Al Qaeda Linked Ansar Dine In Mali Has Declared A Ceasefire

Reuters: Mali Islamist militant leader announces unilateral cease-fire

The head of the Islamist militant group Ansar Dine has agreed to cease attacks in Mali that have killed dozens of civilians, soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers this year, Mahmoud Dicko, president of the country's top Islamic body, said on Monday.

Attacks by al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine, one of the main Islamist groups operating in the West African nation, have spread to parts of the west and south previously considered secure, raising regional fears of a spillover in violence.

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WNU Editor: Only Reuters is carrying this story, but if true it is a step in the right direction.

Al Qaeda Documents Detail Plans On Mali

Telegraph Chief Foreign Correspondent David Blair (right) and two guides collect documents from a former al-Qaeda site in Timbuktu. One of the documents was part of a secret plan to politically hijack the Mali insurgency. Picture: Will Wintercross

Mali: Telegraph Finds al-Qaeda Plan In Timbuktu -- The Telegraph

A secret document revealing how al-Qaeda in north Africa planned to seize "command" of the jihadist struggle in the Sahara has been found by The Daily Telegraph in Timbuktu. Telegraph Chief Foreign Correspondent David Blair reports.

Al-Qaeda leaders might live as outlaws in the depths of the Sahara, but they remain sticklers for bureaucratic protocol. When the "prince" gathers his Council, a detailed note is taken and the meeting carefully numbered.

We know this because the record of the 33rd meeting of the leadership of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was found by the Daily Telegraph in Timbuktu. It shows that the group took a decision with profound consequences.

At that moment, 18 March 2012, guerrillas from the Tuareg minority and Ansar al-Dine, a jihadist group, were on the verge of capturing northern Mali. They had just taken a string of Saharan towns near the border with Algeria.

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More News On Al Qaeda Documents Found In Mali Detailing Their Intentions

Al-Qaeda plan for northern Mali revealed in document: report -- Al Arabiya
Al-Qaeda plan for northern Mali revealed: report -- AFP
Al-Qaeda’s strategic plans for taking north Mali discovered in Timbuktu -- Register/AP

Al-Qaeda Building Its Own Country

In Northern Mali, al-Qaeda Building Its Own Country -- Newser

(Newser) – Since the military coup in Mali earlier this year, al-Qaeda's influence in the African nation has increased—to the point that northern Mali, the largest territory held by the terror group, is now basically al-Qaeda's own country. The AP takes an extensive look, describing the elaborate series of tunnels, trenches, and other defenses erected by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its allies, Ansar Dine and MUJAO. The Islamist extremists are preparing for a war they say will be worse than Afghanistan, and have been stockpiling weapons, supplies, and fuel as well as training forces there.

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Update: Al-Qaeda carves out its own country in Mali -- USA Today/AP

My Comment: Al Qaeda certainly does not look like it is going away soon.

Al Qaeda Continues To Enforce Their Rule In Northern Mali

Inside al-Qaeda's New Home -- Sydney Morning Herald

The hardline Islamists have created a de facto state in Africa to export terror.

WHEN Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was ousted, many feared that al-Qaeda and the forces of extremist Islam could fill the resulting power vacuum. But it has not been in Libya, but deep in the Sahara of northern Mali that al-Qaeda has ultimately carved out its de facto state.

Since March, much of northern Mali has been beyond the control of the Malian government and in the hands of rebels who make no secret of their affiliation with al-Qaeda. Bolstered by an influx of former Gaddafi soldiers, and loaded up with weapons looted from his armouries, the rebels easily overwhelmed the Malian army's thinly spread Saharan garrisons. They now control a territory the size of France and more than 250,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring countries.

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My Comment: So much for the Washington consensus that Al Qaeda is on the run.

Al Qaeda Groups Are Expanding In North Africa

U.S. Ties Libya Attack to 'Powder Keg' in Mali -- Wall Street Journal

UNITED NATIONS—Mali has become an incubator for terrorist activity that demands urgent international attention, world leaders said Wednesday, as the U.S. drew its most explicit link between al Qaeda havens in such places and the recent attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Mali—and much of the broader North African region known as the Sahel—has turned the country into a "powder keg" for terrorist activity by al Qaeda's Saharan front, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions," Mrs. Clinton said at a scheduled meeting between senior government officials and heads of international groups held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. "And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi."

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My Comment: Secretary of State Clinton is right on this one .... and so much for the argument that Al Qaeda is "in retreat" or that it has been significantly "degraded".

Al Qaeda's New Stronghold In Africa

Graphic showing the areas of Mali which are now controlled by AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)

The New Al Qaeda Menace -- Bruce Riedel, National Interest

Al Qaeda has a new stronghold in Africa in northern Mali, its largest since the fall of Afghanistan in 2001. It has successfully gained the support of a local jihadist group, Ansar Dine, much as it partnered with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Algeria, Mali’s biggest neighbor, which has a long border with the new jihadist emirate, seems curiously unwilling to take action to address in the problem.

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My Comment: Sober reading on why radical islam and Al Qaeda is NOT DEAD.