The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutCC 2011-11-17 AdvertisementTHE MIAMI HERALD I MiamiHerald.com WORLD AL-OAIDA IN AFRICA MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7,.2011 1 17A World fears mount as al- Qaida digs deeper into Africa • An AI-Oaida group has spread its operations across Africa's the formidable Sahara, drawing the attention of Western powers. BY ALAN BOSWELL McOatchy News Service NIAMEY, Niger —InJan- uary 2009, Yaou Maly9.on, a Tuareg tour guide from Ni- ger, was coming off a lucra- tiveweek. His three -car con- voy carrying four European advnturists sped along the Sahara's Mali -Niger border. Suddenly, the first one veered off and pulled a U- turn. The back two, not quick enough to respond, fell into an ambush. The eight shrouded ban- dits demanded Mahaman's four clients — two Swiss, a German and a Briton. They were then sold to North Af- rica's al-Qaida affiliate as hostages. The Briton was later killed, and the other three eventually released, along with two Canadian diplomats working for the United Nations who had been captured in Niger a month earliearlier."We didn't realize fast enough what was happen- ing,"Mahamanrecalls, near ly three years after the am- bush. "They had never tar- geted tourists before." The abduction of tourists was not a first, but where it took place was: nearly 300 miles south of Algeria, where an Islamist rebel group had rebranded itself in 2007 as AlQaida in the ls- lamic Maghreb (AQIM). The earlier kidnapping of the Canadian diplomats took place even farther so uth, in Niger al-Qaida branch had accomplished a notable feat, moving its operations across the Sahara, the trans- continental desert that throughout history has stopped empires in their tracks and for millennia kept black Africa separated from Eurasia. Embassies fretted. Tour- ism Wished. Researchers warned of the Africaniza- tion of al-Qaida The expansion drew the ttention of Western pow- ers, with the U.S. increasing to $150 million a year its counterterrorism supportto poor governments in the re- gion, most of which are clos- er to France, the area's for- mer colonial power. France, too, took action. In February last year, a se - or French diplomat told U.S. officials in Paris that AQIM was now his coun- try's No. 1 priority on the continent, according to a diplomatic able published by Wi dleaks. AQIMwas backunder the spotlight this past summer, attempting four suicide bombings over two months in northern Algeria, culmi- nating in a twin -suicide blast on Aug. 26 that struck Algeria's premier military academy in Cherchell, Idll- ing 18. And many now fear that the group could get a boost from the war in Libya, which hasunleashednewweapons from Gadhafi's armories, and sent thousands of pro- Gadhafimercenaresandla- borers back to their home countries bordering the Sahara Analysts disagree over how serious a threat AQIM is, but in just a few years, what started as a domestic Algerian movement now commands the attention of giobal powers. LEAST UNDERSTOOD Withits deserthideaways and shadowy movements, AQIM is one of the world's least understood and most opaque jihadist organiza- tions. Analysts argue with one another about its com- mitment to giobal jihadism, whether it wants to expand outside Algeria, and even whether the group is based on ideology or just another criminal gang looking to make money. JeanPierre Filiu, a French academic in Paris, uses the term "gangster jihadism" to describe the group, saying it mixes traditional al-Qaida goals with revenue-generat- s mvut nNIEL/MP-sAGES)/ NEW THREAT: Troops in Mali patrol after a summer military raiddislodged AQIM from its base in the Wagadou forest, 300 miles northeast of Bamako. The Al-Qaida branch's growth in the area has caused nations to raise concerns. ing illicit activity. "They are the jihadi organization that has been the farthest in this path. It is very peculiar to AQIM," Filiu said. U.S. officials say the ran- soms that other Westernna- tions have paid for the re- lease of AQIM's hostages are its primary source of money. Next in line is in- come from smuggling, largely moving Latin Amer- ican along routes that take it to Europe. Army Gen. Carter Ham, head of the U.S. Africa Com- mand based in Stuttgart, Germany, has been the U.S.'s most vocal official pro- claiming AQIM a threat. "We view the threat posed by al-Qaida in the Is- lamic Maghreb as a very se- rious threat not only to Afri- can people but to us as well," Ham said in August A month later, he said in- telligence estimates sug- gestedthat alQaida's global affiliates and emulators — including AQIM, Boko Ha ram in Nigeria and the Sha bab movement in Somali — may be gaining strength even as the core al-Qaid command is weakening. "That's what I see in Afri ca and that's what concern me in Africa," Ham said. NOTICE OF AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF MIAMI COMPREHENSIVE ZONING ORDINANCE ANY PERSONWHO RECEIVES COMPENSATION, REM UNERATION OR EXPENSES FOR CONDUCTING LOBBYING ACTIVITIES IS REQUIRED TO REGISTER AS A LOBBYIST WITH THE CITY CLERK PRIOR TO ENGAGING IN LOBBYINGACTIVITIES BEFORE CITY STAFF, BOARDS, COMMITTEES OR THE CITY COMMISSION. A COPY OF THE APPLICABLE ORDINANCE IS AVAILABLE IN THE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK (MIAMI CITY HALL), LOCATED AT 3500 PAN AMERICAN DRNE, MIAMI, FLORIDA, 33133. AT THE SCHEDULED MEETING OF THE COMMSSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17 2011 AT MIAMI CITY HALL 3500 PAN AMERICAN DRIVE, THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION WILL CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING ITEMS RELATED TO THE PLANNING AND ZONING AGENDA. NOT BEFORE 200 PM: File ID 11-00690rc CHANGING THEZONING FROM "T5-L"AND "T6-8-0"TO "T5-0" FOR SOUTH PORBON ONLY AT 690 SW8 ST. Copies of the proposed resolutions and ordinances are available for review at Hearing Beards, 444 SW 21Avenue, T. Floor, during regular working hours. Phone: (305) 416-2030. The Miami City Commission requests all interested parties be present or represented at this meeting and are invited to express their views. In accordance with the Americans with Disabii'ties Act of 1990, all persons who require special accommodations in order to participate in this meeting should contact the Office of the City Clerk at (305) 250-5360 at least three business days prior to the proceeding. Should any person desire to appeal any decision of the City Commission with respect to any matter to be considered at this meeting, that person shall ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made including all testimony and evidence upon which any appeal may be based (F/S 286.0105). Hearing Boards (Ad No. 11607) ®4 95 EXPRESS PUBLIC INFORMATION OPEN HOUSES The Florida Department of Transportation will host two open houses for the upcoming 95 Express Phase 2 project, scheduled to begin November 28, 2011. Tuesday, November 15, 2011 6 p.m.-8 p.m. International Game Fish Association 300 Gulf Stream Way, Dania Beach, FL Wednesday, November 16, 2011 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Trinity Church 17801 NW 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL Pubic participation is solicited without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex. religion, disability or family status. For additional information about these meetings, if you need special accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), or if you require translation services (free of charge), please contact Tish Burgher at least seven business days before the meetings, at 954-325-8022. While the summer at- tacks inAlgeria showedthat the group's northern wing was still active, it's the group's expansion south that most alarms Washington. CROSSING CONTINENT The m into what is known as the Sahel — the sparsely vegetated belt squeezed between central Africa's tropics and the Sa- hara —was spurred by a mix of desperation and oppor- tunism. A crackdown by Al- gerian authorities in 2008 severely weakened the group, but the desolate Sa- haran dunes, porous bor- ders, and weak govern- ments to the south also proved a vast safe haven and valuable money sources. Now there are worries that the group is strengthen- ing its ties to black Africa, and other like-minded jiha- dist groups, Nigeria's Boko Haram in particular. The Aug. 26 blast in Cherchell came just afew hours after a more headline -grabbing suicide attack by Boko Ha - am against the headquar- ters of the United Nations in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, that killed 23. In Washington, Ham said the intent to collaborate was especially strong between AQIM and Boko Haram, which was blamed for a blast on Saturday that killed at least 67 people in Nigeria. That, however, is not a universally -held opinion, even within the U.S. govern- ment. A State Department offidal specializing on secu- rity in the region down- played the links between the groups, aging the contacts between the two "episodic." Andrew Lebovich, an an- alyst at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington research group, said"thepublicevidence" of collaboration "is too thin to draw that kind of conclusion." "The U.S. and other gov- ernments seem pretty con- vinced, but it's pretty diffi- cult to confirm without ac- cess to the class hied materi- al," he said. Boko Haram remains a very Nigerian organization, and AQIM — despite its global jihadist rhetoric — renains largelyellgerian-fo- sed, with an Algerian leadership, he noted Some analysts point out that regional governments have an incentive to play up the terrorist threat in their countries — attracting more Western aid. That effect could have been on display whnin September, the gov- ernment of Niger took ad- vantage of the rare presence of foreign reporters cover- ing the arrival in Niamey of Moammar Gadhafi's son Saadi to announce a major clash with AQIM forces in northern Niger, in which it claimed to have aptured59 mots. re "'That report was not true at all They were just plain migrants. The drivers were armed for protection," said Col. Maj. Garbs Maikido, the governor of Agadez, the region where the clash sup- posedly took place. "The central government has definitely been playing the terrorism card very openly in Niamey," Lebov- ich said. In northern Niger, the Tuareg community says the group's radical theology and Arab culture clashes with its own fiercely -independent Berber identity, although some members of the com- munity admitted that Tua- reg smugglers may have connections. Still, AQIM may have found an entrepreneurial way of financing its terrorist operations through its crim- inal networks. Filiu, the French scholar, said that although AQIM still technically remains affiliate of the global net- work, ithas notpledged alle- gince to alQaida's current leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, andno longer has active ties with al-Qaida's Afghani- stan -Pakistan central com- mand. "They still speak global, but they act more and more local," Filiu said. But Flliu said, conditions can a change, especially with thousands ofnew refu- gees forced from Libya. MED MEDEYE ASSOCIATES SURGERY RND DISEASE Of THE EVE If you or someone you know has KERATCONUS or ECTASIA (corneal thinning) after Lasik There is now a non -surgical treatment to strengthen the cornea. Corneal Collagen Cross -Linking MedEye Associates is now able to help cornea thinning from Keratoconus and progressive corneal thinning after Lasik with a non-invasive technique called cornea cross -linking. This is done in the office using topical drops of Riboflavin activated by UV light to strengthen the thinned cornea. To schedule an evaluation or for more information, please call: MedEye Associates 305-665-6973 5950 Sunset Drive Miami, FL 33143 r .r ' ;