The Dying Sahara: US Imperialism and Terror in Africa by Jeremy Keenan is reviewed by Jane Shallice. Published by Pluto Press, 2013, 252 pages. operations of the USA in the African continent. One study was Conflicting Missions by Piero Gleijeses, published in 2004, on the Cuban support for the independence struggles through the 60s, and the US maintain its hold. The Dying Sahara: US Imperialism and Keenan is an interpretation of the current operations of the US controlling areas of the Sahel. The Sahel is the zone of the southern areas of the Sahara, stretching from Mauritania in the west through Mali, the southern areas of Algeria and Libya, Niger, Chad and Sudan. The US and its proxy Algeria have been mounting operations in the last twenty years to create, in Keenan's view, a zone of instability. The Sahel has been considered an immensely fragile region, traditionally inhabited by nomadic herders who, given the marginal rainfall, relied on moving cattle in search of water. The impact of climate change, together with population pressures and with a decreasing water supply, has had a major impact on people's lives. The increasing difficulties of movement across colonially imposed borders have meant some people, like the Tuaregs, have begun to agitate for the establishment of their autonomous regions. In his previous book "The Dark Sahara", of which this is a further episode, Keenan argues that through the Global War on Terror the US has initiated conditions which have "led to the worst and most prolonged human catastrophe that this part of Africa has yet experienced. And it is likely to get worse." He claims that through false flag terrorism - the creation of terrorist incidents which warrant therefore imperialist intervention and presence - the area has become immensely dangerous for all who live and work there, with little prospect except worsening conditions In 2003, months after the start of the war in Iraq, groups of European tourists had been kidnapped in Southern Algeria and the US identified AbderPara, as the leader of the kidnappers. He was named Osama bin Laden's "man in the Sahara" and the Bush administration immediately announced that the Sahara was to be the new front of the War against Terror. The whole of the Sahel region, spread across the African continent was to be seen as the next terrain for the op erations of US Special Forces, the military and security forces in each of the Sahel states, and especially the Algerian DRS (Department du Reseignement et la Securite), their se cret intelligence service. In the following years there has been closures of areas and a massive displacement of population, almost half a million in Whilst Keenan rejects the argument that the current situation is related in any way with climate change and consequent pressures on pastoralists or peasant farmers, the fact that background to the area should not be forgotten. After the ending of the Algerian civil war, tourism became an important source of income, especially for groups like the Tuareg, but the crucial turn has been in global search for resources. Uranium, amongst other minerals, is one of the most highly prized and mining concessions in Niger have been jealously guarded by AREVA, the huge French consortium, which dominated the mines. It is not surprising to know that the interests of the mining companies whether oil or uranium, have been prioritised over the interests of the citizens of these states. But the area is also one into which there has been a huge influx of weaponry, leaking in from the war zones in NE Africa and now from Libya and the Middle East. This has ensured that for many young men arms are part and parcel of their accoutrements. It is also of course an area subjected to the more rampant forms of capitalism, with virtually nothing offered to the people, and with a huge proportion of the central governments' expenditure being spent on armies and security. All in the context of opposition to any challenge to hegemonic power, and with increasing rivalry between the more powerful regional states. The competition between Gaddafi and the Algerian regime meant that the Tuaregs were drawn into this, with Gaddafi offering work and support for the their demands for a "Tuareg political entity". It is of course a region that has seen operations of the Special Forces from France and the US. It has also seen the terrifying impact of the civil war that took such a horrifying toll in Algeria after the government in 1994 refused to recognize the elections and turned to smashing the Islamic groups, with the full knowledge of the US and western intelligence much of what was being sug gested has in fact been given concrete evidence: that the US were both knowledgeable and involved. It is a region in which the larger states were involved in the War on Terror and were implicated in rendition and torture. And undoubtedly there are groups who have been determined to fight against French and US interests. But, for Keenan, the focus is the way the Tuaregs have been drawn into the operations of the Libyans and have been the target of the DRS in particular. When reading this book you begin to realise the author is a player in the story, as Keenan has sufficient kudos to be asked to work on reports on the region for the UN, and is clearly known by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK to be an expert on the region. Their rejection of parts of his reports that they had commissioned clearly reveal how uncomfortable they are in his assertion that the Algerian secret forces, the DRS, are implicated in the development of Al Qaeda-type operations in the region. It is difficult to say how much the arguments in the book are limited by an over emphasis on the false flag terrorism, and the idea that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is a construction of the DRS. It is now evident that the US support for the mujaheddin in the war in Afghanistan in the late 80s certainly led to the expertise and the determinathrough the 90s. But only conspiracy theorists could say that AQ was the creature of the US. There is a huge amount of material here which is immensely useful. Unfortunately it went to press as Hollande, following the model of Bush and Blair, decided to bomb the Islamists in the north of Mali and to deploy French troops. The role of the US and their sidekicks the Algerian DRS is evident, although how they think they can contain the region is impossible to determine. But this is a book which without doubt will
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LEFT UNITY
Europe is plunging deeper and deeper into crisis. Its governments are continuing with their failed austerity policies which are destroying the social and economic gains working people have made over many decades. The economic crisis has increasingly become a social and political crisis as
people face poverty, hunger and even death, as a result of the catastrophic and
However the people of Europe are fighting back. On November 14th millions took to the streets to oppose these policies and throughout southern Europe there were general strikes. The task of the hour is to give adequate political expression to this new movement. In Greece, France, Germany and elsewhere, new political formations have emerged, drawing together a range of left forces, challenging the capitulation of social democracy to neo-liberalism. Here in Britain, a successful response to the
SOLIDARITY DEBATE ACTION To get in touch with your local group visit
http://leftunity.org/groups/ government-imposed failure of health systems and social services. rightwards move of Labour has not yet taken place, yet we have equal need of a new political formation which rejects austerity
and war, advocates a greater democratisation of our society and
institutions, and poses a new way of organising everyday life.
The need for cooperation amongst those forces which seek to bring change to our society is vital, to enable us to overcome the obstacles of the first-past-the-post electoral system. The need for unity is paramount as attacks on the living and working conditions of ordinary people intensify, and the very fabric of our welfare state is being destroyed We need to open a dialogue of the left, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that we do not remain outside of these developments. A coalition for change is necessary. We call on all those willing to tread this path to support this Appeal, so that this essential discussion can begin. The task is urgent and the time short.