Of the various Salafi-Jihadi militant groups currently operating, few have been as aggressive in their pursuit of financing as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has added narcotics trafficking to its staples of kidnapping for ransom as well as the smuggling of cigarettes and fuel in the wild and poorly patrolled border regions of the Sahel/Sahara region.
During a recent visit to Spain, Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri expressed his alarm over the rise in cocaine shipments smuggled through Morocco to Europe (Jeune Afrique, November 3). Morocco's Minister of Interior Taieb Cherkaoui announced the arrest of 34 people in October, all members of an AQIM-affiliated cell with connections in South America, Africa and Spain (Le Matin, Oct 17). In late 2009, a Boeing 727 full of drugs and other illegal products landed in a remote northeastern area of Mali. It was a clear signal of the increasing importance of this region for global narco-trafficking (AFP, December 11, 2009; Le Figaro, March 19; see also Terrorism Monitor, January 7). Then in December 2009, three citizens of Mali alleged to be AQIM associates were arrested in Ghana after they told undercover agents of the American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) they had agreed to transport cocaine through Africa to Europe for AQIM and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), demonstrating an emerging reality which links terrorist groups and narco-traffickers in a new, heterodox and business-oriented alliance (VOA News, December 29, 2009; Le Parisien, December 22, 2009).
[...]
Drug smuggling activities have often been an important tool for terrorist groups to finance themselves. Islamist militants, however, are faced with Islamic injunctions against the use of narcotics. Although considered haram (illicit), according to Islamic beliefs and sensibility, the need to find remunerative ways to fund operations allows these groups to have a sort of “ideological flexibility” in which the importance of the aim can reduce the impact of the impurity of the means, a typical takfiri practice.
[...]
AQIM has strongly increased its involvement in illegal trafficking since 2008. There has been a change in the intensity and in the relative importance of these activities for this group. Weakened by Algerian counterterrorism activities and a decline in popular support, the group found itself with few members and poor financial resources. At that point, parasitic economic practices became key activities of the group (see Terrorism Monitor, January 28).
AQIM also offers security for traffickers operating in the region. AQIM taxes the shipments and provides geographical guidance and transport protection.
[...]
AQIM protects the shipments with their arms and provides the vehicles to transport them to Morocco, which is the main African terminal (L'Economiste du Maroc, October 19). They are also involved in the logistical organization of the transports through the Mediterranean, dealing with criminal groups specialized in illegal sea transportation to the southern European coasts. The supplies are shipped to Spain, the main doorway for these drugs and the main center of distribution in Europe (El Pais, March 1).
Conclusions
Taking a leading role in narcotics trafficking through Africa allows AQIM to finance its operations through a remunerative, constant and relatively stable source of income (since the demand for drugs is both stable and high). It helps AQIM pay for weapons and necessary equipment and, lastly, to pay its members well and regularly, an important consideration in making AQIM more attractive to local youth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As noted by Shimron Issachar @ Shimron Letters blog, this isn't exactly breaking news but should serve as a reminder that AQIM and AQ overall isn't just a terrorist organization, but a criminal organization at its core.
http://www.icsr.info/blog/Al-Qaeda-Common-Criminals
But amongst counter-radicalisation practitioners, a wise policy proposal would be simply to brand al-Qaeda criminal. When I pen “criminal,” I am not referring to the crimes against humanity writ large or the crimes against Islam and mainstream salafism as al-Qa`ida rests its ideological laurels on flagrant exploitation of politically-chosen out-of-context Quranic kernels. But instead, I mean normal, run-of-the-mill secular criminality like we see with the brutal and calculated crimes of Mexican cartels.
No comments:
Post a Comment