Media

The Drone War Goes Awry in Africa, Foreign Policy

2016/01/21

Three years ago this month, a previously unknown Islamist group, the Mourabitoun, launched an unprecedented attack on a natural gas facility near the eastern Algerian town of In Amenas. But after its dramatic opening salvo, the group went strangely quiet. Some argued the In Amenas attack was as irreproducible as it was unprecedented — and those voices gained strength after Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the Mourabitoun’s leader and founder, was reported to have been killed by a U.S. drone strike last summer.

The doubters have now been quieted. After three years of inactivity, the Mourabitoun has abruptly reappeared.

Pourquoi l’Algérie doit déployer son armée au-delà de ses frontières, Algérie-Focus

2015/10/23

L’Algérie, depuis son indépendance, a une longue histoire de non-ingérence dans les affaires des autres nations. Mais la situation géopolitique actuelle, avec l’instabilité des régimes politiques autour de ses frontières, en Libye, en Tunisie, et l’activisme des groupes terroristes au Mali, risque d’affecter certains des grands principes de sa politique étrangère. Décryptage. 

D’après Geoff D. Porter, le fondateur du cabinet de conseil « North Africa Risk Consulting », docteur de l’Université de New-York, cette volonté de non-ingérence est profondément liée à l’histoire coloniale du pays, et au désir de ne pas “infliger les mêmes souffrances à un autre pays ou à un autre peuple”.

Libya: A new Frontier in the Fight Against ISIS, WNYC The Takeaway

2015/02/17

The Islamic State's beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya on Sunday shocked the world with its brutality, and opened up a new frontier in the fight against the militant group. Still images from the video of the beheading circulated around the globe, showing a row of prisoners in orange jumpsuits, each with a jihadi executioner standing behind.

Geoff D. Porter, founder of North Africa Risk Consulting and assistant professor with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, says that this imagery plays on images of U.S. detainees in CIA black sites, Abu Ghraib, and Guantánamo Bay.

Keeping an Eye on Algeria, The New York Times

2014/04/08

Despite the fact that he is running for re-election to his fourth term on April 17, Mr. Bouteflika has been seen in public infrequently over the last 12 months. Most of these instances are video snippets. One shows him in a dressing gown in a Paris hospital, where he was treated for a stroke, meeting with his prime minister and army chief of staff. Another shows him riding in his motorcade in Algiers, his rigid right arm upraised in an awkward attempt at a wave. In only half of the videos does he speak.

Stopping a Civil War in Libya, Politico

2014/03/19

Remember Libya? For five days last week, it looked like the country was headed for civil war. Ibrahim al-Jadhran, the leader of a Libyan militia that has maintained an eight-month blockade of country’s largest oil terminals, had pulled a fast one on the weak central government in Tripoli. With his go-ahead, a tanker of uncertain origin and ownership docked at the port of Es-Sidr, in eastern Libya, on March 10 and loaded a cargo of crude valued at $36 million.

The Future Role of US Counterterrorism Operations in Africa, The CTC Sentinel

2014/02/28

In his state of the union on January 28, 2014, President Barack Obama's speech focused on domestic issues, but singled out Africa, specifically mentioning Somalia and Mali, in reference to the evolution of the al-Qaida threat, the emergence of al-Qaida affiliates and the need for the United States to continue to work with partners to disrupt and disable these networks.

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