Bombing the Jihadi's in the Black muslim world:

"Making sense of Mali's armed groups"

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/01/20131139522812326.html

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)

AQIM is a mostly Algerian and Mauritanian group that has been present in northern Mali since 2003 and which has kidnapped and held more than 50 European and Canadian hostages for ransom in the last ten years earning what is estimated to be well over $100m. 

Niger's foreign minister Mohamed Bazoum recently said that AQIM's presence in northern Mali was part of a deal between the group and the deposed President of Mali Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT), a deal brokered by ATT's close political associate Iyad Ag Ghali [Ansar al-Dine].

Hostage ransom money from European governments was allegedly spread around to Malian officials while AQIM was given free rein in Tuareg areas, with a wink and a nod from the Malian Army.

AQIM is currently holding at least nine European hostages in northern Mali.

Over the last decade a few local Ifoghas, Tuaregs and Arabs joined AQIM in Mali, and their members also inter-married with the community. However now that AQIM are openly circulating in the main cities of northern Mali, and thanks to its association with local groups like Ansar al-Dine, the group has become more mainstream.

Now youths from southern Mali, Senegal, Niger and other countries have come to join them under the rubric of the Islamic Police which AQIM has a direct hand in running. 

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An "exclusive" Al Jazeera report from inside northern Mali.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/2012review/2012/12/2012122810...

How did al-Qaeda get here?

Al-Qaeda has based itself in northern Mali for 10 years, as part of an alleged secret agreement with Amadou Toumani Toure (ATT), the president of Mali who was deposed in a military coup in March 2012 as northern cities were falling to Tuareg rebels.  

During ATT's presidency, AQIM amassed an outrageous fortune in Mali – collecting up to $250m in hostage ransoms from Western governments for more than 50 European and Canadian hostages kidnapped over the past decade, usually from neighbouring Niger.  

At this moment there are still European hostages being held by al-Qaeda in northern Mali pending delivery of a $132m ransom.  

The ransom negotiations, which were carried out under the auspices of the presidency, were confirmed by the Wikileaks cables to be a goldmine for the Malian VIPs involved - with each receiving his cut of the jackpot including, according to a former Malian official with knowledge of the deals, the president himself.  

Another powerful individual alleged to have enriched himself from hostage ransoms was ATT's close political and business associate Iyad Ag Ghali who has been involved in nearly every al-Qaeda hostage negotiation since the first one in 2003.  

Iyad Ag Ghali is the head of al-Qaeda offshoot Ansar Dine, and the closest thing Mali has to a Mullah Omar.  

Now Mali's closest neighbour seems to be confirming the deal.  

Niger's foreign minister Mohamed Bazoum recently told the French National Assembly:

"ATT was very proud to appear on the steps of his palace trying to return former hostages to their country. But there was a deal with AQIM, which kidnapped the hostages in Niger and Mauritania before taking them into Malian territory. The hostages were then released through the mediation of the Malian president. And his emissary was often Iyad Ag Ghali."

For years Malian Tuaregs have been complaining that their government was in bed with al-Qaeda, but their cries fell on deaf ears.

"Mali opened the field to Al Qaeda- to roam among the camps and villages, to build relationships with the people… Mali facilitated Al Qaeda."

-Colonel Al Salat Ag Habi,Commander  MNLA

According to numerous northern residents, AQIM fighters have been circulating openly in Tuareg towns, not for the past year, but for the past 10 years; shopping, attending weddings, and parading fully armed in the streets, in front of police stations and military barracks.  

Colonel Habi ag Al Salat, a Malian army commander who defected in 2011 to join the MNLA, was one of the first to notice the Algerian fighters from the Salafi Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) entering Tuareg towns of the far north such as Aguelhoc, which was under his command.  

But when Habi warned his army superiors they told him to stand down and leave the men alone because they were "not enemies" of Mali. When the GSPC changed its name to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, following a pact announced by Ayman Al Zawahiri, that policy did not change.  

"Mali opened the field to al-Qaeda - to roam among the camps and villages, to build relationships with the people," says Habi.
 
"Local people benefitted up to a point from the trickle down of money flowing to al-Qaeda by way of Mali.

And this ensnared many of our youths who are unemployed.

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And finally...

"Qatar plays key role in US Middle East/North Africa plans"

By Jean Shaoul

9 February 2013

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/09/qata-f09.html