| Africa: North |
| Al-Qaeda and the GSPC |
| 2005-09-29 |
| On September 29, Algerians will vote on President Abdelaziz Bouteflikaâs proposed Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, a policy that would provide amnesty for most of the one-thousand Islamic terrorists the government believes are still hiding in Algeria and neighboring countries. Between three hundred and five hundred of the terrorists still at large belong to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC). This cadre of Afghanistan-trained, al-Qaedaâlinked militants was behind the September 24 ambush of a police patrol east of Algiers that killed eight people. These holdouts have shown no interest in a government amnesty, despite the Algerian populationâs clearly waning interest in Islamist-inspired political violence. In addition to their domestic terrorist campaign, radical Algerian Islamists constitute the largest national grouping in al-Qaeda behind Saudis and Yemenis. Algerian jihadists have been involved in successful or thwarted attacks in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq. The connections these Algerians made in Afghanistan span the globe, while the weakening of the original al-Qaeda leadership has created an opportunity for local âfranchiseâ groups to take the initiative in global jihad. As al-Qaeda decentralizes, the GSPCâs network in northern Africa and the Middle East is expanding and now poses a serious international threat. Unregulated borders, weak institutions, inadequate policing, and smuggling networks characterize the Muslim-majority Sahel region and make it a natural staging ground for the GSPC. Several high profile examples of GSPC activity south of Algeria in the last two years illustrate the ease of movement terrorists enjoy in this region. In separate incidents in February and March 2003, the GSPC took a total of thirty-two European tourists hostage in southern Algeria. The perpetrators then took the hostages to northern Mali, where Mohktar Benmokhter, a key leader of GSPC, is believed to have married the daughter of a local tribal leader earlier in 2003. The hostages were held there for six months until they were released in Gao, Mali. The perpetrators then fled through Niger to Chad, where GSPC leader Ammar Saifi (also known as Abderazzak el Para) was captured by a Chadian rebel group and ultimately extradited to Algeria. Many Algeria watchers believed that the capture of Saifi effectively neutralized the GSPC. However, military encounters with GSPC militants in several Sahel countries throughout 2004 and 2005 suggest the groupâs continued activity in the region. In March 2004, the Chadian army engaged remnants of the group on the Libyan border, killing twenty-eight terrorists. The next month, police in Niger arrested one and killed three GSPC militants traveling through the country, and in the autumn of that year the GSPC clashed with the Malian army on the Mali-Algeria border. The most dramatic GSPC attack so far in 2005 was the June 4 raid on a Mauritanian military base in Lemgheitty, in which up to 150 terrorists burned military vehicles and killed fifteen Mauritanian soldiers. The militaries of Mauritania, Mali, and Algeria have since been pursuing the perpetrators across national borders. In July, the GSPC shot down an Algerian military helicopter on a reconnaissance flight over Mali. While it pushes south, the GSPC has become increasingly active in Syria and Iraq. The group has provided propaganda and ideological support to the Iraqi terrorists as well as sending cadres to engage in terrorist operations there. The GSPC website and newsletter indicate strong sympathy for the Iraqi jihadistsâ cause, encouraging young Algerians to travel to Iraq to join the terrorist campaign. In December 2004 and again in May 2005, radical Islamist websites announced the formation of a ânewâ jihadist group in Algeria. One of the names under which the group is organizing, al-Qaeda in the Land of the Berbers, is remarkably similar to al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers, one of the group names Abu Musab al-Zarqawi uses to take credit for attacks in Iraq. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but the GSPC has gone beyond that to suggest targets for the insurgents: in July, Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that the GSPC issued a communiqué calling on the Zarqawi network to target French nationals in Iraq. On July 23, the GSPC website posted a statement congratulating Zarqawiâs group on the abduction and eventual murder of two Algerian diplomats in Baghdad. More worrying, however, are reports that Algerians are heavily represented among foreign fighters in Iraq. In June, the U.S. military announced that approximately 20 percent of suicide bombers there are Algerian. Another 5 percent are Moroccan and Tunisian, and arrests in Algeria this summer suggest that the GSPC may be helping funnel some of these North Africans into Iraq. In August, Algeria extradited six Moroccans who allegedly traveled to Algeria to join the GSPC network and whom police believe are linked to an Algerian operative until recently based in Syria. Ten Tunisians were arrested in Algeria on similar charges in 2004, and their fate is still being negotiated by the Algerian and Tunisian governments. The nature of the GSPC network became clearer in July, when an Egyptian known as Yasir al-Misri (also known as Abu Jihad) was detained in Algeria on charges of using his travel agency as a front to send foreign fighters to Iraq via Syria since April 2003. The allegations against him got a boost from the announcement by Syrian police that in the first six months of 2005 they had deported 150 Algerians suspected of attempting to join the Iraqi insurgency. In September, Syria extradited an Algerian named Adil Sakir al-Mukni (also known as Yasir Abu Sayyaf) whom police suspect of facilitating the transfer of foreign jihadists into Iraq to join the Zarqawi network. Intelligence gleaned from al-Mukni may have helped break up the Moroccan cell that had traveled to Algeria this summer to join the GSPC. The GSPC has become active well beyond its original base in Algeria. The most immediate threat is to Algeriaâs neighbors in the region, whose proximity to the center of conflict and domestic conditions make these countries vulnerable to terrorist penetration. The GSPCâs cross-border activity in Mauritania demonstrates the potential for even low-intensity operations to destabilize the area. Mauritaniaâs crackdown on Islamists before and after the June attack was a factor in the August coup against President Maaouiya Ould Taya. Disturbingly, just as the GSPC is becoming more active in the Sahel, Mauritania is scheduled to begin exporting oil in large quantities. Mauritania expects to pump 75,000 barrels per day as early as November 2005, with production increasing to 250,000 barrels per day in the next two years (at $60 per barrel, that would eventually be worth more than $4 billion a year to a country with a 2004 GDP of just over $5.5 billion). In response to the threat in Africa, in June the U.S. military began training soldiers from nine northwest African countries in border security and counterterrorist tactics. The participants will meet again in early 2006. The Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative is designed to help prevent the GSPC and other radical groups from making further inroads across the region. The initiative is a sound first step in developing security capability in the participating countries, but its benefits will be fully realized only if the countries concerned are able to go on the offensive against the terroristsâwhich, for some of the poorer countries involved, may require more direct counterterrorism assistance. |
| Link |
| Africa: North |
| US resumes full dealings with Mauritania |
| 2005-08-23 |
| he United States has resumed dealings with Mauritania after a bloodless coup earlier this month ousted one of the main U.S. allies on the West African front of the global war on terror. Washington initially stood beside the African Union in denouncing the coup, but has since opted to recognize the new government. "The guys running the country right now are the guys we are dealing with, because they are the ones making the decisions," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. Former President Maaouiya Ould Taya was overthrown Aug. 3 by a 17-member military junta while out of the country. He had prevailed in three other coup attempts over the past two years. The group of senior officers, many of whom were elemental in bringing Mr. Taya to power more than two decades ago, said his ruthless treatment of Islamist leaders and other political opposition threatened to destabilize the soon-to-be oil-rich nation of 3 million. The new head of state, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, has pledged that democratic elections will be held within two years and that no military officers would be eligible to run. Opposition groups have already met with the new government and 21 political prisoners were freed last week, giving hope to citizens that democracy may be on the horizon. Mr. Taya, now exiled in Gambia, had been enlisted as a key partner in the newly upgraded seven-year, $500 million Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI). In June, U.S. military personnel began training and border-control exercises with troops from Mauritania and eight other Saharan countries where vast and lawless swaths of desert are believed to be a potential haven for terrorists. Mauritanian requests for a significant share of U.S. funding were given a boost when 15 soldiers were killed during a June 4 raid on a remote army outpost. But many analysts have long insisted that pariah regimes like Mr. Taya's exploited U.S. fears to gain military handouts. "For Mauritania, the Islamists have become a useful alibi to request support from the West," said a recent report by the International Crisis Group, an influential Brussels-based think tank. Jeremy Keenan, a British expert on the Sahara, believes Mauritania is not alone. He told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the timing of the Mauritanian border attack, which occurred the day after the first phase of the TSCTI began, was "too great a coincidence." Mr. Keenan called the GSPC a "pseudonym for the Algerian Security Services." Analysts have further argued that if the U.S. continues to be perceived as reinforcing authoritarian regimes, anti-terror efforts could backfire and prompt moderate Saharans to sympathize with Islamic radicals. |
| Link |
| Africa: North | |||
| Mauritanian PM hands in resignation to coup leaders | |||
| 2005-08-08 | |||
NOUAKCHOTT - Mauritanian Prime Minister Sghair Ould MâBareck, who had remained in post after a military coup in the northwest African state, on Sunday handed in his
| |||
| Link |
| Africa: North |
| Mauritania kicked out of the African Union after coup |
| 2005-08-04 |
| Well, that removes Qaddafi as being among its possible backers ... The African Union today suspended the membership of Mauritania after yesterday's bloodless military coup deposed President Maaouiya Ould Taya. The AU Peace and Security Council said that the suspension would remain in place until "constitutional order" is returned to the west African state. "In light of the coup dâetat that took place on August 3... Mauritaniaâs participation in all AU activities should be suspended until the restoration of constitutional order in the country," the council said in a statement. Shops and businesses reopened and traffic was flowing again in Mauritaniaâs capital today, just a day after a military junta announced it had toppled the desperately poor west African countryâs president while he was abroad. The international airport in the capital, Nouakchott, also reopened. Mauritania's fortunes are expected to be transformed next year when the Australian oil company Woodside is due to start pumping oil for the first time from offshore reserves. The quick return to calm appeared to suggest there was widespread acceptance of President Tayaâs overthrow. Islamic opposition parties celebrated the deposition of a ruler who had looked increasingly to the West, in response to alleged threats from al-Qaeda linked militants with ties to radical groups in Algeria. "The armed forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the deposed regime under which our people have suffered much over the last several years," the junta statement said. It promised to yield to democratic rule within two years. The junta, calling itself the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, said that Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was its president. This was seen as symbolic of a shift of mood in the country, as Colonel Vall, 55, the national police chief since 1987, was considered a close confidant of Taya for more than two decades and supported him through previous coup attempts. The junta statement identified 16 other army officers as members. Except for one captain, all are all colonels, the highest rank in the countryâs armed forces. Meanwhile Mr Taya arrived last night in nearby Niger from Saudi Arabia, where he had been attending King Fahdâs funeral. He made no comment to reporters, but the secretary-general of his political party, Boullah Ould Mogueya, said that it wouldnât recognize "anti-constitutional change". Mr Taya seized power in a coup in 1984 and dealt ruthlessly with those who opposed him. He has since won two elections, which opponents have either boybotted or dismissed as rigged. He allied his overwhelmingly Muslim nation with the United States in the war on terror, and offended many of his people by opening full diplomatic relations with Israel. Today Israelâs embassy in Mauritania was operating normally, although security had been tightened as is standard at such times, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in Israel. After the coup was announced, hundreds of people celebrated in the city centre, saluting soldiers guarding the presidential palace, clapping and singing slogans in Arabic against Mr Taya. Most people stayed home, but dozens of civilian cars moved through the streets, horns blaring. "Itâs the end of a long period of oppression and injustice," said Fidi Kane, a civil servant. "We are very delighted with this change of regime." State television and radio were back on air by yesterday afternoon, with journalists reading the juntaâs statement repeatedly, interspersed with Koranic readings - normal in the Islamic nation. But abroad there was disapproval. Britain, in its capacity as current president of the European Union, issued a statement today condemning "any attempt to seize power by force" and called for "full respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law" in Mauritania. In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey called for "a peaceful return for order under the constitution and the established government of President Taya." And Nigeria, the most influential country in west Africa, condemned the coup. "As far as we are concerned, the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere are long gone," said Femi Fani-Kayode, a spokesman for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. "We believe in democracy and we insist on democracy." The AU said it welcomed international condemnation of the apparently bloodless coup in Mauritania and urged concerted action against those behind it. "Council firmly condemns the coup dâetat in Mauritania on Aug. 3 and demands a prompt restoration of constitutional order," the statement said. The AU said an African ministerial delegation would be sent to Mauritania "to reiterate the AUâs positions to the perpetrators of the coup dâetat and to engage them on the modalities for a speedy restoration of constitutional order". Mr Taya had survived several coup attempts, including one in 2003 that led to several days of street fighting in the capital. After that, he jailed scores of members of Muslim fundamentalist groups and the army accused of plotting to overthrow him. His government also has accused opponents of training with al-Qaeda linked insurgents in Algeria. On June 4, a border raid on a remote Mauritanian army post by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents led to a gunbattle that killed 15 Mauritanian troops and nine attackers. Algeriaâs Salafist Group for Call and Combat claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a message on a Web site that the assault was "in revenge for our brothers who were arrested in the last round of detentions in Mauritania". The US military has sent special operations troops to train Mauritaniaâs army, most recently in June as part of efforts to deny terrorists sanctuary in the under-policed Sahara desert region. |
| Link |
| Africa: North |
| Mokhtar Belmokhtar led GSPC attack |
| 2005-06-13 |
| The Mauritanian Army claims to have absolute proof that a radical Islamic group from neighboring Algeria was linked to a raid on a military post that killed 15 soldiers last weekend. At a news conference, military spokesman Colonel Alioune Ould Mohammad produced the Algerian registration document for a truck left at the scene on Wednesday. The document was in the name of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, alias Belaouar, said to be a former member of the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) now involved in cross-border smuggling and sought by the Algerian police. Ould Mohammad said two of Belmokhtar's top aides, Abd-Lekhdime and Abdel-Aziz, had been killed in the attack. "These two men are known to be under Belouar's thumb, never left him, and as a rule did not take part in combat, which proves that he himself directed this operation," he added. Ould Mohammad also said that a claim of ordering the attack attributed to the GSPC had been authenticated. Military sources said a widespread hunt for the raiders was still going on. Mauritanian Defense Minister Baba Ould Sidi announced last week that some 150 insurgents had attacked a military base in the remote northeastern Lemgheitty region, sparking a bloody confrontation that left 15 soldiers and five assailants dead and 17 wounded. A statement on the GSPC Web site said the attack, in which two soldiers were also abducted, was a reprisal for a crackdown against Islamist leaders in Mauritania begun in April. The government of President Maaouiya Ould Taya has accused the Islamists of links to the Salafists, who have known ties to the Al-Qaeda terror network. Mauritania's Islamist movement has denied the charges. Critics of the Taya government say the allegations of an Islamic security threat is merely a ruse to stifle dissent and to curry favor with the U.S. |
| Link |
| Africa: Horn |
| More on the GSPC attack on Mauritania |
| 2005-06-07 |
| An Algerian group known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a weekend attack on a Mauritanian military barracks in which at least 15 soldiers were killed, some with their throats slit. In a communiqué posted on its website, the Islamist group said that the attack on a remote desert barracks close to the Algerian and Malian borders, was carried out to avenge the imprisonment of other Islamists in Mauritania. "The action was in revenge for the violence perpetrated against our brothers in prison," said the communiqué. The authenticity of the document posted late on Monday, and available on www.jihad-algerie.com could not be validated and came after the Mauritanian government already had blamed the GSPC for the attack in a press conference on Sunday. Since mid-March, President Maaouiya Ould Taya has carried out a series of arrests against people described as Islamic militants. Over thirty remain in detention. However, local religious leaders and the Brussels-based think-tank, the International Crisis Group, say Ould Taya is using Western fears of Islamic fundamentalism and global terrorism as a pretext to muzzle his political opponents. Though originally active only in Algeria, a crackdown by increasingly better-trained and equipped security forces at home has led GSPC and its members to become increasingly active across the borders. In previous statements issued by the group, the GSPC has outlined its intention to fully participate in attacks against the United States and its partners. |
| Link |
| Arabia |
| Mauritanian president visits Yemen |
| 2005-05-29 |
| NOUAKCHOTT - President Maaouiya Ould Taya departed on Saturday for a first-ever visit by a Mauritanian head of state to Yemen, a four-day swing aimed to reinforce bilateral cooperation. A statement from the presidency said Taya would join a series of talks with his counterpart Ali Abdullah Saleh, hoping to boost bilateral ties and "coordinate their positions on questions of common interest". The warming of their relations began in April with the signature of six cooperation accords, in terms of investment, economics and education, as well as a vow to coordinate politically and globally. The last may be a reference to the anti-terrorism fight enthusiastically championed by the leaders of the two impoverished countries. Mauritania has launched a crackdown on the vast northwest African state's Islamists, accusing them of links to the Al Qaeda network and jailing dozens of their most prominent leaders and religious teachers. Yemen, meanwhile is currently trying eight suspected Al Qaeda militants for plotting attacks on Western targets and for plotting to assassinate senior Yemeni officials. |
| Link |
| Africa: North |
| Mauritania busts GSPC cell |
| 2005-04-28 |
| The government of Mauritania claims to have arrested the leaders of a terrorist cell that the US military has linked to Al Qaeda. The detainees are allegedly part of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), close to the outlawed Armed Islamic Group (GIA) that has operated in neighbouring Algeria for more than a decade, said a government statement issued this week. "The dismantling of this structure has entered a new phase with the arrest on Monday ... of the main leaders of the organisation," read the statement. The statement said seven people had been arrested but police sources said 18 suspects had been placed under arrest in two days of raids against alleged Islamists. According to police, the detentions followed the departure a few weeks ago of 20 Mauritanians sent to train in guerrilla camps in the remote southern Algerian desert. Seven of them were arrested on their return to Mauritania, the others were on a wanted list, the statement added. According to US military intelligence, the GIA is close to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda movement, blamed for the 11 September 2002 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. Sources close to the Islamists told IRIN that the government has drawn up a wanted list of some 70 people that police have been given a special mandate to arrest. However, some on the list are political figures who were released from prison earlier this year after being implicated in a failed coup in June 2004. Since the failed rebellion against President Maaouiya Ould Taya, scores of political opponents have been arrested. The think-tank, International Crisis Group, said in a report early this month that Ould Taya had used the terrorist threat as a thinly veiled pretext to persecute his political opponents, but this had only served to fuel instability in the country. Oil has recently been discovered in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and diplomats say Ould Taya is keen to foster closer relations with the United States. |
| Link |
| East/Subsaharan Africa | ||||||||
| Mauritania rebel leader killed as coup fails | ||||||||
| 2003-06-09 | ||||||||
Forces loyal to Mauritania's president killed a rebel leader who was attempting to stage a coup in the west African country and ended the mutiny, the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper told CNN. Early Sunday, in violent street battles, government loyalist forces killed Col. Lamine Ouhd Ndeiane, the army chief who was leading the rebels, said Mohamed El Kouri of the newspaper Inimish al-Watan. Shortly after Ndeiane was killed, the coup attempt collapsed and rebel soldiers were arrested, El Kouri said.
Update, from Middle East On-Line... Residents of Nouakchott celebrated in the streets Monday after the government announced it had crushed a bid at the weekend to oust President Maaouiya Ould Taya. "Viva Maaouiya, viva Maaouiya," shouted residents as they drove through the city centre blasting their horns, after fresh fighting that had broken out at dawn in the northwest African city fizzled out.
| ||||||||
| Link |