Osama Bin Laden’s killing risks fuelling the threat of Islamic militancy in north Africa, scene of kidnappings and attacks by loyalists of his Al Qaeda network, Mali’s foreign minister warned Tuesday. The minister, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, was quoted by French daily Le Monde as saying that the killing of the figurehead was a blow to the Islamist network but could also boost support for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI).
“The event raises the risk in the short term of a headlong rush” by the movement, Maiga said. AQMI declares itself the north African branch of Al Qaeda and has claimed several kidnappings by militants operating in Mali, Niger and Mauritania. “AQMI militants have never needed material support from Al Qaeda’s central command. But they benefit from its media notoriety, particularly for uniting Islamists in different countries in the region,” Maiga said.
Such a concentration of militant activity in the region raises “fear of self-radicalisation” by new militants, he added. AQMI has claimed responsibility for killings and kidnappings including the abduction of five French nationals, a Madagascan and a Togolese whom it is holding in Mali after seizing them in Niger in September.
