Is Al Qaeda On The Rise On Africa?

Al-Qaeda Branch’s Image Soars After Hostage Drama In Algeria -- Washington Post

A week of violence in Algeria and Mali has transformed al-Qaeda’s North Africa branch into a cause celebre for militant Islamists around the globe, boosting recruitment and fundraising for the jihadists and spurring fears of further terrorist attacks in the region and beyond.

Even after suffering tactical defeats in both countries in recent days, the movement known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is being lionized in Internet chat rooms and in official statements by extremist groups, some of which are urging reprisal campaigns against Western interests.

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My Comment: So .... I guess that it is only in an Al Qaeda chat room where all the Al Qaeda attackers are either killed or captured that such a defeat is treated as a great victory.

Go figure.

Out Of Africa: A Growing Threat To Europe From al-Qaeda's New Allies

From The Times Online:

It is a vast expanse of desert where conditions are so inhospitable that almost no one lives there. But for al-Qaeda – on the run in Iraq and under attack in Pakistan and Afghanistan – this stretch of the Algerian Sahara has proved fertile ground in its quest to open a new front on Europe’s southern doorstep.

Intelligence sources and Western diplomats have told The Times that a new force – an Algerian group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Land of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) – aims to create an arc of influence throughout North Africa by spreading Osama bin Laden’s “brand” through a fusion of disparate fundamentalist groupings.

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My Comment: Since Algeria's War Of Independence, this region of Africa has always been under turmoil and conflict. The players are the same, the only thing different is the name and maybe there targets (i.e. Europe and the U.S.)