PARIS - The Algerian Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who according to the Malian and Nigerian mediators has sponsored the abduction of two French nationals found dead in Mali, reigns over the smuggling routes of the deep south Sahara, as terrorist, smuggler and thief.
- Nicknamed "the elusive" by a former head of French intelligence, he used his knowledge of the desert, and strong tribal and family alliances with local groups to roam at will the "gray area" very hard to control, at the borders of southern Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger and Mauritania.
Born in June 1972 in Ghardaia, 600 km south of Algiers, he said in a rare interview, broadcast in November 2007 by a jihadi forum, he had been, very young, captivated by the exploits of the Afghan Mujahideen, fighting against the Soviet army.
He joined in 1991, at the age of 19, and trained in Afghan camps of what would later become Al Qaeda, meeting men who had become responsible for the network.
He claims to have fought Russian soldiers, although this can be established independently. Having lost an eye in battle (officially due to shrapnel), he wins one of his many nicknames: "Laouar" (the blind).
He returned to Algeria in 1993, one year after the cancellation by the regime of elections won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). His Afghan experience allows him to quickly become one of the commanders of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), in his native region.
He joined in 1998 the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), born of a split in the GIA, the bloodiest Algerian armed groups.
"This is a history of Algerian jihad" explained a few months ago to AFP Louis Caprioli, former assistant director at the DST, from 1998 to 2004 responsible for the fight against terrorism.
"He knew very well the South. From the late 90's, the Sahel has gained an enormous importance because it became the only source of supply of arms and equipment to the Algerian bush, because the roads from Europe have been cut."
To finance these purchases of weapons and equipment, Belmokhtar launches large-scale smuggling of cigarettes, stolen cars, racketeering and illegal migration pathways or drug trafficking.
It links, according to several sources in the region, strong family alliances by marrying several women from several tribes of Tuareg in northern Mali and Niger, with which he is constantly informed of the movements of the forces of order in regions where nothing escapes the men of the desert.
His troops are not numerous, not more than 150 to 200 men divided into small, highly mobile groups. Equipped with powerful 4x4 vehicles, they are fueled by local tribes or secret tanks buried in the desert.
As a result of internal dissension within the GSPC and its transformation into Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), he is replaced as head of the "9th region" (the great southern Algeria) by Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, appointed by the emir of AQIM Abdelmalek Droukdal.
"He fell on northern Mali and moves constantly between the borders to avoid detection," said Louis Caprioli.
There, he enjoyed for years the right to asylum, following his intervention in the happy ending of the abduction of German and Austrian tourists.
"He has been promised to be left alone if he does not engage in hostile action on our soil," told Le Figaro in March 2007, Col. El Hadj Gamou, head of the 1st Military Region of Mali.
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