Category: AQIM

NOTE: I have not been able to get access to the actual audio because apparently the type of audio file does not work on Mac’s. Nonetheless, below is a translation of a key part from the Spanish newspaper El Pais in Spanish and below it is a rough translation into English via Google Translate:

Spanish:
“Gracias a Dios los muyahidines han encontrado una solución positiva sobre el asunto de los españoles retenidos Albert Vilalta y Roque Pascual que ha acabado el domingo, día 12 del mes de ramadán [ayer] con su liberación, tras habernos sido concedidas algunas de nuestras peticiones. Y es una lección dirigida a los servicios secretos franceses para que lo tengan presente en el futuro. Tuvieron posibilidad de actuar con cabeza y responsabilidad con los muyahidines También tuvieron la posibilidad de haber evitado la locura y el enfado que llevo a la muerte de sus propios ciudadanos. [Y este gesto de la liberación de los españoles] Es para que sepa la opinión pública que nosotros somos las víctimas a las que hacen daño. Porque las cárceles de los cristianos están llenas con miles de hermanos musulmanes inocentes, y la comunidad musulmana tiene que pedir con fuerza y por todas las vías posibles su liberación por todas las vías”.
English:
“Thank God, the mujahedeen have found a positive solution to the issue of the Spanish held Roque Pascual Albert Vilalta and has finished on Sunday, 12th of Ramadan [yesterday] to its release , having been granted us some of our requests. It is a lesson aimed at the French Secret Service to take it into consideration in the future. They were able to act with responsibility with the head and mujahideen also had the opportunity to have avoided the madness the anger that led to the death of their own citizens. [And this gesture of liberation from Spanish] It is to know the public that we are the victims they hurt. Because the jails are filled with Christians thousands of innocent Muslim brothers, and the Muslim community has to ask hard and every way possible their liberation by all means. “

If for whatever reason the audio works on your computer one can find it here.

Friend of the blog Nasser Weddady, a native Mauritanian, summarized and provided local knowledge analysis of AQIM’s most recent video release “On The Occasion of Ramadan Fighting is Ordained for You” to me through twitter. He said:

• watching the video the dudes in the first minutes are Mauritanians with a clear Hassaniya accent..figures we’re more literary

• one of the guys was reciting a hassaniya poem

• it’s funny to see Mauritanians reciting Qur’an in Hafs instead of warsh.. so alien to us.. clearly Saudi influence in action

• minute 30, showing an Afro-Mauritanian preaching in Halpulaar (fulani) very worrying sign..

• minute 33 a Touareg preaching in his language face uncovered.. another alarm sign

• minute 41, Guinean preaching in Portuguese..

• min 43 AQIM dude preaching in .. Haussa..

• part one of the new video is basically AQIM bragging about the diversity of its recruits and a show of success recruiting touaregs

• beginning of video 2 AQIM emphasizing their diversity i.e trying to spread the msg & grow it beyond Arabs

• min 43, in the hassaniya poem the guy says in rhyme that the group in that location has 14 fighters.

• the Hassaniya poem in part 2 shows a good deal of sophistication trying to appeal to Moorish youth. psy-ops

• the propaganda is designed to appeal to young moors warrior ethos.. not to be confused with jihadism..much more complex sociology

• minute 60 of the video: gives previously unknown names of 4 Muaritanian AQIM members gone KIA.

Obviously one cannot take everything in a propaganda video at face value, at the same time, AQIM is trying to show it has diversified its ranks and is no longer a strictly Arab movement or for that matter completely run by Algerians. As Weddady mentions above this is a worrying sign because it opens the playing field to operations and potential safe havens in other countries. It appears that although AQIM was fairly silent on the media front in 2009, over the past several months they have stepped up their media operations. Something to look for in future statements or video messages is whether AQIM is able to infiltrate networks in Morocco and recruit Moroccans. Also, whether there is a shift in messaging to more a Global Jihadist ideology where they focus less on local and regional issues and more on reclaiming territory occupied by Spain since in the past it was part of Muslim territory (al-Andalus).