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Out of sight - AQ in the Sahara
Stephen Ellis, a scholar at the Free University Amsterdam, has a very good article on Open Democracy about what extremists are up to in the Sahara.
"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."
I spent some time in Mali not so long ago and thought it was one of those places that could suddenly become a "hot spot". At which point everyone would sit around scratching their heads saying, "Wow, we didn't know. That came from no-where". Well, it has been building and some of that has been reported. Stephen's article will give you a good round up on what's happened so far and what the situation is at the moment.
If suddenly something horrible were to happen and all attention turned to the Sahel, I'm pretty sure that we will hear the usual thing about how all Muslims - whether in the Middle East, Asia or Africa - are all violent mental cases who follow a religion that tells them to kill and dance in blood etc etc. That will be pretty annoying. So, I'm also posting an article I wrote while out there about the spread of extremism in the region and the reaction of local communities.
"In the market next to the grand mosque in the centre of town, Muslim women with their hair covered but their shoulders and arms bare barter for T-shirts emblazoned with photos of US President Barack Obama. In another part of the market, a young man in the austere Saudi-inspired dress of trousers hitched up at the ankle and long beard berates a bookstall owner for not carrying the "right sort of works".
And just for fun, here's a photo of Bamako market:
Yes but the Sahel has not
Yes but the Sahel has not been ignored. Whether or not the reporters were hip to it.
Nice photo, Londonstani.
Nice photo, Londonstani.
"But these two forces are
"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."
No, they're NOT. Cocaine, maybe, but AQIM is a bit player whose only real asset is the media hysteria (in articles like that one). The instability in the region has much bigger causes than a handful of Jihadis, whose role is to exploit it to their advantage for long term gain.
What people should do with the Sahel is look at Yemen and say to themselves: Okay, so that's what these areas will look like in 20 years unless we do something now. And then do that something, which will involve a lot more aid and trade than just special forces hunting katibas, even if I'm sure there's a niche for that too. But stop viewing this as a military problem at this stage, because that's not how you solve it, quite the contrary.
The deal in Mali is
The deal in Mali is complicated, and the issue revolves around the Tuareg nomadic people vs. the central government in Bakabo, which is more of a West African ethnic group. The country is shaped like an hourglass - yet another unfortunate after-effect of colonialism, as in Sudan.
One of the reasons that the arid north of the country is now a hot spot is this:
Dakar (AFP) Feb 2, 2008
Australian mining company Oklo Uranium Limited said Saturday the result of prospecting for uranium in Mali was "highly encouraging", with widespread elevated uranium levels in the northeastern Kidal region.
Uranium mining sucks up a lot of water, and this causes huge problems for the inhabitants of this region, the Tuareg.
This also plays out into Niger, Mali's eastern landlocked neighbor, as this recent news article indicates:
Christian Science Monitor - 23/03/10
Niger coup: Good for Tuareg rebels, bad for uranium investors
The military junta announced it will audit all uranium exploration permits awarded before last month’s Niger coup. Evidence has emerged that the permits enriched the ousted president and devastated the Tuareg population.
The military junta that ousted Niger’s president raised transparency expectations and sent stocks sliding over the weekend with the announcement that it would audit all uranium and gold contracts. The announcement came just days after a coalition of pressure groups petitioned the junta to renegotiate mining contracts awarded under ousted President Mamadou Tandja.
Now, let's guess what the mining company executives would like to do with this? How about, "portray the Tuareg as Al Qaeda sympathizers in order to justify military action against them?"
The Tuareg are great musicians, by the way - it's a key part of their culture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qfaBbvyvBU
Now, what do Al Qaeda and the radical Wahhabis think about music like this? Would the Tuareg want anything to do with those psychotic freaks, in reality?
A real-life Avatar situation, more like it - Western companies want to strip mine the region, devastating the local economy and ecology, and so the locals are fighting back. Good for them - as long as they understand that the Wahhabi freak show would love to co-opt their agenda and start another war. Thus, the Tuareg should shoot any Al Qaeda recruiters they encounter, and present their bodies to the world - scalp 'em, why not?
Spent some time in Mali as
Spent some time in Mali as well and had the opposite impression. I felt very safe in Bamako, especially in the markets.
The Village Voice (yes i
The Village Voice (yes i what some might say) did a pretty good article on the US military's involvement in the Sahel, back in 2006.
See here
http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-01-24/news/pursuing-terrorists-in-the-g...
I meant to say (yes i know
I meant to say (yes i know what some might say about the source) but it seemed like pretty solid reporting to me.
As for the Tuareg musical tradition that hist has blown my socks off for years. So good, so bluesy. I have wanted to go to Le Festival au Désert in Mali for a couple of years now.
I'm pretty sure electric
I'm pretty sure electric guitars are not traditional Tuareg musical instruments. There's been more Muslims to put down their music for Wahhabism, than is the case the other way around.
... I'm pretty sure electric
... I'm pretty sure electric guitars are not "traditional" British musical instruments either, yet they're certainly part of the tradition now.
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