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US offers $23m Bounty for Islamists in Africa

US offers $23m Bounty for Islamists in Africa Betraying new anxiety about the threat of Islamic militant groups in West Africa , Washington is for the first time offering rewards totalling $23m (£15m) for information leading to the capture of their top leaders in the region. The move targets Nigeria's Boko Haram and three groups operating further north in the Sahel: al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) , the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and the Signatories in Blood Battalion. Posters of the men advertising the rewards will be distributed in parts of Mali , Niger and Nigeria. The highest single reward – of $7m – is offered for Abubakar Shekau , leader of Boko Haram. Authorised by Secretary of State, John Kerry , the rewards include $5m each for the leader of the Qaeda regional franchise, Yahya Abu el‐Hamman , and for Mokhtar Belmokhtar , leader of a group that carried out a raid on a gas plant in Algeria in January. He also claimed partial responsibility for an attack on an army base and uranium mine in Niger in May. Rewards of $5m have also been offered for Yahya Abu el Hammam , an Algerian leader of AQLIM, and of $3m each for two Malians: Malik Abou Abdelkarim , an AQLIM commander, and Ouma Ould Hamaha , the spokesman for MUJAO , whose fighters were implicated in attacks in May in Niger. “AQLIM has been increasingly active in North and West Africa”, a State Department official told AFP . “They cause us a great deal of concern. Anything we can do naturally to cut down on the capabilities of AQLIM, anything that we can do to get information on these people so that we can get them in front of a court. That is our goal”. (The Independent, London 4/6) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series Wiley

US offers $23m Bounty for Islamists in Africa

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Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2013
ISSN
0001-9844
eISSN
1467-825X
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-825X.2013.05193.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Betraying new anxiety about the threat of Islamic militant groups in West Africa , Washington is for the first time offering rewards totalling $23m (£15m) for information leading to the capture of their top leaders in the region. The move targets Nigeria's Boko Haram and three groups operating further north in the Sahel: al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQLIM) , the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and the Signatories in Blood Battalion. Posters of the men advertising the rewards will be distributed in parts of Mali , Niger and Nigeria. The highest single reward – of $7m – is offered for Abubakar Shekau , leader of Boko Haram. Authorised by Secretary of State, John Kerry , the rewards include $5m each for the leader of the Qaeda regional franchise, Yahya Abu el‐Hamman , and for Mokhtar Belmokhtar , leader of a group that carried out a raid on a gas plant in Algeria in January. He also claimed partial responsibility for an attack on an army base and uranium mine in Niger in May. Rewards of $5m have also been offered for Yahya Abu el Hammam , an Algerian leader of AQLIM, and of $3m each for two Malians: Malik Abou Abdelkarim , an AQLIM commander, and Ouma Ould Hamaha , the spokesman for MUJAO , whose fighters were implicated in attacks in May in Niger. “AQLIM has been increasingly active in North and West Africa”, a State Department official told AFP . “They cause us a great deal of concern. Anything we can do naturally to cut down on the capabilities of AQLIM, anything that we can do to get information on these people so that we can get them in front of a court. That is our goal”. (The Independent, London 4/6)

Journal

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural SeriesWiley

Published: Jul 1, 2013

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