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| Africa North |
| AQIM members seek to renounce terrorism |
| 2013-01-05 |
| [MAGHAREBIA] Recent defections indicate that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is becoming more fragile due to the disintegration of its internal structure over the last few months. Terrorism analyst Abdul Hamid al-Ansari explained to Magharebia that the breakdown of AQIM is not happening the way of other organizations. "Since AQIM took so long to take its current shape, its disintegration will follow the same path," al-Ansari said. "This is in case things continue naturally, that is without being subject to a sweeping attack against its core. They are expected to become within the coming years and months, simply regular people, hunted deep in the desert." Abdelkader Rouim, former emir of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), told El Khabar on December 16th, "About 100 gunnies in Mali and other areas are ready to give up their arms and return to their homelands, if they benefit from an amnesty without being prosecuted, or obtain serious assurances towards this goal." Rouim was the right arm man of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, aka Laaouar, before he benefited from Algeria's provisions of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. "The acquitting recently by the court of Ouergla in Algeria of six members who repented after being active in the past in the Moulathamin Brigade led by the terrorist Laaouar, has encouraged many Death Eaters in northern Mali to explore the option of renouncing violence in order to take advantage of the provisions of national reconciliation," Rouim added. He added that tens of gunnies in northern Mali, Niger and "some other areas deep in the Sahara, including some leaders of the Moulathamin Brigade have the necessary courage to dispense with arms permanently, as well as the desire to repent, but they are afraid of punishment." He expressed the hope to see the process continue. Besides the voluntarily disarmament of beturbanned goons, killings and arrests are further weakening the terrorist group. "In fact, we are learning every week that some bad boyz were potted in festivities with Algerian troops, and have also learned about the dismantling of a sleeper cell in Morocco and the arrest of others in Mauritania, Mali and Niger," al-Ansari stated. According to El Khabar, last month "the Joint Security Forces operating on the Algerian-Malian border managed to arrest six beturbanned goons deep in the desert 30 kilometres from the area of Borj Badji Mokhtar. These arrests came after a military aircraft spotted their movements when entering Algerian territory in the vicinity of Mauritania and on their way to northern Mali." |
| Posted by:Fred |