In Africa, an Islamist convergence seen as a threat

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram has conducted terrorist attacks in Nigeria that bring it closer to al Qaeda in northern Mali, making linkages between the groups more likely and more dangerous, according to a paper published by the Combating Terrorism Center.

In the past year, Boko Haram has carried out several large-scale attacks across a 900-mile swath of Nigeria, roughly the distance between New York City and Atlanta, the paper states. That puts the Nigerian extremists just 300 miles from northern Mali, which is controlled by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other affiliated groups.

Boko Haram, which aims to overthrow Nigeria's government, and al Qaeda advocate a fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam.

The danger is that it is much easier for Boko Haram and AQIM to coordinate their operations, said the paper’s author, Jacob Zenn, a West Africa analyst at the Jamestown Foundation, a strategic research think tank in Washington. The Combating Terrorism Center is at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Kidnapping, drug smuggling and gunrunning account for a huge portion of AQIM’s funding, he said. Working with Boko Haram in West Africa would enable al Qaeda to expand its operations and increase its size and strength.

In addition, Nigeria’s oil-production industry lies in the predominantly Christian south, where Boko Haram has begun to expand its operations. Both militant groups could gain a significant source of funding if they are able to control the oil-producing south.

Working with al Qaeda would help Boko Haram achieve its goals of overthrowing the Nigerian government and its moderate Islamic leaders and establishing a fundamentalist Islamic government, he said...........

Alive and Deadly - The workings of al Qaeda's expanding franchise "It has become accepted to use the term al Qaeda when referring to any violent Islamic grouping that appears to have a broader organizational connection. To refine that definition there has been added the recognition of at least three so-called "franchises" with a national or regional orientation: al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). All have an outreach beyond their immediate geographical area. The mistake that is made, however, is to characterize al Qaeda as the overall operational director of the movement.

The theoretical central control organization, al Qaeda, itself – with Ayman al Zawahiri as its post- bin Laden leader – is nonetheless viewed by most Western observers in a headquarters context for broad planning, propaganda, and sometime coordination among the several franchises. To a certain extent, central al Qaeda reportedly has informal elements circulating as mentors among various local popular groups......

Benghazi has been a key jihadist recruiting ground going back even before the American military presence in Afghanistan beginning October 2001. As the center of Cyrenican (eastern province of Libya) resistance against Gaddafi's central government, local insurgent groups eventually formed into varying-sized militias with clan ties. Before that, however, the legends of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda had encouraged the growth of a development pool of Afghanistan-bound young men. This movement later evolved into several anti-Gaddafi underground nets. One of these assumed the name Ansar al Shariah, which had surfaced originally in Yemen as part of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)........"

"It has become accepted to use the term al Qaeda when referring to any violent Islamic grouping that appears to have a broader organizational connection. To refine that definition there has been added the recognition of at least three so-called "franchises" with a national or regional orientation: al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). All have an outreach beyond their immediate geographical area. The mistake that is made, however, is to characterize al Qaeda as the overall operational director of the movement."

And this distinction means what? Nothing. Just different names for intolerant, oppressive, women abusing, raping, murdering Islamists who have zero tolerance for nothing but their sick death cult. I sincerely wish they would all drop dead yesterday.

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