fighters Bamako: 2020-09-07 Former Mali President Keita leaves country amid transition talks Related: Radisson Blu hotel: 2017-10-03 Fighting in Tripoli leaves 3 dead Radisson Blu hotel: 2017-06-19 Mali attack: Two dead after gunmen storm tourist resort Radisson Blu hotel: 2017-01-21 Al-Qaeda Affiliate Claims Mali Car Bomb Related: Mourabitoun: 2020-08-20 Israeli police arrest Al-Aqsa guard, maintenance employee - report Mourabitoun: 2020-07-26 Joint List’s Abbas warns about Arab alliance’s future after some MKs vote to bar conversion therapy Mourabitoun: 2020-03-05 Egyptian authorities carry out the death sentence in the former Egyptian army officer Hisham Ashmawi |
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Africa North |
France says its military operation will continue in Mali |
2020-08-21 |
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
“The Barkhane operation, asked for by the Mali population and authorized by the U.N. Security Council, continues,” Florence Parly said on Twitter. |
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