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launched by the Pentagon in 2005 under the command of CENTCOM. Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Niger were now joined by Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and Tunisia in the ring of African military cooperation with the Pentagon. Later, the TSCTI would be transferred to the command of AFRICOM on | October 2008, which is when AFRICOM was activated. launched by the Pentagon in 2005 under the command Algerian independence and the anticolonial stance in of CENTCOM. Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Niger were Africa. Because of the push towards independence in now joined by Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and Africa, France was finally cut off from the inland area in Tunisia in the ring of African military cooperation with — the Sahara that it wished to control. the Pentagon. Later, the TSCTI would be transferred to Washington clearly had this energy-rich and resource- the command of AFRICOM on | October 2008, which is rich area in mind when it drew the areas of Africa that when AFRICOM was activated. needed to be cleansed of alleged terrorist cells and gangs. The French Institute of Foreign Relations Sahel and Sahara: France’s Old Colonial Projects (Institut Frangais des Relations Internationales, IFRI) "Fighting terrorism" and executing "humanitarian even openly discussed this tie between the terrorists missions" are just facades or smokescreens for and energy-rich areas in a March 2011 report.’ Washington and its allies. While the stated goals of the It is also in this context that the amalgamation of Pentagon are to fight terrorism in Africa, the real aims of | Franco-German and Anglo-American interests and Washington are to restructure Africa companies has allowed France to and to establish a neocolonial order. become an integral part of the US In this regard, Washington has system of global empire with common actually adopted the old colonial interests. projects of France in Africa. This The French goal move also includes the American, was to collect Regime Change in Libya British, Italian and French initiative to : Since 2001, the US has falsely divide Libya after 1943, as well as the and bind all the presented itself as a champion against unilateral French initiative to redraw resource-rich terrorism. The TSCTI, which opened North Africa. In this scheme, the US Q Q the doors for AFRICOM in Africa, was and its cohorts planned on creating territories of these justified as necessary by Washington ethnic wars and sectarian hatred countries into this to fight organisations like the Salafist among the Berbers, the Arabs and 0 Group for Preaching and Combat others in North Africa. one central entity, (GSPC) in Algeria and the Libyan The map used by Washington the OCRS for slamic Fighting Group (LIFG). for combatting terrorism under 0 Yet Washington is cooperating the Pan-Sahel Initiative says a French control and with and using these very same lot. The range or area of activity extraction. The groups in Libya, along with the resources in this for the terrorists, within the ational Front for the Salvation borders of Algeria, Libya, Niger, of Libya (NFSL) and the Muslim Chad, Mali and Mauritania g q Brotherhood, as foot soldiers and according to Washington's area include oil, proxies. designation, is very similar to the gas and uranium. Moreover, many of the key boundaries or borders of the colonial territorial entity which France, from 1957, attempted Libyan individuals who are members of the Nationa Endowment for Democracy are to sustain in Africa. members of these groups and Paris had planned to prop up also have been part o this African entity in the western central Sahara as a conferences and long-standing plans pushing for regime French department (province) directly tied to France, change in Libya. along with coastal Algeria. This French colonial entity One of the key meetings for establishing what would in the Sahara was named the Common Organisation of | become the current National Transitional Council o the Saharan Regions (Organisation Commune des _Libya took place in 1994 when the US-based Center for Régions Sahariennes, OCRS). It comprised the inner Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) organised a boundaries of the Sahel and Sahara countries of Mali, | conference with activists Ashur Shamis and Aly Niger, Chad and Algeria. Abuzaakouk. The conference's title was "Post-Qaddafi The French goal was to collect and bind all the — Libya: The Prospect and the Promise". In 2005, another resource-rich territories of these countries into this one — conference with Ashur Shamis was held in London that central entity, the OCRS, for French control and would build on the idea of regime change in Libya.* extraction. The resources in this area include oil, gas So who are these Libyan opposition figures? A series and uranium. Yet, the resistance movements in Africa, of questions must be asked. Are their ties to and specifically the Algerian struggle for independence, Washington new or old? With whom do they associate? dealt Paris a hard blow. France had to give up its quest — Have they had long-standing support or not? and finally dissolve the OCRS in 1962 because of Ashur Shamis is one of the founding members of the The French goal was to collect the OCRS, for — French control and The extraction. — NEXUS ¢ 19 and bind all the resource-rich territories of these countries into this one central entity, resources in this area include oil, gas and uranium. DECEMBER 2011 - JANUARY 2012 www.nexusmagazine.com