ISIS And Al Qaeda Want To Make Africa Their New Home

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ISN Blog

Jacob Wirtschafter and Karim John Gadiaga, USA Today: Africa becomes the new battleground for ISIS and al-Qaeda as they lose ground in Mideast

CAIRO — A massive blast in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu on Oct. 14 and more recent terror attacks in Somalia, Niger and Egypt highlight Africa as a new battleground against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State as they are being driven out of the Middle East.

The Islamic State, or ISIS, is seeking a safe harbor after major losses in Iraq and Syria. And al-Qaeda looks to secure its future by expanding operations and alliances in the sub-Saharan region, analysts say.

“The collapse of the Islamic State’s stronghold in Raqqa (Syria) will cause a re-coalescence of fighters on the continent, most of whom come from North African countries,” said Ali Bakr, an analyst specializing in terrorism at Future Advanced Research, a think tank in Abu Dhabi.

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WNU Editor: North Africa is perfect for ISIS and Al Qaeda. A predominantly Muslim population. Wide spread poverty. Distrust of regional governments. Massive territories that are difficult to monitor. Yup .... Africa is perfect for these groups.

Al Qaeda Is Planning More Attacks In Africa

Feisal Omar/Reuters

Philip Obaji Jr., Daily Beast: Watch for More Attacks by al Qaeda’s Shock Troops in Africa

Nigeria announces the capture of ‘Ansaru’ chief Khalid al Barnawi. But al Qaeda’s men in Africa are still very dangerous indeed—especially to foreigners.

WARRI, Nigeria — First, they attacked the Madison Blu Hotel in Mali’s capital, Bamako, on Nov. 20, killing at least 21 people, most of whom were foreign nationals.

Less than two months later, the same group unleashed another batch of young militants on Burkina Faso’s popular Splendid Hotel and a neighboring café in the capital, Ouagadougou, killing 30 people, including eight Burkinabes, six Canadians, three Ukrainians, three French, and an American.

Then, in March, another batch of Islamist militants killed at least 19 people in a gun attack on a beach resort in southern Ivory Coast. Eleven Ivorians lost their lives, and four French citizens were among the dead, as well as one German, one Nigerian, one Macedonian, and one Lebanese.

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WNU Editor: Africa has always been fertile ground for Islamic extremists. Dysfunctional governments, large land masses to hide, a sympathetic population .... perfect for a group like Al Qaeda to settle down and to grow.

US Terror Map Reorienting Towards Africa's 'Arc Of Instability'

Al-Qaeda and Africa’s ‘Arc of Instability’ – Crisis in Mali and arms from Libya are feeding a Jihadist network stretching across N. Africa, al-Qaeda’s new center of gravity. Studies cite evidence AQIM is recruiting jihadists to Mali from across region, including Polisario-run camps near Tindouf, Algeria. Morocco on the Move

Commando Raids: Africa's 'Arc Of Instability' Reorienting US terror map -- Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor

Weak or failed states in northern Africa, described as an 'arc of instability' by US officials, are emerging as a new epicenter of terror activity, the weekend commando raids indicate.

The two US commando raids carried out in Somalia and Libya over the weekend underscore how Africa and its weak or failed states are increasingly the focus of American counterterrorism activity.

The State Department added another focal point to that African counterterrorism campaign Monday with the addition of Egypt’s Muhammad Jamal Network and its founder Muhammad Jamal, an associate of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, to the US global terrorist list.

The Muhammad Jamal Network has close ties to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and has established terrorist training camps in Egypt and Libya, according to the State Department.

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My Comment: As I have mentioned in many posts before .... this lawless region is a perfect breeding ground for Islamic militants.

The African Desert Is A Perfect Place For Terror Groups To Grow

Africa Desert Helps Breed Radicals, From Al Shabab To Boko Haram To Mr. Marlboro -- Christian Science Monitor

'Sahelistan' is what the French foreign minister calls the sub-Saharan zone of Sahel. Al Qaeda-linked groups from places like Mail and Nigeria have been driven into hiding there and hit Western targets. The zone may become a 'breeding ground' for terrorists, says the UN Security Council.

Africa's Sahel belt is a 600-mile-wide semiarid zone stretching from Senegal in the west to Somalia in the east. The vast, seemingly ungovernable terrain has become a sanctuary for Islamist militants.

After the Arab Spring, and then at the end of Muammar Qaddafi's dictatorship, many hoped for an end to terror in the Sahel.

Instead, weapons spilling out of Libya and ongoing military efforts to drive Al Qaeda-linked groups from places like Mali and Nigeria have hardened Islamist fighters here. This in turn has increased the risk of violence across the region.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has called the area "Sahelistan," likening it to remote areas in Afghanistan where US troops struggled for years to pin down the Taliban. The French Army in January intervened whole-scale in Mali to drive Islamist radicals out.

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My Comment: The territory in question is massive .... almost the size of Europe. A perfect place to hide and/or for a terror group to organize and train.

Africa Is Becoming The New Terrorist Training Ground

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(Graphic: Craig Whitlock and Laris Karklis/Washington Post)

The New Terrorist Training Ground -- Yochi Dreazen, The Atlantic

Last year, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb did something no other modern terrorist group has: conquered a broad swath of a sovereign country—Mali. Since then, despite French intervention, northern Mali has become a jihadist front, with Islamist militants flowing in from around the world. While America remains focused on threats from the Middle East and South Asia, the new face of terror is likely to be African.

Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, is a place of extremes. It’s a sprawl of one- and two-story mud-brick houses that lack power lines and running water, but it’s also home to the garish, McMansion-style estates of Cocainebougou, or “Cocaine Town,” a deserted neighborhood that once belonged to Arab drug lords who controlled the region’s smuggling routes for hashish and cocaine but fled, fearing reprisals from local citizens who blamed them for the Islamist invasion. The city has few high schools and no universities, but many of Mali’s leading guitarists and percussionists learned their craft in Gao’s decades-old youth orchestras; it is a proudly secular city that also houses the Tomb of Askia, one of the oldest mosques in Africa, built in the 15th century to honor a regional ruler. Gao was for centuries best known as the capital of the ancient Songhai Empire, which once controlled a region larger than present-day Mali. In the summer of last year, an al‑Qaeda affiliate known as AQIM, for “al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” took over Gao and made it the capital of the rump state the group created after forcing the Malian army out of the north. Months earlier, the Tuareg, a separatist minority long bent on independence, had laid the groundwork for AQIM and its Islamist allies when they captured the city. When I visited northern Mali in March of this year, a black-metal billboard the extremists had erected on the main road leading into the city was still welcoming visitors to the “Islamic City of Gao.”

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My Comment: This article is prophetic because it was posted before the Nairobi Westgate Mall Massacre and siege. And while this author focuses on the growth of radical Islamists in norther Mali .... the trend of what is happening in Mali can also be used to explain the growth of al Shabaab in Somalia.

Al Qaeda Continues To Expand In North Africa

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Al Qaeda's Widening North African Jihad Confounds Foes -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Inquiries into the bloody assault on an Algerian gas plant are uncovering increasing evidence of contacts between the assailants and the jihadis involved in killing the U.S. ambassador to Libya nearly a year ago.

The extent of the contacts between the militants is still unclear and nobody is sure there was a direct link between the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the carnage at In Amenas, where 39 foreign hostages were killed in January.

But the findings, according to three sources with separate knowledge of U.S. investigations, shed some light on the connections between Al Qaeda affiliates stretching ever further across North and West Africa.

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My Comment: I am not surprised by Al Qaeda's growth in North Africa. Failed states. Poverty. Islamic militancy. Access to weaponry. Disaffected and frustrated men. A perfect place for Al Qaeda. But what confounds me is reading stories like this one .... Britain's foreign aid has fallen into hands of al-Qaeda, DfiD admits. This I do not understand.

Has Al Qaeda In Africa Obtained Portable Aint-Aircraft Missiles?

WNU Editor:  AP is now reporting that Al Qaeda in Africa has obtained heat seeking missiles .... probably from Libya. If true .... this becomes a disturbing development on Al Qaeda's capabilities in the region .... and the fact that they may now target passenger airlines. The full AP report is here.

Was Al Qaeda's Top North African Leader Killed In Mali?

Abou Zeid killed: Abdelhamid Abou Zeid speaks in an unknown location in this still image taken from a undated file video footage obtained from Sahara Media on March 1, 2013. Sahara Media via Reuters

Abou Zeid Killed? Local Malians Say It Happened, But French Not So Sure -- Christian Science Monitor

Abou Zeid killed: Sources in Mali that Al Qaeda commander Abdelhamid Abou Zeid was killed four days ago as French and Malian forces continued their pursuit of Islamist militants in the northern part of the country.

One of al Qaeda's most feared commanders in Africa has been killed by French air strikes in north Mali, sources close to Islamist militants and tribal elders said on Friday, but France said it could not confirm this.

The local sources said Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, blamed for kidnapping at least 20 Western hostages in the Sahara desert in recent years, was among 40 militants killed four days ago in the foothills of the Adrar des Ifoghas mountains.

About 1,200 French troops and 800 Chadian soldiers are hunting down pockets of al Qaeda-linked insurgents in the border region with Algeria after a seven-week French-led ground-and-air operation broke Islamist domination of northern Mali.

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More News On Reports That Al Qaeda's North African Chief Was Killed In Mali

Chad says al Qaeda commander killed in Mali, France cautious -- Reuters
Saharan al Qaeda Commander Reported Killed -- Wall Street Journal
Prominent al Qaeda figure in Mali killed by French, Chadian forces -- CNN
Chad Says Forces Killed Top Al-Qaida Commander -- Voice of America
Al-Qaeda's Abou Zeid killed in Mali - Chad's Deby -- BBC
Mali - North African al-Qaeda chief killed? -- Deutsche Welle
Al Qaeda's Abou Zeid 'killed by Chadian troops' -- France 24

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.

A Benghazi Connection To Last Week's Algerian Hostage Crisis

Satellite Images by Digital Globe and CNES/Spot Image via Google

Some Algeria Attackers Are Placed At Benghazi -- New York Times

ALGIERS — Several Egyptian members of the squad of militants that lay bloody siege to an Algerian gas complex last week also took part in the deadly attack on the United States Mission in Libya in September, a senior Algerian official said Tuesday.

The Egyptians involved in both attacks were killed by Algerian forces during the four-day ordeal that ended in the deaths of at least 38 hostages and 29 kidnappers, the official said. But three of the militants were captured alive, and one of them described the Egyptians’ role in both assaults under interrogation by the Algerian security services, the official said.

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My Comment: The international nature of international terror groups is nothing new .... but what I do find interesting is that on the day that Sec. of State Clinton is to answer questions on Benghazi that this story gets published by the New York Times.

U.S. Africom General: There Is Probably An Al Qaeda Connection To The Libya Consulate Attack

Photo: Africom General Carter Ham

Qaeda Links To Militants In Libya Envoy Attack: U.S. General -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Militants who killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya in September probably had links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the top U.S. general in Africa said on Wednesday, warning that a growing threat from the group must be urgently addressed.

General Carter Ham, head of the United States' Africa Command, said that a military plan unveiled on Sunday by West African regional bloc ECOWAS to dislodge AQIM from northern Mali still needed detailed work, and any intervention would probably take "some months to prepare".

Ham, in Paris to meet French officials to discuss issues including the Mali crisis, expressed concern at mounting al Qaeda influence in the region and beyond.

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Update #1:  US general says Al-Qaeda offshoot threatens Europe, US -- AFP
Update #2: US: Al-Qaida link to consulate attackers in Libya -- AP

My Comment: General Carter Ham is NOT buying the anti-Muslim video excuse.

U.S. Preparing To Escalate It's Covert War In Africa

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The African network

The U.S. military has established small air bases across Africa to spy on al-Qaeda affiliates and other militant groups. Shaded areas indicate the presence of those groups, according to U.S. Africa Command.

US 'Begins Drawing Up Targets In Response To Benghazi Attack' -- The Telegraph

America has begun drawing up potential targets in Libya ahead of a possible retaliatory strike with drones or special forces following the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, it was claimed.

The US military's secret Joint Special Operations Command has reportedly begun preparing "target packages" – lists of suspected militants to present to the White House – in response to the September 11 attack, which killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

The claim comes as the US State Department was accused by Republicans in Congress of turning down repeated security requests from US diplomats in Libya who believed the lightly-guarded site was a vulnerable target.

While the US has deployed extra marines to embassies across the region it has not yet responded militarily to the killings in Benghazi.

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More News On The U.S. Preparing To Escalate It's Covert War In Africa

White House widening covert war in North Africa -- AP
White House Secret Meetings Examine al-Qaeda Threat In North Africa -- Washington Post
U.S. considers drone strikes in North Africa -- Reuters
Report: U.S. Weighing Drone Strikes in North Africa -- Defense News/AFP
Military Stands Ready to Help African Partners, Little Says -- US Department of Defense
US 'to deploy drones to launch air strikes against al-Qaeda in Mali' -- The Telegraph
Drones and Proxies: The Expanding War Plans for North Africa -- Antiwar.com
Washington Post Adds to Report on US Pursuing Force Options Against AQIM in Africa -- Lawfare
No secret, U.S. wants in on North African counterterrorism -- E-Ring/Foreign Policy

My Comment: No public debate. No Congressional input. Limited if absent media coverage. No outcry or protest from academia/anti-war movements/human rights organization.

U.S. Officials Voice Their Concerns On Al Qaeda's Growing Influence In Africa

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The African network

The U.S. military has established small air bases across Africa to spy on al-Qaeda affiliates and other militant groups. Shaded areas indicate the presence of those groups, according to U.S. Africa Command.

White House Secret Meetings Examine al-Qaeda Threat In North Africa -- Washington Post

The White House has held a series of secret meetings in recent months to examine the threat posed by al-Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa and consider for the first time whether to prepare for unilateral strikes, U.S. officials said.

The deliberations reflect concern that al-Qaeda’s African affiliate has become more dangerous since gaining control of large pockets of territory in Mali and acquiring weapons from post-revolution Libya. The discussions predate the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. compounds in Libya but gained urgency after the assaults there were linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM.

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My Comment: Al Qaeda's victory in northern Mali early this year and the continuing deadly campaign of Boko Haraom in Nigeria were my red flags that Al Qaeda was growing and expanding (and winning) in the conflicts that they were focusing on in Africa. Hmmmm .... it seems that I was not alone in expressing these concerns as mirrored by these now public secret White House meetings.