Al-Zawahiri claims Libyan group joined al-Qaeda

05/11/2007

In a recent audio recording, Ayman al-Zawahiri claimed that a Libyan group has joined al-Qaeda. He also called on Maghreb citizens to topple their regimes. Analysts in the region viewed the tape an attempt to shore up dwindling support following losses in Algeria.

Jamel Arfaoui in Tunis contributed to this report – 05/11/07

[Getty Images] Al-Zawahiri called on armed groups to topple the Maghreb's regimes.

Al-Qaeda's latest audiotape, announcing the new membership of a Libyan group and calling for the toppling of regimes in the Maghreb, is an attempt to boost the organisation's morale following severe setbacks in Algeria, analysts said.

In an audio recording posted on the internet on Saturday (November 3rd), al-Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri said "honourable members" of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group have joined al-Qaeda's "jihad" against "America, France, Spain and their people". The tape called on Maghreb citizens to support what he called the "mujahideen" in toppling the leaders of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco and hitting Western interests.

Al-Zawahiri blasted Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's 2003 promise to give up weapons of mass destruction – a move that ended years of international isolation.

The tape also featured the voice of a speaker that al-Zawahiri introduced as Abu al-Laith al-Libi, a Libyan member of al-Qaeda believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. "We announce we are joining al-Qaeda as loyal soldiers," al-Libi said, urging Libyans to prepare for a "new round of the battles of Islam".

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group first announced itself in 1995, vowing to topple the Libyan regime. It is the second organisation to allegedly join al-Qaeda after Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which changed its name to al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb last January.

Tunisian political analyst Borhane Besais described al-Zawahiri's message as a morale-boosting effort aimed at al-Qaeda members after what he said were severe blows recently dealt to the organisation in Algeria.

"Al-Zawahiri's message came at a time when cracks started to appear in the structure of armed Islamic groups in Algeria as a result of the armed struggle option which has infuriated Algerians because it was targeting innocent civilians," Besais said, noting the recent ousting of Algeria's al-Qaeda leader Abdelmalek Droukdel by members of the former GSPC.

Besais said the announcement that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group has joined al-Qaeda is a "manoeuvre to confuse positions at a time when the Libyan authorities are making contacts with most armed jihadi organizations in Libya." Many of the group's leaders are in Libyan jails, with some members in Afghanistan fighting alongside al-Zawahiri.

Abdallah Errami, a Moroccan expert on Islamist groups' affairs, expressed doubts that Libyans will heed al-Zawahiri's calls. In an interview with Aljazeera on Saturday, Errami said Libyan security agencies initiated dialogue some time ago with the jailed leaders of the Islamic Fighting Group. "I think that al-Zawahiri wanted to preclude any possible reconciliation that could take place in the future," he said.

Commenting on the tape, Moroccan Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said Morocco was taking al-Zawahiri's threat seriously. "We never neglect any risk ... We are integrating it in the reflections which we are having today on how to face up to external risks," he said following a meeting with his French counterpart Michele Alliot-Marie on Sunday.