Terrorism Still Threatens Sahel Region

ALGIERS — The Malian army continues its hunt against the last pockets of jihadist resistance, and neighboring Algeria has been the first country to suffer the impact of that war. After the Jan. 16 attack on British Petroleum and the Algerian oil company Sonatrach in Tigantournine, Illizi, the nebulous al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) continues to conduct operations in the Algerian Sahara.

AQIM wants the Algerian Sahara to be its rear base, and it wants to conduct terrorist operations that have a big media impact. The Islamists of AQIM had planned to carry out suicide operations at the carpet festival — held every year to promote traditional carpets — which started at the end of March in Ghardaia, in south Algeria. But the vigilance of the security services, which have been on alert since the Mali events, thwarted that plot. Contrary to what some political observers have suggested, however, AQIM’s capacity to cause harm is far from destroyed. If the security services lower their vigilance, the results would be fatal.

Harouna Abdouramane, a political analyst in Niger who closely follows the security situation in the Sahel, told Al-Monitor: “I do not think the destructive capacity of the jihadists has been completely eliminated. Do not forget that the Malian situation is a consequence of the Libyan crisis. Weapons are scattered across the Sahara and it would be wrong to believe that the French military action has solved the problem. This war is here to stay. The French are preparing to leave and the UN is trying to ensure continuity. Nature abhors a vacuum. In addition, the Malians have proved incapable of cohesion. Anyway, I am not very optimistic.”

The Algerian Sahara is the region most threatened by terrorism, because of weapons proliferation and Algeria's porous borders with neighboring Libya and Mali.