2023-07-09 00:54:00
German radio “BR24” devoted a detailed article on Saturday to the presence of terrorist groups in Africa, as well as their methods of propaganda on the internet and recruitment in areas of instability, in particular in the Tindouf camps. , south-west of Algeria.
Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda have “it’s easy” in the Tindouf camps, underlines the media under the title “Terrorist groups in Africa: A breeding ground for attacks in Europe?” “.
Islamist groups “are very present in Africa and recruit in huge refugee camps. They use the conflicts for their propaganda on the Internet, which extends to Bavaria, ”we note.
To support their remarks, the co-authors Sabrina Wolf and Joseph Röhmel cite the case of a certain Ismaïl, a 38-year-old stateless person, a supporter of the “polisario”. The latter was sentenced in May by the National Court of Justice in Madrid to two years in prison with a probationary period of five years for “radicalization”, they specify, noting that a whole network has been built around Ismaïl, to promote the jihad carried by the Islamic State (EI).
The Spanish media had indeed revealed that the so-called Ismail – whose real name is Monni Ahmed Merhaba – had, in the weeks preceding his arrest, published daily calls for jihad and martyrdom in videos that he himself created and distributed via various mobile applications. He had also expressed his support for the Islamic State as well as his hatred of Spain, which he described as a “land of disbelief”.
The Spanish investigators had revealed the close links of Ismaïl, who was close to Abu Walid, the former leader of the IS and member of the “polisario”, with other supporters of the IS and exposed a network of dozens members of the “polisario” in the Tindouf camps, who played a role in the activities of the Islamic State in the Sahara and the Sahel.
The investigations had also revealed, from the Facebook account of Ismaïl and his many friends, strong support for the “polisario”, which controls the Tindouf camps, increasingly infested by extremist jihadist ideology.
The German media cites several experts, including Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, an international non-profit organization that monitors and evaluates the propaganda of terrorist groups in Africa.
“Africa is increasingly becoming a hotspot for Islamist terrorism and attacks might be launched from this continent”, he pointed out, adding that it is always possible “to instrumentalise in Europe people from regions in conflict, to radicalize them and possibly motivate them to commit attacks”.
Spanish authorities and an organization of former intelligence officers have analyzed the propaganda network centered around Ismail, noting that all leads lead to Syria, Spain and the Tindouf camps in Algeria, reports ‘BR24’. .
According to former intelligence officers approached by German radio, most of the network’s Facebook accounts are not public: “communication there is very limited, which means that they only use their Facebook accounts to connect to each other. Then they move on to the Telegram messaging service or other means of communication”.
During Ismail’s trial, it emerged that he was also using a German phone number to conceal his identity, the report said.
“One thing is certain: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution observes that Africa plays a central role in propaganda”, notes the media, noting that the IS has declared Africa “as an area of emigration and Jihad” in its online magazine ‘al-Naba’ of June 16, 2022″.
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