US AFRICOM Commander, General Carter F. Ham
By Lauren French
WASHINGTON
Mon Jun 25, 2012(Reuters)
Three of Africa’s largest extremist groups are sharing funds and swapping
explosives in what could signal a dangerous escalation of security threats on the continent, the commander of
the U.S. military’s Africa Command said on Monday.
General Carter Ham said there are
indications that Boko Haram, al Shabaab
and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -
groups that he labeled as the continent’s most violent – are sharing money and explosive materials while training fighters together.
“Each of those three organizations is by
itself a dangerous and worrisome threat,” Ham said at an African Center for Strategic Studies seminar for senior
military and civilian officials from Africa,
the United States and Europe.
“What really concerns me is the
indications that the three organizations
are seeking to coordinate and
synchronize their efforts,” Ham said.
“That is a real problem for us and for
African security in general.” The United States classified three of the alleged leaders of the Islamist sect Boko Haram, based in remote northeast Nigeria, as “foreign terrorist,” on June 20. But it declined to blacklist the entire organization to avoid elevating the group’s profile internationally. Police in Nigeria said members of the group seized a prison there Sunday and freed 40 inmates.
Islamist militant group al Shabaab is
active in war-ravaged Somalia and has
been blamed for attacks in Kenya. Last
year it claimed responsibility for the
death of Somali Interior Minister Abdi
Shakur Sheikh Hassan.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),
an affiliate of al Qaeda based in North
Africa, is mainly a criminal organization
operating in the Sahel region. It kidnaps
Westerners for ransom and aids Africa’s
drug trade, according to intelligence officials.
MALI FEARS
U.S. and regional officials fear that a
power vacuum in northern Mali following a military coup in March may open an expanded area of operations for Islamist militants. Some western diplomats talk of the country becoming a “West African Afghanistan.”
Ham said AQIM was now operating
“essentially unconstrained” throughout a large portion of northern Mali, where
Islamists have imposed a harsh version of Shariah law. The group was a threat not only to the countries in the region, but also has “a desire and an intent to attack Americans as well. So that becomes a real problem,”Ham said.
Emphasizing that the U.S. military plays
mainly a supporting role in Africa, Ham
said the United States is providing
intelligence and logistical help in the hunt for Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, whose Lord’s Resistance Army is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and hacking off limbs of civilians.
The International Criminal Court in The
Hague indicted Kony for crimes against
humanity in 2005, and his case hit the
headlines in March when a video entitled “Kony 2012″ put out by a U.S. activist group and calling for his arrest went viral across the Internet. Ham said he was confident that Kony would ultimately be apprehended by African troops.
“This is an African-led effort,” Ham said.
“It is the African Union increasingly
taking a leadership role with a little bit of support from the United States military. We think that is the right approach.
KDF’s MICs to be sent in Nigeria to help in the war against BH??
Methinks its as a result of that intelligence gathered by the NSIS which has been confirmed lately by AFRICOM; MERGING of Al Shabaab, BH, n IQIM.
I honestly do trust this MIC chaps….even more experienced than the KDF itself.
Something big is in the cooking guys. Whats your take on this guys, really? No widened speculation….Watch by back…..Plan in its early stages.
Factually, that is MOST UNLIKELY to happen. The NSIS won’t even be coming, never mind military intelligence. What is more realistic to expect, which is what they do all the time, is to get into an intelligence sharing partnership – not have someone embedded at SSS HQ.
Even with the sheer sophistication of BH’s IED manufacturing network and Nigeria’s very recent introduction to the nuisance of terror attacks and suicide bombing wef 16 June 2011, you would not believe that only ONE FBI chap works with the Nigerian security agencies with a view to analyzing fragments, components and trends for details such as a familiar pattern – local or foreign.
They are not even giving the CIA and FBI the free rein they crave, even as they are partners in the War on Terror, let alone invite any African intelligence service. Not sure you quite understand Nigeria. Last week, we were reading about countries affected by terrorism where the USA either had berthed or were running overt intel/military operations. With all the madness in Boko Haram, did you see Nigeria listed as hosting American forces or opening up a base for the U.S to run an intel operation in Nigeria a la the Pilatus turboprops at Entebbe?
Nigeria are not likely to do that.They did not even allow Mzungu to participate in the Niger Delta Peace Process – negotiation to DDR!
Hmn…NSIS, K’yall? Are the NSIS the ones who are doing the pathfinding for the same America which only last week warned of imminent attacks in Mombasa and issued a travel advisory which the GoK refuted but which has since come to pass regardless? The same America who use their satellites and drones to monitor and attack Al Shabaab attacks in Somalia? The same Americans who have been carrying our air strikes in favour of African armies in Somalia while the French assist with naval fire support? The same NSIS which were alerted to the infiltration by Iranian goons by FBI and Interpol are now showing America round Somalia?
Who commenced intelligence gathering in Somalia first – the CIA or NSIS? I ask because as recently as 1998, after the August bombings in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, the CIA and FBI moved in to mentor the NSIS! They are still getting help from them as we speak.
You really believe that the CIA who are embedded in the TFG intelligence machinery and who get intel from Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya do not have a more complete profile of Al Shabaab than the NSIS? They have been playing in those parts for 20 years you know..and how about all those Somali Americans positioned in the governmental structures of that nation?
K’yall….K’YALL, you have come again oo !
If you ask me, AQIM are the biger collaborators
* After the first suicide attack in June 2011, the Algerian chief of AQIM told Al Jazeera that they are providing support for Boko Haram.
* TIME magazine confirmed in a September 2011 that Boko Haram are training in the mountains of NE Mali
* Algeria’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Maghrebian and African Affairs confirmed at the time of the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s confab last November, that AQIM and BH are allied operators.
* Nigeria were invited to the Nouakchott meeting in January 2012 of the neighbourhood quadripartite security partnership between Niger, Mauritania,Chad and Mali. The reason behind that was their firm conviction that they are involved in a war in which Nigeria are also involved.
* The Foreign Ministers of Mali and Niger also confirmed at that meeting that BH are involved with extremist groups in their countries.
* Seven Nigerian terrorists with IED-making materiel were nabbed in Niger enroute Mali last January.
* In April 2012, one hundred BH fighters led the onslaught against the NE Malian town of Gao.
* This month, the President of Niger confirmed the arrival in Mali of Pakistani and other terrorists with a view to training extremists including BH.
Even as BH have confirmed links to AQIM and AS (an American terrorism specialist confirmed the sighting of one Nigerian terrorist in training in Somalia to VOA News earlier this year), there is much clearer evidence of strong collaboration between BH and AQIM.
Even in the face of all that, Nigeria have only now just opened a Defence Attache Office in Mali. So you can see why it is not likely that your prognosis is likely to become reality.
ALL I will say is I await the month of AUGUST with bated breath.
Coin is very intensive, dirty , expensive and there is a reason why it is called the the silent war.Nigeria like the proverbial tortoise is slowly waking up and along the way we are seeing all kinds of talking heads wake up.
I want to say something that i haven’t said in a long time i give the INTELLIGENCE services A LOT OF CREDIT that even after some of the most heinious bombings they hsve plodded along with te result there has been a minimum of COLLATERALL damage.
My point is this the longer they are involved in coin ops THE BETTER THEY WILL GET AT IT.
So all this idle talk abour inter national intel ( b/w kenya and Nigeria is just that talk).