Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb: A "glocal" organization

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism

Volumn 31, Issue 6, 2008, Pages 541-552

  Marret, Jean Luc ^a,b  

^a Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique   (France)

^b JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 47049101786     PISSN: 1057610X     EISSN: 15210731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10576100802111824     Document Type: Article

References (55)

1. Glocalization as a term, although originating in the 1980s from within Japanese business practices, was popularized in the English-speaking world by the British sociologist Roland Robertson (Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture, London: Sage, 1992) in the 1990s
2. and later developed further by Zygmunt Bauman, "On Glocalization: Or Globalization for some, Localization for some Others," Thesis Eleven 54(1) (1998), 37-49.
3. For instance the New York Times "North Africa Feared as Staging Ground for Terror*: 20 February 2007;
4. and the Washington Post "Algeria Hit by Bombings, Six Dead," 13 February 2007.
5. See J.- L. Marret (ed.), Les fabriques du jihad (Paris: PUF, 2005), passim.
6. On the emir's daily duties, see for instance 'Abdallah b. Al-Mubarak, Al-Kitab al-Jihad, probably the first book ever written on jihad
7. Available at (http://www.shura.gov.sa/ArabicSite/AIndex.htm). The Qur'an formally adopted consultation as the approved mode of governance, although Muslims came to Muhammad for important decisions (See: J. CranfillMatejka, Political Participation in the Arab world: TheMajlis Mechanism [Austin: University of Texas, Austin, December 1983]).
8. Available at (http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/article/analyse/ benchenouf_trabendo.htm).
9. Available at (http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/erc/economics/trade_reports/1994/ Algeria.html).
10. A. Philippon, L'islamisme des banlieues: Entre prédication et trafics (MCC-Paris 2, December 2002).
11. K. Haahr, "Emerging Terrorist trends in Spain's Moroccan Communities," Terrorism Monitor, IV(9), 4 May 2006.
12. De Volkskrant, "Belgiëe rolt netwerk van jihad-ronselaars op," 25 January 2006.
13. Available at (http://www.presse-dz.com/fr/ article-presse-algerie-1729.html).
14. Available at (http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/ 20060831.WWW000000413_terrorisme_an_fin_de_lexception_marocaine.html).
15. Two cells affiliated to GSPC and linked to Belgium and Syria would have been dismantled in February 2006, available at (www.aujourd'hui.ma/ couverture-details52399.html).
16. Alison Pargeter, "Political Islam in Libya," Terrorism Monitor, 3(6), 24 March 2005.
17. Interview with an Algerian police officer, 12 January 2007. Available at: http://www.jamestown/org/terrorism/news/ article.php?articleid=2369478.
18. Jeune Afrique, 14 January 2007.
19. Available at (http://www.realites.com.tn/).
20. For instance on 11 September 2006.
21. It was already the case in 2003. More recently, the actual national emir pressed Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi to take French hostages in Iraq.
22. In Iraq, Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn/ The Base of Jihad in the Land of the two Rivers.
23. Available at (http://www.temoust.org/), 1 August 2007.
24. Available at (http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/article/pol/amnistie/ projet_charte.htm).
25. Some GSPC militants have been amnestied and released. Under certain conditions, they are living under scrutiny.
26. I.C.G., "The Civil Concord: A Peace InitiativeWasted," Africa Report, no. 31, 9 July 2001.
27. Le Monde, 4 March 2005. See also: (http://www.algeria-watch.org/fr/article/pol/breakamnistie/ verite_paix_conciliation.htm); (http://www.algerie-tpp.org/tpp/presse/ tpp_algerie.htm).
28. Available at (http://www.algerie-dz.com/article7710.html).
29. Available at (www.maghrebin.net/news-article.storyid-4007.htm).
30. It seems that life in areas controlled by the GSPC seems both insecure and uncomfortable. Many women and their children went back in towns to stop clandestine life; see (http://www.elwatan.com/ spip.php?page=article&id_article=38849).
31. The GSPC recruits in different parts of Algeria. In the town of El-Oued, the group has already recruited young men, sometimes already salafi (profile: Between 20 and 24 years; farmers or unemployed). Some of them have committed suicide-bombings in Iraq (for instance Khelf Allah Ouahid, 24 years old). The GSPC presses to act both against the U.S. troops and the shi'a and assist "sunni brothers."
32. Available at (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/ templateC05.php?CID=2379).
33. Interviews in Europe, May 2007.
34. Le Figaro, "Algiers Provides France with Terrorism Blacklist," 16 January 2007.
35. Personal source of the author.
36. On Algerian jihadi/salafi groups' history, see International Crisis Group, "Islamisme, violence et réformes en Algérie: Tourner la page," Issue no. 29, 30 July 2004.
37. Cahier de la recherche doctrinale, "L'emploi des forces terrestres dans les missions de stabilisation en Alǵerie," Ministère de la déefense, June 2006, available at (www.cdef.terre.defense.gouv.fr).
38. The GSPC and Ayman Al-Zawahiri have, on that point, similar views. Zawahiri, Egyptian, sees takfir (historically reappeared in contemporary Egypt) as disproportionate in many of these books (see: Knights under the Prophet's Banner - Fursan That Rayah Al-Nabi).
39. In his book Al-Firaq wa'l-jama al-Islamiyya al-Mu'asira wa Judhuruha al-T'arikhiyya ("Contemporary Islamic sects and Groups and their Historical Roots"), n.c., Dar Uhud, 2000, p. 214, Sa'd al-Din Sayyed Saleh describes the concept of takfir as one of the most dangerous.
40. For instance, three Mauritanians in Nouakchott, in January 2007.
41. Available at (http://www.elwatan.com/ spip.php?page=article&id_article=50014).
42. He reportedly trained in Afghanistan in the 1990s (In Khalden and Jihadwal Al-Qaeda camps). He came back into Algeria in 1992 and joined GIA emir Mossaâb Khatir. He then went back to the town where he was born, where he created the first nucleus of GSPC katiba Achahada. He became the GIA emir for Sahara in the middle of the 1990s, just before dissentions appeared in this group. He then contributed to creating the GSPC. He claimed to have contacted Al Qaeda and bin Laden, in Sudan, at the end of 1994.
43. Since July 2007, the GSPC would have a new emir in the area - Djaoudi Yahia, aka Abou Amr. Available at (www.lopinion.ma/ spip.php?article16238).
44. It should be noted that SPG-9 "Kopye" (Spear) is a Russian tripod-mounted man-portable, 73-mm recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union, whereas a mortar, relatively simple to operate, is a muzzle-loading indirect weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short-ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories.
45. J. L. Marret, "The GSPC/Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb: A Mix of Low and High-Tech Capabilities," Working Paper, 25 April 2007, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University.
46. Available at (http://www.elwatan.com/spip.php?page= article&id_article=38848).
47. According to a count based on local newspaper reports.
48. LA Times, "Bringing Jihad Home to Europe," 23 September 2005.
49. Le Parisien, 12 December 2006.
50. GSPC-Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, "L'expédition du martyr Soheib," 26 Jumada Al Akhira 1428, 11 July 2007.
51. In Spain, Italy, or France, but also in Belgium and in Germany in 2005 and 2006, and so on.
52. Le Parisien, 8 June 2006.
53. Personal source of the author.
54. B. Clifford, "Merchants of Morality," Foreign Policy, 129 (March/April 2002), pp. 36-45.
55. International Herald tribune, 26 April 2007.