Al Qaeda's New Safe Haven

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Graphic: Where Extremism Reigns

'Darker Sides': The Vast Islamist Sanctuary of 'Sahelistan' -- Paul Hyacinthe Mben, Jan Puhl and Thilo Thielke, Spiegel Online

France is advancing quickly against the Islamists in northern Mali, having already made it to Timbuktu. But the Sahel offers a vast sanctuary for the extremists, complete with training camps, lawlessness and plenty of ways to make money.

There is an old church in the Niger River town of Diabaly. It was built in the days when Mali was still a colony known as French Sudan. The stone cross on the gable of the church had never bothered anyone since the French left 50 years ago and Mali became independent, even though some 90 percent of Malians are Muslim.

Now, what is left of the cross lies scattered on the ground. For the Islamists who overran Diabaly two weeks ago, bringing down the stone symbol was worth a bazooka round. They also smashed the altar and toppled wooden statuettes of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

But their reign of terror in Diabaly lasted only a few days -- until the French returned. Acting on orders of French President François Hollande, French troops fired on the Islamists' pickup trucks from the air, striking them one at a time with apparent surgical precision. According to local residents, not a single civilian died in the airstrikes.

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My Comment: This part of Africa is a better safe haven for Al Qaeda than Pakistan or Yemen .... it is the size of Europe .... and it is also a place where they can get rich. It also now makes sense on why the U.S. wants to establish a drone base in the middle of this region.