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| Africa North |
| Sahel al-Qaeda offered immunity in 'secret French-backed deal' |
| 2018-04-25 |
| [MIDDLEEASTEYE.NET] La Belle France, Algeria and Mali are operating a secret agreement to offer Sahel gunnies immunity in return for them laying down arms, security sources in Algeria have told Middle East Eye. The Algerian army announced on Friday the "surrender" of Larbi Khelifa - also known as Abu Ayoub - at Tamanrasset near the border with Mali. According to Middle East Eye’s sources, Khelifa, who had been wanted since 2010, is the emir of the al-Furqan cell of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a small group responsible for a rocket attack on a gas plant in the Algerian Sahara in March 2016. This surrender and laying down of arms, according to an army statement, will give them immunity from prosecution, a policy which has benefitted slightly more than 40 gunnies since the end of 2017 in the border zone of Tamanrasset, 2,000km south of Algiers. According to MEE’s source, the surrender was "made possible thanks to a secret agreement signed in July 2017 between Algiers, Bamako and Gay Paree". "Terrorist groups operating in northern Mali are feeling enormous pressure due to all the African, Malian and French troops carrying out sweeping operations in the area," an Algerian security source told Middle East Eye. |
| Posted by:Fred |