alkhabar
Maghreb
Photo:Baba Ahmed, for jeuneafrique.com
The UK's Economist Magazine points to the large numbers of Tuareg fighters who supported Ghaddafi and have now fled into Tchad, Mali and Niger with their high tec weaponary. Some 13 died in a shoot out with Niger's armed forces on 9 November.There have also been Tuareg families living in Libya who were forced to flee by NTC troops.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is finding fertile recruiting ground in Mali and Niger and some of Ghaddafi's former fighters will undoubtedly link up with AQMI with their weapons.The Economist discounts the danger of Tuareg insurgency in the Sahel where speculation is mounting about a Tuareg attempt to sieze the Azawad region in northern Mali as an independent tuareg homeland. Ghaddafi supported at least the notion of Tuareg independence. Jeune Afrique highlights a revolt in Kidal and Gao in northern Mali. The Economist argues that the Tuareg are not numerous enough although well known for their martial prowess.
The economic fall out of the Libyan revolution is seen as far more dangerous with Tchad likely to loose the economic support they enjoyed from Ghaddafi and Mali may find itself in the same situation and at least 200,000 Nigerien migrant workers have returned home. These countries are seen as comparatively easy targets for destablisation. The Sahel does not have much press coverage and AQMI's propensity for kidnapping means it is a less visited region where events often go one unrecorded in international media. America's new Africa Command Africom is keeping watch.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is finding fertile recruiting ground in Mali and Niger and some of Ghaddafi's former fighters will undoubtedly link up with AQMI with their weapons.The Economist discounts the danger of Tuareg insurgency in the Sahel where speculation is mounting about a Tuareg attempt to sieze the Azawad region in northern Mali as an independent tuareg homeland. Ghaddafi supported at least the notion of Tuareg independence. Jeune Afrique highlights a revolt in Kidal and Gao in northern Mali. The Economist argues that the Tuareg are not numerous enough although well known for their martial prowess.
The economic fall out of the Libyan revolution is seen as far more dangerous with Tchad likely to loose the economic support they enjoyed from Ghaddafi and Mali may find itself in the same situation and at least 200,000 Nigerien migrant workers have returned home. These countries are seen as comparatively easy targets for destablisation. The Sahel does not have much press coverage and AQMI's propensity for kidnapping means it is a less visited region where events often go one unrecorded in international media. America's new Africa Command Africom is keeping watch.
