DAR AL HARB / ISLAM - AFRICA: TRACKING JIHADISTS IN THE SAHARA

Tracking Down Jihadists in the Sahara
By Thierry Oberle

Al-Qa'idah is reinforcing its presence in Africa thanks to mobile bases that have been set up in the Sahel. The organization relies on the support of Algerian Salafi fighters to export jihad throughout the region. Algeria's GSPC [Salafi Group for Call and Combat], which has become Al-Qa'idah in the [Lands of the Islamic] Maghreb, is using the northern region or Mali as a sanctuary that is now the focus of Washington's fears.

Kidal, what the Pentagon calls the "new front of the war against terror," is reminiscent of the Desert of Tartars. The Touareg capital (a small town of a few thousand inhabitants) is surrounded by walls of black stone. It has a small fort, a former penal colony, a dreary vestige of French occupation and, in a pool in the prefecture's garden, a crocodile of an uncertain age that was bequeathed by a colonial civil servant.

In order to go to Kidal, you have to follow the route taken by the caravans that, at the time of Saharan trade, linked the Malian city of Gao to the Algerian town of In Salah. The trail, which is used by smugglers travelling at breakneck speeds, branches off towards the east in a path that disappears in the loose stones all the way to its final destination. The Algerian border is a few hours away by truck. Nothing grows here other than scrub. A military airplane lands once a week, weather permitting. There are no commercial flights. The landing strip serves as a meeting place for the local goats. It is barely distinguishable from the wide open spaces that extend into the horizon.

As in Dino Buzatti's novel, the enemy is invisible. Yet, Al-Qa'idah columns crisscross this part of the Sahara that Washington qualifies as "an emerging centre of terrorism". The United States, which is engaged in a partnership programme with the armies of neighbouring countries, is trying to set up an operational command on the African continent to counter this as yet diffuse threat.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Tracking Down Jihadists in the Sahara