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African army chiefs unite against desert terrorism
13.04.2010 - AP

ALGIERS, Algeria — Army chiefs from seven African nations gathered Tuesday in Algiers to coordinate efforts against a regional al-Qaida offshoot and arms and drugs traffickers that roam across their porous common borders in the Sahara. Their goal is to boost cross-border patrols and surveillance, so that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, and other criminal groups can't increase their footprint over the no man's land stretching across the Sahara, the world's largst desert ... mehr

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Birgitt

Meeting Tuesday in Algiers of Chiefs of Staff of the Sahel

ALGIERS - The chiefs of staff from seven countries of the Sahel-Saharan Africa will meet Tuesday in Algiers to assess the security situation in the region, said Monday a statement of the Algerian Ministry of Defense. mehr...

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Alexander

The Sahara's New Cargo: Drugs and Radicalism
16.04.2010 - ISN

A fusion of illicit money-making and radical politics is turning the big empty spaces of the western half of the Sahara into a profound security challenge, says Stephen Ellis for openDemocracy. It is not often that the words “cocaine” and “al-Qaida” are plausibly linked. But these two forces are turning the western half of the Sahara – approximately from southern Libya to the Atlantic coast - into a locus of illicit money-making and radical politics. The development, quite a feat for a sparsely populated region, presents a challenge that the rich states to the north cannot afford to ignore ... mehr

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Birgitt

Saharan states to open joint military headquarters
21.04.2010 - BBC

Four Saharan desert states are to open a joint command headquarters in Algeria to co-ordinate efforts to counter the growing regional threat from al-Qaeda. The Joint Military Staff Committee of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger will be based in Tamanrasset. They want to increase co-operation and move towards joint operations against terrorism, kidnappings and trafficking. Militants have exploited a lack of co-ordination in the past, evading capture by crossing from one state to another. The US and other Western countries have warned that unless the governments of the region join forces, al-Qaeda could turn the Sahara desert into a safe haven and use it as a base for launching large-scale attacks ... mehr

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Birgitt

Morocco 'dismantles al-Qaeda cell'
26.04.2010 - aljazeera

An al-Qaeda-linked network, believed to have been planning assassinations and other attacks in Morocco, has been broken up by security forces, the kingdom's government said. Security forces have arrested 24 people suspected of involvement with the network in recent days, the Moroccan interior ministry said on Monday ... mehr
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Mutmaßliches Terrornetzwerk zerschlagen
24 Festnahmen - Regierung: Verdächtige rekrutierten auch für Afghanistan und Irak
26.04.2010 - Standard

Rabat - Die marokkanischen Sicherheitskräfte haben ein mutmaßliches Terrornetzwerk mit Verbindungen zur Al-Kaida enttarnt und 24 Verdächtige festgenommen. Das Netzwerk sei, wie erste Ermittlungen ergaben, kurz davor gestanden, Verbrechen und Sabotageakte gegen die Sicherheitsbehörden zu verüben, erklärte am Montag das Innenministerium in Rabat. Zudem habe die Gruppe marokkanische Kämpfer für Aktionen in Afghanistan, im Irak, in Somalia sowie in Gebieten der Sahelzone und der Sahara rekrutiert. Die Anwärter wären kurz vor der Abreise in die genannten Gebiete gestanden ... mehr


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Birgitt

Morocco seeks French national after Qaeda arrests
28.04.2010 - expatica

Anti-terrorist investigators in Morocco believe a French citizen was the brains behind an Al-Qaeda linked cell they smashed this month, a judicial source said Wednesday. Investigators believe Moroccan-born Ahmed Sahnouni "is suspected of leading this cell from France," the source said, but gave no more details. Police are searching for the man, following the arrest of 24 members of what the interior ministry on Monday described as a "terrorist network linked to Al-Qaeda" who were preparing to attack Moroccan interests ... mehr
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Sahara wird multinational mit westlicher Anleitung militarisiert
28.04.2010 - radio utopie

Schlagkräftige neue Sahara-Armee – grosses Militärlager und Hauptquartier in Tamanrasset in Algerien – fürchterliche Anschläge werden vom Westen prophezeit

Presseberichten zufolge berichtete das staatliche Fernsehen in Algerien gestern, dass die Truppenstärke einer gemeinsam von den vier Sahara-Anrainerstaaten Algerien, Mali, Mauretanien und Niger geschaffene militärischen Infrastruktur massiv ausgebaut wird. Das gemeinsame Kommando, welches unbekannte Milizen unter dem Label “Al-Quaida” bekämpfen soll, soll demnach die Truppenstärke auf 75000 Soldaten verdreifachen ... mehr

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Birgitt

North Africa: US Counter Terrorism Plan Hits a Snag
29.04.2010 - moroccoboard

Washington / Morocco Board News Service - Is Algeria’s approach to counter terrorism hampering the American efforts to contain and eradicate terrorism in the North and West Africa? Few recent developments give the impression that the United States is not content with the Algerian government’s recent plans” to control” the security situation in the Sahara and Sahel regions. The Algerian military flawed plans to secure the Sahel region has more to do with portraying an image of Algeria as the regional power house in North West Africa than setting up an effective military and political entity capable of countering an ever menacing enemy that continues to strike at whim ... mehr

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Birgitt

US starts anti-al-Qaeda military exercise in Sahara

A major joint military exercise with countries around the volatile Sahara desert region is beginning as part of a US programme of counter-terrorism. mehr...

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Alexander

A Mauritania terrorist, member of the GSPC, extradited from Niger
03.05.2010 - ennahar

Nouakchott - A suspected Mauritanian terrorist, Taghi Ould Youssef, who was targeted by an international arrest warrant and arrested in Niger in late 2009, was extradited from Niamey in the night from Sunday to Monday and returned to the Mauritanian authorities, security sources said on Monday ... mehr

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Birgitt

Neue und alte Fronten in Westafrika
07.05.2010 - zenith

Es ist ein alljährliches Spektakel. Seit den 1990er Jahren führen die US-Streitkräfte militärische Übungen mit verschiedenen afrikanischen Staaten durch. Seit 2005 haben Manöver unter dem Namen »Flintlock« ihren Schwerpunkt auf den »globalen Kampf gegen den Terror« verlagert. An den Übungen sind regelmäßig bis zu 1000 amerikanische, europäische und afrikanische Elite-Soldaten beteiligt, die damit beauftragt sind, einen »Grundpfeiler der regionalen Sicherheit und Stabilität« zu schaffen. Vom 3. bis zum 23. Mai 2010 richten die US-Militärs vom 2007 geschaffenen »Africa Command« (USAFRICOM) ein multinationales Kommandozentrum in der burkinischen Hauptstadt Ouagadougou ein und koordinieren von dort aus das gemeinsame Vorgehen.

Im Vorfeld hat die Ankündigung, dass sich weder Marokko Algerien an »Flintlock 10« beteiligen werden, den Sinn des länderübergreifenden Manövers in Frage gestellt. Gleichzeitig hat die Nachricht aber auch einen der regionalen Konflikte zwischen den nordafrikanischen Staaten wieder ins Bewusstsein der internationalen Gemeinschaft gerufen ... mehr

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Birgitt

US Special forces train African armies
11.05.2010 - AP

KATI, Mali — A U.S. Special Forces instructor leans toward a steering wheel, showing some 50 Malian soldiers gathered around an army pickup how a passenger should take control of a car if the driver is killed in an ambush. The elite Malian troops look on, perplexed. "But what can we do if we don't know how to drive?" asks Sgt. Amadou, echoing many of his colleagues' concern. There are a few laughs, but the Malians are not joking; most of their unit does not know how. The lack of ability to perform such a basic task illustrates part of the huge knowledge gap the U.S. military is seeking to bridge in Africa as it trains local armies to better face the region's mounting threats ... mehr

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Birgitt

Security Brief: The 'urgent' choking of al Qaeda's money supply
12.05.2010 - CNN

Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part blog series on terrorist finances. In Part 1 we'll look at al Qaeda’s challenging financial situation. In Part 2 we'll examine at the Taliban’s money trail and in Part 3 we'll look at international co-operation (or sometimes the lack-thereof) in tracking terrorist financing [...]

The U.S. Treasury Department may not have drones, but don’t underestimate the power of the pen in the battle with al Qaeda. Persistent pressure on the group’s sources of money over the past few years has left it “in significant financial distress,” says US Assistant Treasury Secretary David Cohen. “And we are urgently working to make it worse.” [...] Then there is al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is active in parts of Algeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. U.N. and U.S. officials are concerned that AQIM – is looking to make money from guarding illicit drugs as they cross North Africa to Europe. AQIM and ‘fellow travelers’ are already involved in kidnapping and extortion. In April, a Frenchman and his driver were kidnapped in Niger; AQIM subsequently said it was holding him. Four European hostages were released last year – for undisclosed sums ... mehr

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Birgitt

Droukdal surrounded by special forces on the heights of Bejaia

The special forces of the Popular National Army (PNA) have managed to eliminate a dangerous terrorist in the area of Zekri, in the porvince of Bejaia, and recover a Kalashnikov and a firearm. mehr...

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Alexander

Mauritanian trio allegedly bound for AQIM camps in Mali

Mauritanian counterterrorism police arrested three young men for suspected links with al-Qaeda terrorists in northern Mali, ANI reported on Thursday (May 13th). According to security sources, the unidentified men were apprehended Wednesday night at a Nouakchott bus station as they attempted to travel to Kaedi, in southern Mauritania. They allegedly planned to join AQIM training camps in Mali.

Quelle: Magharebia

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Alexander

Three terrorists killed in Jijel

ALGER- Three gunmen were killed by Algerian security forces on Friday morning about 350 km east of Algiers, reported Saturday several Algerians newspapers.

These terrorists were killed at approximately 4:30 am local time (03:30 GMT) in El Ancer, near the town of Jijel, in an ambush by the army, according to the press.
Several weapons, including rifles, were recovered after the operation, said the government daily El Mujahid (French) citing a security source.

Quelle: Ennahar

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Alexander