Completing a Threat Assessment of Ansar Dine - Essay Example

Completing a Threat Assessment of Ansar Dine. This Entity Poses a Threat to the United s in Some Way Table of Contents Overall Threat Assessment3 3 History 4 Membership/Leadership 6 Structure/Organization 7 Current Goal/Motivation 8 Location/Scope/Magnitude 10 12 References 13 Overall Threat Assessment Ansar Dine being one of the associate members of the ‘al-Qaeda’ poses significant amount of threat to the United States of America (USA). The USA has recently declared Ansar Dine, an affiliate of the ‘al-Qaeda’ group, as an international terrorist organization. However, this terrorist group has primarily maintained its convergence in the area of Mali, a landlocked territory in West Africa. Moreover, in accordance with recent news articles, it can be comprehended that the US has not openly participated in any sort of direct intervention such as military relief against this terrorist group apart from just providing support supplies to Mali till now 1. It is advisable that the US government should take this matter into serious consideration due to the fact that being an integrated part of ‘al-Qaeda’ it might raise threat against the interest of the US in the long run. One of such instances regarding this context includes the destruction of the ‘United Nations declared Heritage Sites’ in the area of Timbuktu, by Ansar Dine. This incident has raised severe levels of concerns for both the US as well as the security interests of the world along with bringing forward certain cases of humanitarian crisis2. Furthermore, the killing of ‘Osama bin laden’ (the leader of al-Qaeda) has further intensified the quest of this terrorist organization in the context of jeopardizing the western interests. Before the attack on the ‘World Trade Centre’ also known as (the attack of 9/11), the US government took the activities of this Islamic fundamentalist group in a casual manner. However, the attack of 9/11 completely changed the attitude of the US government towards this terrorist affiliate organization. The current fear of the US government is regarding the driving of the Ansar Dine militants into the ungoverned areas of the Sahara desert by the French army. The reason being, those ungoverned desert areas within Northern Mali can act as a settlement area for the al-Qaeda affiliates such as Ansar Dine3 This in turn has further increased the intensity of threat from this group both from the domestic as well as international perspective. This is due to the fact that Northern Mali is a deserted border location within West Africa. Due to the geographical location of Mali, it will be easy for this Islamic fundamentalist group to easily smuggle funds, illegal machineries along with weapons from not only other states but also from the neighboring nations thereby increasing the threat intensity of the terrorist group. History Ansar Dine is one of the militant Islamist groups, formed by ‘Iyad Ag Ghali.’ The group saw its existence during the period of 2012. In this regard, this terrorist group came into effect as a result of certain factors which include rejection from the leadership of ‘Popular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MPLA)’. Moreover, the key motivation behind this terrorist group is towards the establishment of a ‘fundamentalist type of Islamic state’ in the areas of Mali. They also intend to govern this state based on the ‘traditional Sharia law’. This has led to immense levels of discrepancies and instability among all other nations specifically the United States. In terms of the status, this group is still in an active form and has been carrying out its operations within Mali, West Africa. With regard to projected estimates, the group mainly comprises militant count ranging between few hundreds to thousands4 and is continuously rising. Source (5) The provided map destination describes the present settlement and functional areas of this terrorist group within Western Africa. The terrorist group Ansar Dine is considered to be a threat mainly due to its integration with al-Qaeda. Other factors contributing to the threat is regarding the huge stock of arsenal and armed vehicles possessed by this group. The recruitment process for this militant force gets carried out throughout ‘Mali’ as well as other neighboring nations such as ‘Burkina Faso’6. Furthermore, multiple Islamic nations such as Qatar also seemed to have rendered support to Ansar Dine which in turn has gradually motivated and boosted up their power and dominance over those areas. Membership/Leadership With regard to leadership, the main leader of Ansar Dine group is Iyad Ag Ghaly who established it. This individual also holds the relationship of being a cousin to ‘Hamada Ag Ham’, the commander of ‘al-Qaida’. The group also comprises ‘Omar Hamaha’ as their military chief. The threat process gets developed based on multiple factors. One such factor is the killing of ‘Osama Bin laden’ which has led to dismantling of this terrorist organization. This has raged instability within this group and thus gave them a reason to raise threats in the US. Moreover, this group works in a structured and coordinated manner and thus all the threat process gets strategized by the leaders and the planning heads within this group. Their motivation is regarding the promotion of Islam and Jihad related concepts and to follow the statements within the “Sharia Law” across the area of Mali7. Even after being driven off to the deserted areas of Sahara by the French military forces, still this terrorist organization has continued proving its effectiveness in multiple engagements. Certain instances in this regard include the participation of Ansar Dine in the conflicts within Mali during the period of 2012. This terrorist group is also responsible for burning down the UN and the UNESCO heritage sites within those areas. These are a few of the leadership and membership facts regarding this Islamic support group. All these evidences provide a significant level of information regarding the pattern in which this terrorist organization carries out its operations especially within the various areas of Mali8. Structure/Organization With regard to structuring of the threats by the terrorist organization, the activities get carried out based on their specific locations. For instance, the ‘Ansar Dine’ group is functional in Mali. In the similar context, the ‘Hizbul Mujahideen’ is functional in the areas of Pakistan and India. Adding to the above, the threat structuring also gets formed based on the requisite supply of funds, arsenals and heavy machinery equipment9. Although, there exists a parent terrorist organization named ‘al-Qaeda’ which was previously headed by ‘Osama Bin Laden’, after his death, the entire terrorist organization got split up as affiliates within different nations. Examples of a few of such affiliated groups have been provided above. Ansar Dine counts itself as one of such recently formed affiliates in the area of Western Africa. In terms of proof, multiple statements have been made by the United States regarding the existence of communication between this Islamic support group and ‘al-Qaeda’. Thus, from a general perspective, it can be stated that all the attacks and threats decisions get framed with the collaborative and decisive capabilities of ‘al-Qaeda’10. Ansar Dine also projects its reactions in the context of various activities and decisions carried out by the UN, UNESCO and the US. For instance, the deranging of the ‘Timbuktu shrines’ by Islamic fighters of this group based on the decision made by the UN with regard to declaring such monuments as heritage assets can be highlighted11. Current Goal/Motivation With regard to current goals and objectives of Ansar Dine, it can be stated that this rebel group has been making serious efforts in terms of disrupting any sort of peace process that the UN is trying to establish within the area of Mali. This intention of Ansar Dine terrorist group got reflected in a recent event where four UN peacekeeping soldiers were victimized to a bombing attempt done by Ansar Dine. The identified reason for this attempt was regarding the efforts made by the UN with the Malian partners in terms of establishing a peace process12. In relation to the aspects that Ansar Dine is trying to achieve, as already discussed above, this recently formed rebel group is intending towards formation of a ‘fundamentalist type of Islamic state’ in the area of Mali which will be governed based on the ‘traditional Sharia law’. This kind of motivation for this rebel group gets fortified by the parent organization i.e. al-Qaeda which has always remained inclined towards distorting the safety and wellbeing of the western nations. By taking into consideration the present activities of Ansar Dine, it can be stated that this group has evolved over the past two years towards becoming more focused on achieving their set goal13.’ Tactics/Capabilities It has been ascertained that even if the rebels were pushed to the areas of the Sahara desert, still their terror attempts continued and have increased gradually. Currently, this Islamic rebel group has been focusing towards attacking soft targets such as schools and residential locations. It has also made attempts of destroying areas that were declared historic locations by the UN and the UNESCO. One common tactic implemented by this terrorist group is the utilization of vehicle bombs. Apart from just the soft targets, this rebel group has also made multiple attempts in terms of harming the UN peacekeeping forces as a display of their capabilities14. They often imply the gorilla style hit and run attacks. Although their capabilities do not count as much in comparison with the French army who have been facing the brunt of such attacks but still they can be considered capable enough in causing significant amount of damage if given a chance15. The armaments store of this terrorist group generally includes weapons such as heavy and light machine guns, armed vehicles, anti-aircraft weapons, turrets and cannons. They mount the machine guns and anti-aircraft guns on the back of the pickup trucks and target the French air fighters. Ansar Dine also uses heavy machineries and bombing equipment for the construction of road blocks and bunkers16. Funding/Connections In terms of support, this Islamic fundamentalist rebel group has been attaining support from multiple Islamic nations in terms of money, weapons and machineries. For instance, recent news reports brought up a few traces of Qatar in terms of providing support to this Islamic fundamentalist rebel group of Mali. Multiple perceptions have been made regarding the intention of Qatar with regard to spreading the Islamic fundamentalism within Mali (Africa)17. The terrorist group attains a majority of its arms and heavy machineries from Libya and through interstate and inter-nation boarder smuggling. For the record, it can be stated that this terrorist group does maintain contact with parent organization i.e. al-Qaeda and with other nations such as Qatar in terms of acquiring support18. Location/Scope/Magnitude If witnessed from a broader perspective, it can be stated that this organization along with its parent organization has set its foot all across the world. This is mainly due to the fact that the parent organization al-Qaeda has got its affiliated units functional all across the world. However, if only Ansar Dine is taken into the consideration, it can be stated that this terrorist organization presently operates in the location of Northern Mali within West Africa. The reason being that during the period of 2013, the intervention from the French had resulted in pushing this terrorist group towards the deserted areas of the northern Mali which now has become the heavenly housing location for this group19. This Islamic fundamentalist group coordinates all its attacks from this location due to the flexibility in the supply of armaments within that area. Additionally, the hold of the border location of Mali by this terrorist organization has gradually improvised its scope of threat provision. The reason being that holding a presence in a wider area provides ‘Ansar Dine’ with the ease of smuggling arms and machineries from the other states as well as from different other nations which in turn enables to improvise its strengths and scope. This group plays a dual role when it comes to the threat levels. For instance, it acts like a regional threat within the area of Mali, Africa. In the similar context, this terrorist group also acts as a global threat to the interest of the US when it comes to killing of the UN peacekeeping force and executing attacks on the US and UN facilities established within the areas of Mali and other parts of Africa20. Countering the Threat In the context of countering the threat from this terrorist organization, it can be recommended that the US needs to start its intervention within this terrorist related matters within the area of Mali, West Africa. Now that it has already declared this Islamic fundamentalist group as an international terrorist group, so it should be prepared regarding any type of assault from this group. Although such countermeasures might give rise to multiple humanitarian issues but still it is necessary in order to prevent future consequences. The US’s non-negotiationary policy with regard to the terrorist’s bargains seems to be effective in this regard. Apart from all these, the US along with the UN also needs to make efforts with regard to establishing peace relationship with the African nation i.e. Mali government so as to converge the intensity of these terrorist activities which in the coming days might grow up as a global fear. It should also criticize other Islamic nations which are rendering support to this Islamic rebel with the intention of spreading the Islamic fundamentalism within the areas of Mali and other parts of Africa. The prime intention of the US government should be towards eliminating all possible sources of arms and financial support towards this terrorist group. One observed instance, in this regard is the criticism made by the French government against the Qatar government on the basis of found evidence regarding Qatar forwarding a helping hand towards these militants. Apart from just concentrating on this group, the US government needs to track down the activity pattern of the parent organization namely al-Qaeda. All these approaches are recommended and might help in establishing countermeasures against all future threats from the Ansar Dine group. References BBC, “Timbuktu Shrines Damaged by Mali Ansar Dine Islamists.” News Africa. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-18657463 (accessed June 15, 2014). Eye Witness News, “Suicide Bomb Kills 4 UN Soldiers in Mali.” Latest News. http://ewn.co.za/2014/06/12/Suicide-bomb-kills-4-UN-soldiers-in-Mali (accessed June 15, 2014). Fletcher, Pascal, “AU Urges Mali Ansar Dine Rebels to Break with Qaeda.” Thomson Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/us-au-mali-ansardine-idUSBRE86F11U20120716 (accessed June 15, 2014). France 24, “Is Qatar Fuelling The Crisis In North Mali?” Africa. http://www.france24.com/en/20130121-qatar-mali-france-ansar-dine-mnla-al-qaeda-sunni-islam-doha/ (accessed June 15, 2014). Global Security News, “Islamists In Mali: Funding And Ideological Ratlines Linking Saudi Arabia And Qatar.” Africa. http://global-security-news.com/2012/07/03/islamists-in-mali-funding-and-ideological-ratlines-linking-saudi-arabia-and-qatar/ (accessed June 15, 2014). Lambert, Michael. and Warner, Jason, “Who is Ansar Dine?” Cable News Network. http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/14/who-are-ansar-dine/ (accessed June 15, 2014). OX News Network, LLC., “North Mali Islamist Group Ansar Dine Brings New Members into Its Fold.” Africa. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/20/north-mali-islamist-group-ansar-dine-brings-new-members-into-its-fold/ (accessed June 15, 2014). Price, John, “Al Qaeda’s Continued Challenge.” International Policy Digest. http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2014/02/04/al-qaedas-continued-challenge/ (accessed June 15, 2014). TRAC, “Ansar Dine.” Targets. http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/ansar-dine (accessed June 15, 2014). The Institute for the Study of Violent Groups, “Institute for the Study of Violent Groups.” Leading Research & Analytics on Violent Extremism & Transnational Crime. http://vkb.isvg.org/Wiki/Groups/Ansar_al_Din (accessed June 15, 2014). 361Security LLC, “Mali: A Brief Analysis of Ansar Dine’s Military Capabilities.” Analysis. http://www.361security.com/analysis/a-brief-analysis-of-ansar-dines-military-capabilities (accessed June 15, 2014). Read More