The connection with ISIS of this group has not been acknowleged by the ISIS commander Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi until now, when in an internet appearance he accepts the allegiance of not only the leaders of the Muslim terrorist group in Sri Lanka reponsible for the Easter Sunday attacks, but also of the Malian terrorists. This is a chilling development. From an article this morning in the Times:
"In a video released after the bombing, the Sri Lankan attackers pledged their allegiance to Baghdadi, calling him “the caliph”. In his video, Baghdadi accepted their oath, along with others from jihadists in Mali, Burkina Faso and Afghanistan, a warning of Isis’s growing reach in areas where they have yet to meet much western resistance."
"The reference to Mali is significant as, while it has been subject to insurgent violence for years, jihadist groups there have largely been loyal to al-Qaeda, from which Isis split. A new sub-faction, led by a man calling himself Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, has emerged, and while it swore loyalty to Baghdadi in 2015 the precise nature of its “membership” in Isis has been unclear.
There was no previous acceptance of that oath of allegiance by Baghdadi, nor any indication that the group was acting under his explicit instructions. He may be indicating that now he would accept a mere oath of allegiance and does not demand that groups act only under instruction."
They're like rotten politicians or businessfolk - they fail in one place, they go and wreak havoc somewhere else that seems like an easier target. Very bad news. Poor Mali.
ReplyDeleteIndeed David. There is scant consolation in the fact that Central Mali seems to have been abandoned not only by the Malian state but even by these groups: left to their own devices as violence escalates and is transformed into intertribal warfare, never known previously among the gentle peaceloving Malians.
ReplyDeleteWell, presumably it was known once before. No nation is entirely peaceloving; it takes circumstance and restraints to make one so. Still, it is desperately sad to see so many changes happening in our lifetime (we who, in Europe at any rate, have benefitted from so much peace).
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