Algeria: U.S. Drone Dispute Underscores Tensions

Algeria's recent presidential election granted a fourth term to President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika, giving the political establishment additional time to implement constitutional changes as well as political and economic reforms. The president and his allies hope to foster a civilian state that can check the power of the military and security forces. Whether under civilian or military rule, however, security concerns will continue to play a key role in Algerian politics. This fact is underscored by a recent disagreement between Algiers and Washington over the sale of armed unmanned aerial vehicles, known colloquially as drones, and associated technology.


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika on April 3 in Algiers.(JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Algeria and the United States share concerns about regional militancy and view drones as useful tools in the fight against terrorism. However, deep divisions remain between the two on who will oversee technology and operations. As the United States tries to improve indigenous counterterrorism capabilities region-wide, this dispute highlights a major challenge: One of its most capable potential partners continues to pursue its own prerogatives, to the detriment of U.S. strategy. In accordance with Algeria's geopolitical imperatives, the country will continue to reject foreign oversight over domestic decision-making and oppose expanded Western influence in its strategic periphery.

The Unspectacular, Unsophisticated Algerian Hostage Crisis

The recent jihadist attack on the Tigantourine natural gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria, and the subsequent hostage situation there have prompted some knee-jerk discussions among media punditry. From these discussions came the belief that the incident was spectacular, sophisticated and above all unprecedented. A closer examination shows quite the opposite.

Indeed, very little of the incident was without precedent. Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who orchestrated the attack, has employed similar tactics and a similar scale of force before, and frequently he has deployed forces far from his group's core territory in northern Mali. Large-scale raids, often meant to take hostages, have been conducted across far expanses of the Sahel. What was unprecedented was the target. Energy and extraction sites have been attacked in the past, but never before was an Algerian natural gas facility selected for such an assault.

Germany's Mali Predicament: Trapped Between France and War

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Matthias Gebauer and Philipp Wittrock

Germany is eager to prove it is a reliable ally, particularly after it snubbed France and stayed out of Libya. Wary of getting pulled into the violence in Mali, it has instead offered two planes to transport troops.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is an extremely disciplined politician. Even when speaking off the record, she weighs her words carefully and avoids strong language. But a few weeks ago, during a classified meeting of the Federal Security Council, Gerhard Schindler, head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), gave a presentation on the situation in Mali. The chancellor exclaimed: "What a crap region."

Is the Algeria hostage crisis really al-Qaeda?

As is often the case with militant groups operating in the Arabic-speaking world, the one that seized a gas field in eastern Algeria appears to have some links to al-Qaeda. But those links, based on the currently available information, appear sketchy. And the group to which they may be linked, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is not the same as the Afghanistan-and-Pakistan-based “central” al-Qaeda that is better known to Americans.

A 2005 photo shows the In Amenas gas field in Algeria. (AP Photo/Kjetil Alsvik, Statoil via NTB scanpix)

The militant group is led by a guy named Mokhtar Belmokhtar. We looked at him in an earlier post: he’s 40 (that’s ancient in jihadi terms), has one eye, trained with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in the 1980s, is called “The Uncatchable” by French intelligence, and runs criminal enterprises that have included taking hostages for ransom. He currently runs his own group but used to be an officer with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, until he reportedly had a falling out with its leaders.