South American drug gangs funding al-Qaeda terrorists

Islamic rebels familiar with the barren terrain of the Sahara have struck deals under which they provide armed security escorts for drug traffickers in return for a slice of their profits. Counter-terrorism experts said that the terrorists belong to the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group, which has kidnapped a series of Westerners and killed a British tourist last year. They warned that the money they receive from drugs gangs could be used to attract new recruits and plan terrorist attacks on European cities. Olivier Guitta, a counter-terrorism and foreign affairs consultant, said that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Marxist rebel group, was the "force behind the agreement with AQIM". In the past drugs were flown or shipped from South America straight to Spain or Portugal but the introduction of more rigorous controls in those countries led FARC to change its way of operating. " Since the routes going through Europe became much more difficult to use, FARC saw an opportunity to use the Sahel and North Africa as its new drug route," said Mr Guitta.

"And since AQIM has a hold over the area and was already involved in major smuggling operations it made sense to offer them a deal. "AQIM is an independent unit of al-Qaeda and does not share the monies with al-Qaeda central but is looking to pull off terror attacks on its own in Europe." Terrorists linked to al-Qaeda in north Africa have made $130m (£84m) from helping drugs gangs and kidnap ransoms since 2007, according to one report citing an investigation by the Algerian government. AQIM first emerged under a different name as an Islamic resistance group opposed to Algeria's secular government in the early 1990s and was behind numerous suicide bombings and ambushes. It declared allegiance to al-Qaeda as early as 2003 and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the terrorist network's second in command, officially approved the 'merger' in 2006. AQIM has since spread it's operations further south to the Sahara and the borders with Mali, Niger and Mauritania.
Algeria's paramilitary police have reported dozens of clashes with AQIM rebels carrying Kalashnikovs and providing armed escorts for drug smugglers since 2008. In 2009 AQIM kidnapped Edwin Dyer, a British tourist who had attended a festival of Tuareg culture, and executed him after their demands for the release of Abu Qatada, the Jordanian extremist, by the UK were not met.

The group also claimed responsibility for shooting dead a US aid worker in Mauritania in June last year and for a suicide bombing on the French embassy there two months later which injured three people.
Counter-terrorism officials in Europe and the United States fear that the Sahara is fast becoming a safe haven for the activities of Islamic terrorists, along the lines of Somalia and Yemen. But Mr Guitta said attempts by Europe, the US and some north African states such as Morocco to tackle the growing links between terrorism and drug trafficking are hampered by the attitudes of other governments. "In South America, only Colombia really helps. In Africa, most other countries do not co-operate very much and a few allegedly actually profit from the drug trafficking," he said.