Video Emerges of British Banker Held by Al-Qaeda in Mali

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A video has emerged of a British banker who was taken hostage by al-Qaeda in Mali in November during a holiday motorbiking through Africa.

Stephen McGown, 37, and a fellow Swedish hostage are shown backed by four heavily-armed men, and hold brown envelopes with letters inside and the date 28.01.2012 written on them.

He speaks briefly, saying: "My name is Stephen Malcolm McGown. I am being held by al-Qaeda. Today I received this letter from my country. I am healthy and they are treating me well."

Mr McGown, who has dual British-South African nationality, appears alongside another hostage, Johan Gustafsson, a Swedish national, and both men sport long beards.

The video, which appears to have been filmed in January, was posted on YouTube last week and constitutes the first proof that they are alive since an initial picture was taken of them shortly after they were snatched from a restaurant in Timbuktu, Mali, along with Dutch national Sjaak Rijke.

In April, an unverified statement on an Islamic website claimed Mr McGown would be released if Britain sent the radical Islamic cleric Abu Qatada to an "Arab Spring" country rather than deporting him to Jordan, where he faces imprisonment over terrorist charges.

If Britain ignored the offer, the statement added, it would "bear the consequences". » | Aislinn Laing | Johannesburg | Thuesday, July 17, 2012

Mali : Les Touaregs renoncent à l’idée d’un Etat séparé

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le mouvement qui s'était emparé du nord du Mali en avril a annoncé dimanche avoir abandonné l'idée de former un Etat indépendant au Mali.

Les rebelles touareg du Mouvement national de libération de l’Azawad (MNLA [A]) ont annoncé dimanche avoir renoncé à leur intention de créer un Etat séparé au Mali. Ils s’étaient emparé du nord du pays en avril avec des islamistes liés à Al-Qaida, mais ont été supplantés par leurs ex-alliés.

«Nous aspirons à une indépendance culturelle, politique et économique mais pas à la sécession», a déclaré par téléphone Ibrahim Ag Assaleh, l’un des dirigeants du MNLA. » | ats/Newsnet | dimanche 15 juillet 2012

Verbunden »

Mali: Islamisten terrorisieren Bevölkerung
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Unverschleierte Frauen werden ausgepeitscht: Islamisten im Norden Malis terrorisieren zunehmend die Bevölkerung. Frankreichs Präsident Hollande kündigte an, dass er zu einer Militärintervention bereit sei. Ob dies den seit Monaten schwelenden Bürgerkrieg lösen kann, ist ungewiss.

Bamako - Die seit Monaten anhaltenden Aufstände in Mali erreichen eine neue Dimension. Nach Augenzeugenberichten terrorisieren Islamisten zunehmend die Bevölkerung des westafrikanischen Landes. In dem Ort Goudam nahe Timbuktu hätten bewaffnete Anhänger einer islamistischen Gruppe Frauen angegriffen, die am Brunnen Wasser holten. Die Männer hätten nicht voll verschleierten Frauen mit Peitschenhieben gedroht, zitiert die Nachrichtenagentur dpa einen Bewohner Goudams.

Der Nachrichtenagentur AP zufolge gingen die Islamisten von Tür zu Tür, nahmen rund 90 Menschen fest und ließen sie auspeitschen. Die Maßnahme war offenbar als Abschreckung gedacht, nachdem zuvor in der Stadt gewaltsamen Proteste gegen die Islamisten ausgebrochen waren. Dabei hätten erboste Bewohner Teile des Hauptquartiers der Islamisten zerstört, berichtete ein Bewohner. » | lei/AP/dpa/Reuters | Samstag, 14. Juli 2012

Related »

Appel: La crise au Mali fait sortir Chirac de son silence

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: L'ancien président français et le secrétaire général de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Abdou Diouf appellent vendredi à «sauver Tombouctou pour sauver la paix au Sahel».

«Ne pas abandonner le Mali.» Tel est en substance le message lancé ce vendredi dans une tribune au journal Le Monde par Jacques Chirac et Abou Diouf.

«Au moment où des groupes extrémistes ont entrepris de détruire les mausolées et mosquées de Tombouctou, et menacent les manuscrits conservés dans cette ville, patrimoine irremplaçable de l'islam et du monde, c'est l'avenir de l'Afrique sahélienne qui se joue», mettent en garde les deux hommes dans une prise de position titrée «Sauver Tombouctou pour sauver la paix».

«C'est un danger global: l'indifférence est impossible car, si une poignée d'extrémistes réussit à imposer sa loi dans cette région aux équilibres fragiles, c'est l'ensemble des pays du Sahel qui peut être déstabilisé, avec des conséquences funestes d'abord pour les populations locales, ensuite pour tous les partenaires de ces pays, au premier rang desquels tous les voisins du Mali ainsi que l'Europe», préviennent-ils. » | afp/Newsnet | vendredi 13 juillet 2012

Related »

New Dark Age Alert! Islamists' Hold Over Mali Threatens Europe, Diplomat Warns

THE GUARDIAN: Al-Qaida-linked insurgents using their control over north of country to recruit, arm and train growing numbers of fighters

Islamist groups are using their hold over key urban areas of Mali to recruit, arm and train growing numbers of fighters and could pose a threat to Europe within two years, government and security sources believe.

The al-Qaida-linked rebels have taken exclusive control of the north, having pushed out secular Tuareg separatists.

"If Islamists continue to control vast areas of Mali where they can do what they like, then this will pose a direct threat to Europe," a senior western diplomat in the capital, Bamako, said.

"You cannot forget how close this region is to Europe. They are currently recruiting people in northern Mali, offering them money, training and weapons. If this continues, it is a matter of time before it affects Europe directly."

Northern Mali has been under insurgent control since the government was toppled in a military coup in March. Tuareg rebels – who are demanding an independent state of "Azawad" in the Sahara – initially joined forces with groups backed by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) including Ansar Dine, Mujao and Nigerian terrorist organisation Boko Haram.

But the alliance broke down recently with fighting breaking out between different factions. On Thursday, Islamists consolidated their control of the region, driving Tuareg rebels from their last stronghold in the town of Ansogo, leaving the entire northern section of Mali, including Gao – the main base of the Malian army – in Islamist hands. » | Afua Hirsch in Bamako | Friday, July 13, 2012

Al-Qaeda Free to Tighten Its Grip on Africa
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ayman al-Zawahiri's terror network is exploiting political unrest in Mali and throughout the region

Just when we think we have one network of al-Qaeda terrorists on the run, up pops another one to take its place and resume the relentless campaign of terror against the West and its allies.

The forthcoming withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan is based on the assumption that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, the original casus belli for military intervention, has been dismantled and no longer threatens our security. It is, of course, entirely feasible that the remnants of the organisation currently being run by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced bin Laden as al-Qaeda’s leader in May 2011, might be able to regroup once Nato’s Afghan mission is over, especially if, as seems likely, no political settlement with the Taliban is forthcoming by the time our troops pack up and return home at the end of 2014.

But, in the meantime, rather than waiting for events to turn in its favour in Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda brand is busily extending its franchise to other parts of the Muslim world where weak or dysfunctional governments allow it the space and opportunity to pursue its nefarious designs. » | Con Coughlin | Thursday, July 12, 2012

Al-Qaeda in Syria »

Mali: How the West Cleared the Way for Al-Qaeda’s African March
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: With the world’s attention elsewhere, Islamists and al-Qaeda have seized a vast area of northern Mali. David Blair reports.

A few days after desert gunmen swept out of the Sahara and captured Timbuktu, the city’s conquerors broadcast a message over its radio station.

“We are going to welcome some foreigners,” the inhabitants of this ancient trading centre in northern Mali were told. “Do not be afraid when you see them: we must all welcome them.”

A convoy of Land Cruisers duly arrived, laden with bearded fighters clad in sand-coloured turbans and robes. These were not rebels from the local Tuareg tribe, who had claimed credit for the fall of Timbuktu, but international jihadists from across the Muslim world including Algerians, Nigerians, Somalis and Pakistanis. This multinational parade drove home a harsh message: a new state had been born under the effective rule of al-Qaeda. Bewildered townspeople, who had only seen Tuareg insurgents up to that point, realised its true significance.

“We first saw the foreigners when they were in our city,” said Mousa Maigar, who witnessed the arrival of the column. “How they entered our country, we don’t know.”

Almost unnoticed by the outside world, a branch of al-Qaeda has seized a swathe of Africa covering more than 300,000 square miles. “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb” (AQIM) and its allies have taken over an area of the Sahara more than three times the size of Britain, complete with airports, military bases, arms dumps and training camps.

Ever since the September 11 attacks, Western counter-terrorism policy has been designed to prevent al-Qaeda from controlling territory. Yet that is exactly what AQIM has now achieved. » | David Blair, Segou, Mali | Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Related »

Wahhabi Vandalism Reaches Timbuktu
GATESTONE INSTITUTE: Now the extremist rage has reached sub-Saharan Africa.

At the beginning of July, Ansar Al-Dine (Volunteers of Faith), a Wahhabi Islamist group previously allied with Tuareg (a Berber group) rebels in Timbuktu, Mali, began systematically demolishing centuries-old Sufi shrines and mosques.

Timbuktu is known as the "City of 333 Muslim Saints," and has been the depository of hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and documents in libraries and private collections.

In 1988, the United Nations added the three main mosques in the city, and 16 cemeteries and mausoleums, to its World Heritage registry.

Wahhabi ideology, however – the official interpretation of Islam in Saudi Arabia – is destructive of Islamic heritage. Wahhabi doctrine holds that the preservation of sacred funeral monuments and prayers at them are a dilution of Islamic monotheism and a prohibited form of idol worship.

In Saudi Arabia, Islamic heritage, including houses and mosques associated with the prophet Muhammad, have been destroyed or damaged.

Elsewhere, Wahhabi devastation was mainly seen in raids on Shia holy sites in Iraq during eighteenth and nineteenth-century Wahhabi forays into that country, as well as in the recent Iraq war. Fundamentalist assaults on Sufi sanctuaries then spread in Pakistan. Wahhabi violence against Sufi installations also appeared in the Muslim Balkans. With the political changes in Egypt and Libya, Sufi shrines have been targeted by so-called "Salafis" (a cover term for Wahhabis).

Now the extremist rage has reached sub-Saharan Africa. » | Irfan Al-Alawi | Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Inside Story: Northern Mali: An Islamic State?
As rebel groups debate how to impose Sharia, we examine the regional implications of the creation of an Islamic state.

Related »

Mali Government Rejects Azawad Council
Two armed groups in northern Mali are joining forces to create a governing body, the Transitional Council for the Islamic State of Azawad, for the newly independent state. Tuareg fighters and the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine say they will jointly rule their territory. The UN says more than 300,000 have been displaced by the crisis in Mali. Mereana Hond reports, and Nick Clark interviews Abdel Fatau Musah, director of political affairs for ECOWAS.

Related »

Islamists Declare North Mali an Independent State Governed by Sharia

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Mali moved a step closer to being broken in two on Sunday when al-Qaeda-linked Islamists and Tuareg rebels declared the nation's north an independent country to be ruled according to sharia law.

The announcement, from Ansar Dine and the Tuareg MNLA group, came as the country's interim president remained in a Paris hotel recovering from an assault in his private office last week.

Diplomats and Mali's neighbours fear that the country, once a beacon for democratic stability in West Africa, is poised to plunge further into crisis following a coup two months ago.

The "declaration of independence" for the northern half of Mali, Africa's sixth-largest country, came late on Saturday.

Timbuktu, the history trading centre and seat of Tuareg learning, now lies in the disputed territory, to be known as Azawad, which is almost the size of France. » | Mike Pflanz, West Africa Correspondent | Sunday, May 27, 2012

Lien en relation avec l’article »