Doubt surrounds union between GSPC and al-Qaeda
2007-10-24
Some terror experts have expressed scepticism regarding the alliance between the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and al-Qaeda, raising the subject to an international debate.
By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 24/10/07
 [Getty Images] Some experts allege that the former GSPC began carrying out suicide operations because of the ease of their orchestration. |
The widely-accepted merger between Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and al-Qaeda has being called into question by a number of terrorism experts. Some doubt the existence of the alliance, believing it is merely a smokescreen put up by an ailing GSPC.
Foreign terror expert Hugh Roberts, a specialist on Algeria and North Africa with the International Crisis Group (ICG), believes the terrorist threat in Algeria has been "exaggerated". In an interview published Saturday (October 21st) in Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, he completely rejected suggestions that GSPC had merged with al-Qaeda.
He said it was merely a "tactic to change their image" and a "sign of weakness". Roberts said there is "little evidence that al-Qaeda and the GSPC are collaborating operationally or that the decision has turned the GSPC into a regional movement capable of attacking Europe."
"The GSPC certainly has links with groups in Morocco, Tunisia and Libya," he said, "but it's not true that these groups have united to create an entirely new organisation." Roberts said the announcement is symptomatic of the group’s "weakness".
The GSPC has thus begun carrying out suicide attacks, Roberts said, since they are "easier to orchestrate". Their persistence in pursuing this activity may be explained by the fact that the GSPC relies heavily on smuggling. "A lot of terrorists have invested a great deal in this way of life and fear there is no way back for them," he commented.
Roberts' analysis is similar to that of Louis Caprioli, special adviser to the GEOS Group, an international risk management and prevention organisation. Formerly third in command of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (a French intelligence agency) and responsible for the fight against international terrorism, he said in an interview published last week in Algerian newspaper El Watan that the GSPC’s decision to align itself with al-Qaeda was above all a "strategic" one.
"It was either that or disband," he said, asserting that "Algerian terrorism had lost military power and needed to find a means of survival, to open themselves up to international groups by referring to al-Qaeda."
Caprioli said, "This is indicative of the failure of purely domestic combat. When it was initially set up, and later under Djamel Zitouni, the mission of the GIA [Armed Islamic Group] was to create an 'Algerian emirate'." In Caprioli's view, the transition to the international level was "a natural, logical and necessary step because these terrorist groups have failed in their campaigns and have been unable to win over the people," he said. "The GSPC wanted to give itself an international image, and al-Qaeda may have represented a 'logo' in their eyes."
"For the time being, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is a symbol but not an organisation, since the movement still lacks a strategic relationship with al-Qaeda. It currently has no significant military clout and its munitions are limited. It is difficult, maybe even impossible, for it to get hold of sophisticated weaponry, since the Algerian army has tight control over the country’s borders and in order to come by advanced weapons, they would have to pass through hostile countries," he said.
Writing in the columns of Egyptian daily Al Masri Al Youm last September, Algerian Ambassador to Egypt Abdelkader Hadjar asserted that in "proclaiming their affiliation to international terrorism, the GSPC sought to gain the attention of the press."
Caprioli, meanwhile, believes that terrorism in Algeria lost its focus. "It’s no longer the terrorism of the GIA," he said. "It’s not the terrorism of a single group, but a terrorist ideology which has gone astray."
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MOJAHID FI SABILI LLAH Posted 2007-12-14
It was America which did this terrorism by supporting terrorism and the Arab and Islamic world.
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