Posted on 02/09/2013 9:33:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv
...Lets start by stating the obvious: AQIM is not a product of the Arab Spring. AQIM exists because of the military coup that ended the 'Algerian Spring' two decades ago. And it has not been strengthened by the Libyan revolution, but rather by the failure of state-building in northern Mali, the absence of post-conflict reconciliation and reintegration in Algeria, and a lack of accountability for a shadowy Algerian security establishment whose brutal methods have proven woefully inadequate to the challenge.
AQIM's real originsAQIMs history can be traced directly to the coup staged by a handful of Algerian generals against President Chadli Bendjedid in January 1992. Bendjedid, whose memoirs were recently published after he died in October, gave Algeria its first relatively democratic constitution, lifting the ban on political parties and guaranteeing a minimum of basic rights, including freedom of speech, assembly, and conscience... Fearing threats to their vast economic empire and their grip on high politics, the generals decided to end the reforms, overturn the results of Algerias first democratic parliamentary elections, and remove Benjedid from power. In the West, the prevailing narrative is that 'progressive' army generals blocked the advance of the 'fundamentalist' Front Islamique du Salut (FIS). But that account does not explain why the generals soon allied with another 'fundamentalist' group -- a faction of Algerias Muslim Brotherhood, Mouvement pour la socit Islamique -- and gave them several top posts, including control of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments.
(Excerpt) Read more at thinkafricapress.com ...
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pacified most of the Salafi Group for Preaching and Combat but has not been able to control the breakaway AQIM. Photo by primeministergr.
A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Mali conflict: French ransom cash ‘funded militants’
BBC | 8 February 2013 Last updated at 17:48 ET
Posted on 02/08/2013 6:00:31 PM PST by Pan_Yan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2986731/posts
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