Algeria siege: What's at stake?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Americans, others have been taken hostage by Islamist militants in Algeria
- Frida Ghitis: The hostage crisis is a warning that militants must be pushed back
- She says war has been raging in neighboring Mali, with extremists gaining ascendency
- Ghitis: The U.S. should aid the Mali government and help stabilize that part of the world
Editor's note: Frida
Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World
Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the
author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live
Television." Follow her on Twitter: @FridaGColumns
(CNN) -- The news that a large number of Westerners,
including several Americans, had become hostages in North Africa shook
the U.S. once again out of the delusion that it is possible to turn away
from the world's problems.
Many Americans would like
nothing better than to forget about the rest of the planet and focus on
all the challenges crying for attention at home. After more than a
decade of fighting costly and painful wars in faraway lands, people have
grown weary, tired of worrying about complicated conflicts that seem to
have no connection to their own lives.
But then bad things happen.
Frida Ghitis
On Wednesday, in a
dramatic operation in Algeria's portion of the Sahara, Islamist
militants in the desert attacked a convoy of oil workers -- the people
who work to satisfy the world's need for fuel. The jihadists claimed to have captured more than 40 hostages,
including Americans, British, French and others. The U.S. called the
incident a "terrorist" attack, and what followed has been the typical
flurry of confusion -- possible escapes, killings. Without a doubt, the
families of the hostages are suffering unbearable anxiety.
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Meanwhile, there is a war raging in Mali,
neighbor to Algeria. Until recently a democratic state, landlocked Mali
is becoming home to terrorism, as Islamist militants affiliated with al
Qaeda and its allies have been conquering the country and brutally subjugating the population in the process. France has just sent military forces to the country after a desperate plea from its president.
Fortified with weapons
seized from the Libyan war and emboldened by their unstoppable march
across Mali, these militant groups have been growing stronger.
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Escaping the Algeria hostage crisis
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The hostage emergency is
only the most recent in a dramatic series of events occurring in North
Africa over many months. In this chaotic and fluid crisis, we hope the
hostages will return safely to their families. But that will not end the
bigger crisis in the region.
Is al Qaeda close to calling Mali home?
While it unfolds, the rest of the world has to pay attention, whether it likes it or not.
Islamist militants, including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM), have operated in Algeria and other parts of North Africa for
years, massacring civilians indiscriminately, taking countless Western
hostages, collecting ransom, and more importantly, seeking to overthrow
existing governments and imposing their rule.
In Algeria, the government has the upper hand.
But Mali has gone into
free fall despite having served as a shining example of democracy in
West Africa, for decades a place of tolerance, art and culture.
After separatist Tuareg rebels joined forces with al Qaeda-linked
militants, the country's political system began to unravel. A military
coup weakened government forces, and the insurgency pushed ahead,
conquering the northern half of the country.
People living in areas under Islamist rule have endured floggings, amputations and public executions, according to human rights groups and witnesses.
Killings, rapes, torture and other crimes have prompted calls
for the International Criminal Court to become involved. Residents say
the rebels have been buying children to use as soldiers. And they have
engaged in the wholesale destruction of the ancient treasures of the city of Timbuktu,
a world heritage site, much as the Taliban did when they conquered
Afghanistan and blew up the ancient Buddha statues in Bamiyan.
The United Nations warns that hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes and millions more are at risk of running out of food in the Sahel, the area bordering the Sahara, which is experiencing a severe drought.
As the rebels entrench
their position, they build a stronghold in a part of the world where
institutions are fragile and people are vulnerable. The conflict may be
local, but the rebels' ideology considers the West the enemy, and
non-Muslims as well as moderate Muslims fair game for their brutality.
It's been almost a year
since the U.N., the U.S., NATO and Africa's leaders agreed that the
international community urgently need to lend a hand to the embattled
government and people of Mali. World leaders met, argued, discussed and did essentially nothing. Until this week. That's when the rebels launched an advance toward the capital, Bamako, and Mali's president sent out an SOS to Paris and the U.N.
France, a former colonial power, mobilized its military and launched bombing raids and sent in troops.
France has deep
connections with Mali, Algeria and other former colonies. Thousands of
French citizens live there, and personal and business connections run
deep. The military operation, launched by France's Socialist President
Francois Hollande, has strong support at home, at least so far.
The hostage-takers in
Algeria claim their attack on the foreign oil workers was retaliation
for France's intervention and for Algeria's granting permission for
military overflights. But experts say the militants' attack was too
sophisticated, probably planned well before Paris became involved with
Mali.
More likely, the
Algerian hostage crisis signals that Islamist extremists and dangerous
gangs are gaining ascendancy in that part of the world, a region that is
remote but crucial. It is a part of Africa at the intersection of the
Arab world -- of enormous strategic importance to the West -- and the West African heartland, a region only now becoming more stable after years of unspeakable human tragedy.
We may want to avert out
eyes, worry about the problems at home, and think this one, too, can be
"kicked down the road," to use the term fashionable for explaining
inaction on domestic matters. But some problems become much worse if
ignored.
The hostage crisis is a warning that militants must be pushed back.
Without sending American
troops into combat, the U.S. should provide greater support to the
French and other African governments in helping Mali to defeat the
Islamist militants and return democracy to Mali.
The last thing the
people of Mali and the West want is a gang of al Qaeda-affiliated
Islamist militants in charge of an entire country. We've already seen
that once before, and it didn't end well for anyone.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis.
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