Was al Qaeda given a safe haven in northern Mali? The roots of Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb - ANDY MORGAN WRITES. An extract from my forthcoming book on the story of Tinariwen and the modern Sahara Mokhtar Belmokhtar aka Laouaar aka Monsieur Marlboro aka One Eyed Jack The following is an extract from my forthcoming book on Tinariwen and the story of the southern Sahara.
The context is a visit I made to Tamanrasset in southern Algeria in January 2010, where I stayed with Eyadou Ag Leche, the bassist of Tinariwen. Today Mali, tomorrow Nigeria for al-Qaeda – By Richard Dowden. From being a blank spot on the map, the Sahara now looks like a springboard for the advance of militant Islam.
Until recently Mali was famous only for its music and for Timbuktu — our nickname for nowhere. Suddenly the French are invading this huge, poor, sparsely populated, landlocked African country, much of which is empty desert.