Maybe you should reconsider that trip to the souq in Marrakech

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has made a flourishing business out of kidnapping foreigners in the western Sahara and Sahel. It's sort of like the landlocked version of the Somali pirates that always feature on the news. Millions of dollars are changing hands as governments and corporations are meeting the demands of the terrorists! Yes, terrorists. It seems to me that it's sort of like not disciplining a recalcitrant child, the more you do nothing and pander to his or her wishes, the worse off the community becomes. One U.S. military official has said, "Paying ransom for hostages held by al Qaeda in Africa just encourages more kidnappings and hands the militant network a global propaganda boost!"

Dealing with militants in this fashion also provides a propaganda boost to terrorist and teorrism, allowing AQIM to taunt the French government, saying the release of the Spanish hostages was a: "lesson for the French secret services to take into consideration in the future," referring to failed Mauritanian-French raid in Mali in July that aimed to rescue French hostage Michel Germaneau and in which seven AQIM members were killed. They had the chance to act responsibly and use their heads with the mujahedeen and avoid the madness and anger that led to the deaths of their citizens."

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Qaeda Group Threatens to Attack World Cup

The North African terror group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has threatened to attack this summer's World Cup games in South Africa. "How amazing could the match United States vs. Britain be when broadcasted live on air at a stadium packed with spectators when the sound of an explosion rumbles through the stands, the whole stadium is turned upside down and the number of dead bodies are in their dozens and hundreds, Allah willing," reads a statement the group published in a recent issue of the Jihadi online magazine Mushtaqun Lel Jannah (Longing to Paradise). The statement also highlights recent actions by the terrorism group such as the December suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian agent at a base in Eastern Afghanistan last December and the Christmas Day bombing attempt that resulted in the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian who has been cooperating with the FBI and providing information about his contacts in Yemen and the al Qaeda affiliate that operates there.

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North African states meet on al-Qaeda terror threat

Cooperation, coordination and the sharing of information and resources are all at the heart of intelligence-led policing and counter-insurgency operations, whether at interagency or international levels. Threats shared and fought together make the battle much easier. It is therefore heartening to see seven North African countries holding talks today in Algeria to plan a coordinated response to al-Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in the Sahara-Sahel region (shown above in yellow and orange, map courtesy of Wikipedia). The conference "indicates our shared will to take adequate and suitable steps in a coordinated manner" in response to the terror threat, "which has seen dangerous developments", said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.

An al-Qaeda offshoot in North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim), along with other criminal groups, has exploited the vast spaces of the Sahara and Sahel to hide from authorities after launching attacks or kidnapping foreigners. "Obviously, putting into place effective and multifaceted border cooperation between our countries is crucial," Medelci said before he and his counterparts or their deputies from Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger began talks behind closed doors. Medelci also condemned growing links between terror and criminal groups in the region that has seen a rise in weapons and drug smuggling.

• "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)", Anti-Defamation League, 2010.
• "Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb", Council on Foreign Relations, 7/21/09.
• "Islamist Terrorism in the Sahel: Fact or Fiction?", International Crisis Group, 3/31/05.
• "Maghreb" overview, LookLex Encyclopedia, 2010.
  
• "Sahara" overview, PBS, 2010.
  
• "Sahel" overview, PBS, 2010.

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Al Qaeda linked to rogue aviation network

In early 2008, an official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a report to his superiors detailing what he called "the most significant development in the criminal exploitation of aircraft since 9/11." The document warned that a growing fleet of rogue jet aircraft was regularly crisscrossing the Atlantic Ocean. On one end of the air route, it said, are cocaine-producing areas in the Andes controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. On the other are some of West Africa's most unstable countries.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, was ignored, and the problem has since escalated into what security officials in several countries describe as a global security threat. The clandestine fleet has grown to include twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and retired Boeing 727s that are flying multi-ton loads of cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of al-Qaeda are believed to be facilitating the smuggling of drugs to Europe, the officials say.

Gunmen and bandits with links to AQIM have also stepped up kidnappings of Europeans for ransom, who are then passed on to AQIM factions seeking ransom payments. The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tons of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funneled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe.

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