Africa: Libyan Militants Supported Algerian Islamists

The interconnectedness among various militants and Islamist groups in Africa is growing nauseously. The militants who seized an Algerian gas plant before they were killed in a bloodbath received logistical aid from Islamists in Libya, a well-informed source told AFP on Tuesday

International media groups, including AFP, were able to get from Islamist circles based in Eastern Libya telephone numbers of the kidnappers as they last Wednesday overran the In Amenas gas plant in the deep Algerian desert.

37 foreigners were killed in the 4-day siege of the remote desert gas plant, some of them executed with a bullet to the head, Algerian premier Abdelmalek Sellal said on Monday. He said that a total of 29 militants were also killed and three captured in the siege, which got concluded on Saturday when Algerian special forces stormed the gas complex.

Algeria said its special forces managed to free 685 Algerian and 107 foreign hostages, most of them on Thursday, during their first rescue operation. During the deadly standoff, several media outlets had talked of a “Libyan connection” to the siege.

Algerian website TSA cited a security source saying the kidnappers had entered Algeria from Libya in official Libyan vehicles, while other outlets argued that the weapons the kidnappers used came from Libya.

When questioned by AFP, Libyan officials simply reiterated the words of their prime minister, Ali Zeidan, who denied that the kidnappers entered Algeria from Libya, saying the Libyan territory was not being used for launching operations that threaten security of neighbouring countries.

Algerian premier Sellal on Monday that the militants had crossed from Northern Mali. The Libyan source said that Libyan Islamists had no organisational link with the group, “Signatories in Blood” which led the four-day siege of the gas complex.

The group is led by one-eyed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the founders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM ). Belmokhtar left Al-Qaeda in October to create his own group. Jaber al-Abidi, an analyst, has no doubt Libyans were involved.

“It is clear that there is a link between Libyan extremist groups and those who led the In Amenas operation,” said Jaber al-Obeidi, an analyst and political activist. “Libyan extremists are present in northern Mali and helped carry weapons from Libya after the fall of the regime” of Gaddafi, he added.

The “Signatories in Blood” group had said that its attack on the gas complex was in retaliation for French intervention in northern Mali. Algeria’s Sellal dismissed this, saying the assault had been planned for nearly two months, long before France intervened in northern Mali.

Since the fall of Gaddafi’s regime in October 2011, Libyan Islamists have gained influence and inherited a large military arsenal from the conflict that ousted and killed him. Their ability to strike was illustrated by the murderous assault launched September 11 on the US consulate in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi that killed the American ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans coupled with attacks on security men.

According to the Libyan source, the Islamists who attacked the gas facility entered Mali “transiting through Niger and Libya from the Salvador triangle,” a barren stretch of desert that borders Libya, Algeria and Niger. Libya has long struggled to monitor its 4,000-kilometre (2,500-mile) land border. Boko Haram is also said to be strengthened by the various Islamist groups around Nigeria, in the Sahel and Sahara.

Mali and the Return of Mass Unrest in Africa: Remembering Kwame Nkrumah

The various resurgent unrest in Africa in both Sudan and South Sudan, attempted coup in Eritrea, lack of peace in DR Congo, rebel movement in Central African Republic, Islamists in Mali, Somalia and Algeria, Boko Haram in Nigeria and in other numerous flash-points around the continent remind one of nothing than the exertions of Nkrumah towards building a formidable continent and his predictions just as accurate as they are happening now.

The Osagyefo (Kwame Nkrumah) in the independence era of Africa; 1960, worked tirelessly across Africa preaching the gospel of a united and unified Africa. He postulated that Africa is not yet fully independent till she can control her destiny economically. Nkrumah strive for an Africa with a global voice. His actions were hinged on the creation of a United States of Africa with a United African Government backed militarily by an African High Command.

The African High Command will be a standing and standby force responsible for checking any heinous, nefarious and nauseous activities of saboteurs and rebels. The African High command will be a readily available force to be deployed. The failure of ECOWAS to act fast in Mali, AU's obfuscating mission in Somalia and Sudan are cases that proved the neglected sagacity of Nkrumah right.

The rationale for this was emphasised. He stated that Africa shall be consumed by smaller wars due to the numerous arbitrary borders created by the departing Europeans. They succeeded in establishing a 'keg of destructive explosive missiles' meant to be detonated continuously to ensure and preserve Western agenda on the continent. Nigeria and Liberia were two countries that stood against the futuristic wisdom of Nkrumah cogently and they are reaping from the sabotage anyway.

The Osagyefo was accused of pursuing a programmme for personal benefits because Ghana seemed sound as at then having got independence earlier. One wonders what difference exists in getting independence three years earlier. The foundation he laid in Ghana in making the country a unified whole without tribal tones represents the pillar for Ghana's advancement today. Those countries who stood against a united Africa's mission are today in abject poverty and unrest.

Most African leaders abhor unity because of greed. The lack of trust they display all the time is to ensure nothing tampers with their greed and avarice. Their corrupt personal gains are above the continent's glory and advancement.

New Convocation Dates for University of Lagos: Jonathan Becomes Perplexed

With series of meetings and close door activities over the postponement of the heroic Golden Jubilee Convocation Ceremonies, the authority of the University of Lagos has set new dates for the ceremonies. The dates are 7^th, 8^th and 9^th of February, 2013. Presenting the dates to the President, the authority gave him alternatives of choosing either towards the tail end of January or early February and he chose the afforementioned dates.

The fiasco over the change of nomenclature from University of Lagos (UNILAG) to Moshood Abiola University (MAULAG) was buried with the rejection of the bill by the House of Representatives. With the throwing out of such move, the President has no other alternative than to accept that the institution must remain what it is, in deed and in truth.

The main headache of the Presidency is no longer to hold the convocation, it is now whether President Jonathan will attend or not. Information from a reliable source stated that the Presidency is really very worried over his attedance because of irate students. Out of the three days scheduled for the events, President Jonathan is likely to be present by the weekend when most activities have been concluded and students will be scanty.

The representative of the President while speaking to officials in the school downplayed the name-change saying it was just an honour for a virile Nigerian, Moshood Abiola, and that the President had no ulterior motive. The President himself was reported to have communicated such to the University after his defeat. The authority wants his presence so he can with his own mouth mention the University's name in deed and in truth.

The President was playing, malingering and meadering because he knew the University Council will soon be dissolved so his calculation was to use that as a medium of delay but the University authority took him back to history that the University had had a convocation ceremony without the Council in a known distant past and that still serve as a reference and precedent.

Two historical events will also be happening at the ceremonies, for the first time in the history of University of Lagos, the Vice Chancellor will be inaugurated. The known procedure before is for the VC to be elected and work begins but now, the precedent of official inauguration is to be laid. Moreso, the new Pro-chancellor of the University, Jerry Gana will be inaugurated. The events are specially constituted to honour the renowed, amiable and dedicated Vice Chancellor, Professor Adetokunbo Babatunde Shofoluwe of blessed memory. The university still waits for the appointment of a new Chancellor after the demise of the erstwhile Chancellor, the Attah of Igala.

The defeat of the President over the change of nomenclature is a sign that reasoning backed up with action will go a long way in checkmating the nefarious and obnoxious activities of the worms called leaders in Nigeria nay Africa. All the citizens must do especially those in the academics is to stand and defend the future.