Meet The Prince, AKA, The One-Eyed, AKA Mr. Marlboro

"Ludicrously well informed" is an accurate description of this single-page general article on the Mali conflict (incluides a great map as well):

#Mali "Taking the fight to the desert"- rare free article from the always ludicrously well informed Africa Confidential africa-confidential.com/article/id/474…

— Tommy Miles (@tommymiles) January 18, 2013

Untold Stories from the Conflict in Mali
By By Christoph Koettl, Amnesty International USA | January 18th, 2013

[....] Mali is facing perhaps the worst human rights and humanitarian crisis since its independence in 1960. Abuses have been widely documented by human rights watchdogs and international organizations, including the recruitment of child soldiers, indiscriminate attacks, extrajudicial executions, sexual violence and enforced disappearances.

Hardly any of these violations have been captured on video by citizens, in stark contrast to the torrent of video coming out of Syria. Considering the context of the current conflict in Mali’s north, we shouldn’t be surprised. Internet infrastructure in Mali is highly underdeveloped, especially in the north. Arms groups’ tight control of telecom has created a highly insecure environment. This includes a variety of restrictions on communications, further limiting online citizen reporting [....]
 

Interesting item I missed when it was published last month, pleading for US help:

Save Mali Before It’s Too Late
By OUMOU SALL SECK
New York Times Op-Ed Contributor, December 28, 2012

The bio line:
Oumou Sall Seck is the mayor of Goundam, a town in northern Mali. This essay was translated by Edward Gauvin from the French.

Her (yes, her; as she says In 2004, I became the first woman to be elected mayor of a town in northern Mali) summary paragraphs:

I was staggered to hear the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, express his fear in a report last month that a humanitarian disaster might result from military intervention in Mali. The disaster is already upon us. Could there be any disaster more grave than the one we’re already living?

President Obama must not allow northern Mali to become a hotbed of terrorists and drug traffickers that poses a danger to the entire world.

The United States has intervened in less dire situations. I call upon its conscience. Please help us get our families out of their wretched distress. We are innocent victims. We cannot do it alone.

The Prince & tribe wants to trade two Americans for Omar Abdul Rahman (of the '93 WTC  attack) and Aafie Siddiqque (the Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three, who was convicted of attacking U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.):

1 American killed, 2 escape in Algeria hostage crisis, US officials say; militants seek to trade 2 others for blind sheik

By Jim Miklaszewski and Tracy Connor, NBC News, 6 minutes ago

One American was killed and two escaped unharmed from a natural gas complex in Algeria that was stormed by armed militants, U.S. officials said Friday. The fate of two others was unclear. [....]

Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed Friday that they were holding two American hostages and would exchange them for two people being held in the United States — the blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and Aafie Siddiqque a 40-year-old Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three, who was convicted of attacking U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

That would appear to account for all five Americans thought to have been at the plant, one U.S. official said, if the militants are telling the truth. [....]

BTW, Morsi of Egypt wants Sheik Omar too, he's a popular get:

Egypt's Morsi to urge Obama to free blind sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman

Reuters, 8 Jan 2013

President Mohamed Morsi called on his US counterpart to free Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman

The [senior Turkish] government official acknowledged Saturday morning though that the militant attack was of a scale and complexity the country had never experienced before.

“This was a multinational operation,” he said of the kidnappers. “These are not Algerians. They’ve come from all over, Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania. It’s the first time we’ve handled something on this scale. This one is different, it’s of another dimension,” he said. Although some of the escaped hostages in recent days have said some of the militants were not from Algeria, it is not yet clear that none were, and the Algerian government and militants have previously said the mastermind was an Algerian who had broken away from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

and

The senior government official appeared to acknowledge this in the interview Saturday, saying: “This has international implications. This is not just about us, it’s international.”

If the outcome represents a relative setback for Algeria, it could be viewed as a decided victory for Islamists who carried out the assault, who achieved several of their shared perennial goals: killing large numbers of Westerners and disrupting states they have put on their enemies list — including Algeria.

Indeed, the militants said Friday they plan more attacks in Algeria, in a report carried on a Mauritanian news site that often carries their statements.

from

Algeria Begins ‘Final Assault’ to End Standoff at Gas Field
By Adam Nossiter, New York Times, Jan. 19/20, 2013

Algeria crisis: if al-Qaida is linked to refinery attack, the chain is very long
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb's name hides chaotic reality of groups to which suspect Mokhtar Belmokhtar pays no allegiance
By Jason Burke, The Guardian, 18 Jan 2013

Back in the dim midst of what is in effect jihadi pre-history, Osama bin Laden, then simply a well-connected and wealthy young Saudi ideologue and veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war, sent an emissary to Algeria [....]

[....] though he does not appear to have sworn any oath of allegiance, or bayat, to either man, Belmokhtar has spoken of his admiration for Bin Laden and Zawahiri. He has also expressed classic jihadi views that align him with "al-Qaidaism". He is, therefore, part of the new, fragmented and fast-evolving landscape of Islamic militancy in the region, which, in some aspects, resembles the anarchic days of the early 1990s. This was a period before Bin Laden achieved notoriety or succeeded in bringing some temporary, if partial, focus to the myriad strands of violent extremism.

The impression is reinforced by one of the demands Belmokhtar has reportedly made: the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman, a senior Egyptian jihadi ideologue detained in the US in the aftermath of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre.

Over the past 18 months intelligence indicates a series of envoys have been dispatched from the al-Qaida senior leadership to north Africa and the Sahel. It is unclear what reception they may have received. History sometimes does repeat itself.

Gas field-operation an international Islamist group targeting "Christians and infidels":

Terrorist with 'perfect English accent' involved in Algerian hostage crisis
By Henry Samuel, Paris, The Telegraph, 18 Jan 2013

An Algerian hostage who escaped told French newspaper Le Monde that one of the Al-Qaeda-linked militants spoke English perfectly, and was among a multi-national group who seemed well acquainted with the BP gas plant in the southeast of the North African country.

"They searched the living quarters for foreigners and told Muslims that they were in no danger," said the man, adding that the kidnappers emphasised that "Christians and Infidels' were the main targets. [....]

On Friday, security sources cited by Algérie-Focus news website said several "foreigners" were among the kidnappers, including one from Canada, but also from Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Libya.

Reuters on Thursday reported that one of the Islamists killed by security forces on Thursday was a French national, although this has not been confirmed. [....]

and one of them also wanted to teach Americans something, from

Details Still Sketchy After Algerian Raid
By Adam Nossiter in Bamako Alan Cowell in London, Steven Erlanger and Scott Sayare from Paris; Elisabeth Bumiller and John F. Burns from London; Manny Fernandez and Clifford Krauss from Houston; and Michael R. Gordon from Washington, New York Times, Jan 20, 2013:

One Algerian who managed to escape told France 24 television late Friday night that the kidnappers said, “We’ve come in the name of Islam, to teach the Americans what Islam is.” The haggard-looking man, interviewed at the airport in Algiers, said the kidnappers then immediately executed five hostages.

and, once again, the perps were an international group:

The brigade of some 32 Islamists that took the plant was multinational, Algerian officials said — with only three Algerians in the group.

“We have indications that they originated from northern Mali,” one of the senior officials said. “They want to establish a terrorist state.” On Sunday, Mr. Said was quoted as saying the attackers were from six Arab, African and non-African countries, but he did not identify those states by name.

The Prince speaks & proudly claims the Armenas op for the Al Qaeda banner:

Belmokhtar claims Algerian raid, slaying of hostages for al Qaeda (in Video)
By Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal, Jan 20, 2013

Al Qaeda commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Image from Sahara Media.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the head of the jihadist brigade that launched the deadly suicide assault on the In Amenas gas facility in southeastern Algeria, has claimed the attack in al Qaeda's name.

Belmokhtar, the emir of the al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam, or Those who sign with Blood Brigade, released a video today in which he claimed the attack under al Qaeda's banner. The video was released to Sahara Media, an Arab-language website that is based in Mauritania. The videotape was recorded on Jan. 17, two days before Algerian forces launched their final assault yesterday to regain control of the gas facility.

"We in al Qaeda announce that we carried out the blessed commando operation," Belmokhtar said in the video, according to Sahara Media.

Belmokhtar stated that "40 mujahid immigrants and supporters from various Muslim countries, and even from Western countries," carried out the assault on In Amenas to punish the West for intervening in Mali. His description matches a report that an estimated 40 fighters led by a jihadist special operations commander known as Abdul Rahman al Nigeri carried out the suicide assault [see LWJ report, Nigerien jihadist identified as commander of Algerian hostage operation].

Additionally [....]

Reuters version of same story:

Algeria Hostages Attack Claimed By Mokhtar Belmokhtar For Al Qaeda In Video
Reuters, 01/20/2013

NOUAKCHOTT, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Veteran jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility in the name of al Qaeda for the mass hostage-taking in Algeria and called on France to halt air strikes in Mali, Mauritanian news website Sahara Media said on Sunday, citing a video.

"We in al Qaeda announce this blessed operation," Belmokhtar said in the video, according to Sahara Media. "We are ready to negotiate with the West and the Algerian government provided they stop their bombing of Mali's Muslims."

Sahara Media did not display the video itself on its site and it was not immediately possible to verify the information [....]

"We had around 40 jihadists, most of them from Muslim countries and some even from the West," Belmokhtar said in the video, according to Sahara Media. [....]
 

Russia & Canada have offered logistical support to the French in Mali:

French forces advance towards Mali’s north as Russia and Canada offer help
By RFI English, Jan 20, 2013

[....] On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Russia had offered to help transport troops and supplies to Mali, and Canada had offered help to bring African troops to the country.

"There is transportation that will be partly by the Africans themselves, partly by the Europeans and partly by the Canadians…and the Russians have proposed to provide means of transport for the French, so it's fairly diverse," Fabius told radio station Europe 1.

Only about 100 soldiers from a planned 5,800- strong African force have so far reached Mali, while France said it has 2,000 soldiers already on the ground.

The announcement came a day after an emergency West African summit of the ECOWAS regional bloc called on the United Nations "to immediately provide financial and logistical backing for the deployment of MISMA", the African force.

Fabius, who also attended the summit, said it was time for the Africans to take charge of the task of halting the extremist advance "as soon as possible".

"It is vital that the maximum number of countries worldwide contribute" to the effort, Fabius said, speaking ahead of a donors' conference in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on January 29.

Germany Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on Sunday responded to the appeal, pledging extra aid at the meeting but without setting an amount.

"The African troops need financial aid. During the donors' conference in Addis Ababa at the end of the month, Germany will assume its responsibilities," he wrote in the Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag.

 Algeria claims capture of five hostage-takers
Al Jazeera, 20 Jan 2013 23:34
Announcement follows warning that preliminary tolls of hostages and captors killed in siege at gas plant would rise

The link includes a video report as well as text,

and that video includes a clip of the video by Belmokhtar

Unpacking Algeria's hostage crisis
By Issandr El Amrani, arabist.net, Jan. 22, 2013

He's linked to an Al Jazeera video report he recommends and

[....] Also read this post in Jihadica by Andrew Lebovich on the deliberate echo of the Algerian civil war in the naming of the group that carried out the hostage-taking:

[....]As part of Belmokhtar’s Katibat al-Moulathimin, the new group would, in his words, attack “those planning the war in northern Mali.” Belmokhtar also said that an eventual intervention in Mali would be “a proxy war on behalf of the Occident.” He also explicitly threatened not only France, but also Algeria [....]

What the Osama bin Laden raid discovered on al-Qaeda’s links in Algeria
By Max Fisher, World Views @ washingtonpost.com, Jan. 22, 2013

[....] The link between the international terrorist organization and the gas complex hostage-takers appears, based on current information, sketchy. The suspected mastermind behind the attack is Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former officer with an al-Qaeda affiliate based mostly in Algeria called al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. Maghreb is Arabic for “the West,” a name with its origins in the Umayyad Caliphate’s seventh-century conquest of northwest Africa. Whatever AQIM’s connection to the Algeria attack, the incident has raised its profile in the larger jihadist community dramatically, The Post’s Joby Warrick reports. [....]

When U.S. Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011, they found a cache of documents that are sometimes called “the Abbottabad papers.” Terrorism analyst Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, in an article, goes through what these papers said about AQIM.

Bin Laden, according to Gartenstein-Ross’s reading of the tiny fraction of the Abbottabad papers that have been made public, personally maintained communication with AQIM’s leaders right into 2011. In his letters to far-away North Africa, bin Laden offered advice (or commands; it’s not clear which) to the group’s leaders [....]

Qaeda man behind Algeria’s hostage crisis exposed in an interview
Al Arabiya English, Jan 22, 2013

[....] Al Arabiya sources obtained an earlier interview of him. The hostages’ operation architect, Mohammed Lamin Bin Shanab, was announced dead by the Algerian government during the national army’s final attack against the terrorist group.[....]

During his 21-minute interview, Bin Shanab admitted previous terrorist operations his organization has executed in an attempt to send a clear message to Algerian leaders.

“We have executed an operation last year, and I remember at the time, it was evening time in a remote area. We didn't see any resistance. We hit gas tankers with mortars, and we left.”

He confirmed that “the message of the [hostage] operation is the same as the airport operation.” In 2007, militants attacked a military airport in Jant city that allegedly destroyed 3 military aircrafts.

Like other Qaeda members, Bin Shanab expressed his rejection of democracy in the interview, saying that it only exists to “serve interest of some figures and countries.”

Algeria handed him a death sentence in absentia for cooperating with Mulathameen Brigade, a Qaeda affiliated militia group operating in Algeria [....]

Primer on Jihadi Players in Algeria and Mali, Pt. 3: Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa
By Andrew Lebovich, Jihadica.com, Jan. 23, 2013

[....] One of the MUJAO’s key military leaders, spokesmen, and favorite quote machine for Western journalists, Omar Ould Hamaha, was a commander under Belmokhtar and was identified for a time as the military commander of Ansar al-Din. Hamaha is also, according to some reports, Belmokhtar’s father-in-law.

While rumors abound that MUJAO receives support from local businessmen and known traffickers, in addition to foreign governments, MUJAO has also made an extensive effort to portray itself as a “true” jihadist organization by instituting hudud punishments in and around Gao, conducting attacks against foreign targets, and adopting a media strategy that includes a web forum, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and battalion names recalling past Muslim leaders, famous jihadist figures, and also a local Muslim organization. [....]