Dad's Army vs Al-Qaeda

[mongers]

Interesting piece by Channel 4 news correspondent, Lindsey Hilsum on  Al-Qaeda's take over of northern Mali and the threat it poses to the other half of the country and the wider world:

http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/display/playlistref/190812/clipid/190812_4ON_MALI_19

If you can't watch the tv item, then this web page has an embedded video with might work:

http://www.channel4.com/news/malis-islamist-warlord-declares-war-on-the-west

A militant Islamist leader whose forces have just conquered two-thirds of the West African state of Mali vows to launch holy war against the West.

They trek across the desert by donkey cart, pots, pans and blankets piled high on top. Many refugees fear that foreign forces may soon start to attackthe Islamists. "What I fear most is aeroplanes bombing from overhead," said Intinwilou Ag Hamadallamce, 75, as he waited for his family of 11 to be registered.

Every few days a bus takes the refugees to Mbera camp, where 100,000 Malians, mostly Tuaregs, are surviving the rainy season in "baches", makeshift dwellings of pliable sticks, covered in cloth and tarpaulins displaying the blue logo of the UN High Comissioner for Refugees. Aid workers say one-fifth of their children are malnourished and malaria is rife.

In the last two weeks, militants from the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, which controls the area around Gao, stoned a couple to death for adultery in the town of Aguelhok and amputated the hand of an alleged thief in Ansongo.

Women are forced to stay inside unless fully covered and accompanied by a male relative and anyone who smokes risks a whipping. "We're a democratic, sovereign, secular state," said Hauroye Toure, a political science graduate from Gao, who fled to the Malian capital in April.

She and her family are now reliant on food donations. "We are in our own country and we should be free to behave as we wish. We are Muslims but they insist on spreading Sharia, and that's what's so serious."

In the town of Segou, a few hours drive from Bamako, a few units of the Malian army are trying to regroup. Several years of training under the US anti-terrorism programme appear to have had little effect on their skills.

"We need every support - air support, ground support, logistics support, personnel support, experienced support. We are in need today," said Lieutenant Cheickne Konate, a company commander who had been based in Timbuktu.

The West African states have readied 3,000 troops, but neither they nor the United Nations Security Council can move without an invitation from an internationally recognised Malian government. But the military which, despite a facade of civilian rule, is in charge in Bamako is resisting demands that foreign troops should first stabilise the capital.

"We've never said we're against the intervention of international soldiers in Mali," said Yamoussa Camara, the defence minister, "but their mission should be to help us liberate the north of the country, not to secure the institutions in Bamako."

Across southern Mali, militia are forming to chase away the jihadis.

On a rough earth football pitch in a Bamako shanty town, 125 young men and three women practised fireman's lifts, leapfrog and marching. They call themselves "Death Before Shame" and aim to restore national pride and succeed where the Malian army failed.


Other groups include the Hunters, who combine Islam with traditional animist beliefs and tout shotguns and Boer war-era flintlock rifles.

"We feel we can play either a physical role by participating in the struggle, or use our secrets and magic to destroy the enemy at a distance," said Dagaba Traore, a local Hunter leader.

All the while the Islamists are consolidating their hold on the north, using weaponry seized from the Malian army and an increasing number of foreign fighters. In the absence of government or rule of law, some fear Al-Qaeda and its allies may now move south towards the capital.

"With our collapsed state, collapsed army and security forces unfortunately everything is possible," said Tiebile Drame.
.....

This man is prepare to take on AQ with this rifle:

[jimmy olsen]

Yeah, the situation there is not looking good at all.

[Jaron]

These brave, BRAVE black people. We should deport all the gangster rappers and their ilk to fight the Al Qaedas.

[Razgovory]

Well he has flintlock rifle and magic.  That probably helps.

[Valmy]

Um they used flintlock rifles in the Boer-War?  Weren't they using Mauser Rifles by 1898?

[Razgovory]

Um they used flintlock rifles in the Boer-War?  Weren't they using Mauser Rifles by 1898?

I was thinking the same thing,  Perhaps in West Africa they were still making flintlock rifles.

[The Brain]

Looks like a percussion mechanism to me, but I'm hardly an expert.

[jimmy olsen]

Looks like a percussion mechanism to me, but I'm hardly an expert.

Same here.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

That Touareg independence movement must have been one of most incompetent ever. They manage something approaching a vicotry only to lose it all to a bunch of bronze-age camelfuckers.

[Razgovory]

Well, that's what you get when align with underground Dinosaur people.

[Josquius]

The photo is cool but one thing is a bit off- that ID badge he's wearing....

[Razgovory]

The photo is cool but one thing is a bit off- that ID badge he's wearing....

He just came back from the polls.

[mongers]

Another interesting piece by Ms Hilsum:

http://blogs.channel4.com/lindsey-hilsum-on-international-affairs/mali-the-great-democracy-that-never-was/457

Mali: the great democracy that never was?
Lindsey Hilsum

Mali used to be feted as a beacon of democracy in Africa. Now a junta is effectively in control in the south while al-Qaeda roams unfettered across the desert north. European governments are worried that foreign jihadis are gathering in the ungoverned spaces of the Sahel, and using northern Mali as a new base.

In fact, Mali was never the great democracy it was made out to be. "It was model for outside world but for us we had a lot of problems of bad governance," said Tiebile Drame, a former foreign minister who now acts as an advisor to the country's interim president. Few bothered to vote. Elected officials were lazy and corrupt. Aid flowed in but much was stolen. The north of the country was neglected.

While politicians in the capital, Bamako, grew fat and rich the north was rapidly spinning out of control. The Tuaregs were getting restless – they had rebelled several times in the past, and now saw others prospering while they were deprived. Militants from al-Qaeda in the Mahgreb recruited disaffected Tuaregs and others, and started operating in northern Mali, taking control of drug smuggling routes and kidnapping western tourists and workers.

After the first hostage taking in 2003, European governments asked the Malian government to intervene with the jihadis to negotiate the release of their nationals. Hundreds of millions of dollars were handed over – and who knows who got exactly how much of a cut each time a hostage was released.

"Foreign TV crews came, and the hostages were happy but it was the beginning of a disaster for this country, for Mali," said Tiebile Drame.

"The government turned a blind eye to the activities of the jihadis, and they finally set up in the north east of the country. They ended up less than 400 kilometres from Bamako."

The situation turned critical late last year. Colonel Gaddafi had recruited thousands of Tuaregs to fight on his behalf. When his government collapsed after the Arab Spring rebellion and Nato bombing, they picked up the heavy weapons he had given them and crossed back through Niger into Mali. In January they started an uprising – they weren't Islamists but separatists – they wanted an independent Tuareg state.

Mali's army couldn't cope – most soldiers simply fled. Many hadn't been paid, and money which should have been spent on weaponry had disappeared in corruption. Junior officers staged a coup, the government collapsed and the north fell into the hands of the Tuareg separatists.

In the chaos, al-Qaeda saw its moment. At first they worked alongside the Tuaregs. Then they drove them out, and raised the black al-Qaeda flag. Now the jihadis are in control. They rule northern Mali – an unintended and disastrous consequence both of the Nato campaign in Libya, and the practice of paying ransom for hostages.

[Ed Anger]

Afcom is there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mysterious-fatal-crash-provides-rare-glimpse-of-us-commandos-in-mali/2012/07/08/gJQAGO71WW_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

WHORES!

and

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-expands-secret-intelligence-operations-in-africa/2012/06/13/gJQAHyvAbV_story.html

Enjoy!

[Siege]

This man is prepare to take on AQ with this rifle:

Precious. This guy have a weapon which appears to be a muzle loader, shotgun shells hanging from his neck, and a bayonet tied so high on his chest, that I wonder how he is going to pull it out of the scabbard. Notice the wraps around the barrel of the gun. This ain't not floated barrel. Front and rear sights are missing. I predict accuracy near zero, but a lot of scary noise and smoke.