[Magharebia] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) just released a video warning African and European states against any military intervention in northern Mali."If you want peace and security in your country, we are for it. If you want war, the Sahara is a large graveyard for your soldiers and a disaster for your interests," AQIM chief Abdelmalik Droukdel
... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the
Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb....
said in a new video released by Sahara Media on Saturday (December 1st).
"This war is going to make us more determined to hit your interests, which are numerous in the Sahel, and which we have not yet targeted," he said. The AQIM leader also claimed that his fighters had access to large quantities of weapons.
"The Great Sahara will be a grave for your soldiers," he said. "We are men of war, and we have extensive experience and long breath. In addition, God has endowed us with a stock of weapons and young people, and therefore, it will be a long war, and also a sacred war for the sake of Islam."
Directing his warning at Mauritania, Senegal
... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
, and Niger, Droukdel (aka Abou Moussaab Abdelouadoud) said: "When your house is made of glass do not throw stones at people."
His comments come in response to the decision by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to deploy 3,300 troops to oust Islamist Death Eaters and their al-Qaeda allies from northern Mali.
It also coincides with news that Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar (aka "Laaouar") quit AQIM after being fired as one of its two top commanders in northern Mali.
Confusion and anxiety at the top of al-Qaeda's Maghreb branch are apparent, according to analyst Mokhtar al-Salem.
The Droukdel terror tape was timed to influence the diplomatic negotiations now under way in Ouagadougou between Ansar al-Din and the Malian government, he said.