[A-List] US imperialism: North Africa

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

US sends special forces into north Africa

Pentagon fears growth of terrorist haven

Giles Tremlett
Monday March 15, 2004
The Guardian

US special forces troops have arrived in several north African countries
over recent months amid Pentagon warnings that the region runs the risk of
becoming an al-Qaida recruiting ground and a possible back door into Europe.

Three days before the Madrid bombing, where the first arrests included three
Moroccans detained on Saturday, the deputy commander of the Stuttgart-based
US European command - which covers all of Africa except the Horn - warned
that al-Qaida had an interest in north Africa.

"We have to get ahead of it," General Charles Wald told a group of African
reporters in Washington.

Units of around 200 from the US army's 10th Special Forces Group are already
installed, or are due to arrive, in Mauritania, Mali, Chad and Niger to
train their armies in anti-terrorism tactics and to improve coordination
with the US military.

Military cooperation with Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia - where many
suspected violent Islamists detained in Europe over the past two years come
from - is also being boosted.

Senior US generals, including the commander of the US European command,
General James Jones, have been touring the region looking for temporary
bases and airfields to use in possible future operations in Africa.

During one such trip last month, Gen Wald told Reuters that armed Islamists
"are going to look for a place where they can do the same thing they did in
Afghanistan, Iraq or other places. They need a haven to train, equip,
organise, recruit.

"As you squeeze the balloon and move them, they are migrating toward
Africa."

Unconfirmed reports have already emerged from anonymous Pentagon sources of
on-the-ground operations involving the US soldiers.

One carried by Voice of America said US troops on the ground in Mali helped
track and drive into the arms of the Algerian army a big haul of weapons due
to be delivered to a radical Islamist group there.

The report also suggested they had requested a US air strike against a
suspected terrorist target in the desert region of northern Mali and that,
although this was turned down, the Pentagon did not rule out such air
strikes.

A separate report said a US navy P-3 Orion aircraft guided Chad troops
during a two-day battle on the border with Niger last week in which 43
suspected members of Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat were
killed.

States previously shunned by the international community, such as Algeria,
are being provided with arms and military training and may become a
cornerstone of US military interests in the region. "We are interested in
being able to land at bases in Algeria with our aircraft, or train
together," Gen Wald said. "We think we have a lot to learn from the
Algerians."

Gen Wald even speculated that Colonel Muammar Gadafy's Libya might one day
join the new alliance. "Who knows? Libya could be a part of this in the not
too distant future now that they've come back into the western world."

Britain is being brought into the north African alliance as part of a joint
European operation called the African Clearing House, he said.

Senior military commanders from several African countries, including General
Amari of Algeria, will gather in Stuttgart for a meeting with the Americans
next week.
The focus on Africa also comes amid a push by some in the US, especially
conservative thinktanks, to do more to secure alternatives to oil from the
volatile Middle East. West Africa supplies 15% of US oil and the figure is
growing.

A need for the US European command to concentrate harder on north and west
Africa may explain why the US Sixth Fleet is considering moving its main
base from Gaeta, in Italy, to the southern Spanish port of Rota.

A militant group that has been linked to al-Qaida has been recruiting
members from mosques in northern Mali, according to security sources quoted
by Reuters. The US state department advised against travel to northern Mali
in December, warning that the area had become "a safe haven" for the
Salafist Group.