AQMI guerrillas who are fighting in Mali have become the focus of the purported battle against Al-Qaeda in North Africa.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
By Andrew Harding
BBC News, Timbuktu
The UK government is urging tourists not to visit Timbuktu in northern
Mali because of the threat of terrorism.
The remote town is included on an updated travel advisory issued by
the Foreign Office.
A British tourist, Edwin Dyer, was killed in Mali in June by a group
which claims links to al-Qaeda.
But local officials insist the threat is being exaggerated. They say
such warnings are already having a crippling effect on the tourism
industry.
The vast area of the Sahara Desert is now being used as a hiding place for a relatively small number of militants from the group known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
In recent months they have kidnapped several Westerners for ransom -sometimes seizing them in foreign countries and taking them into Mali- and fought battles against government and militia forces.
US action
The Foreign Office says the threat of terrorism, and specifically
kidnapping, is now high in Timbuktu. Travellers are being urged to
avoid all of northern Mali.
On a visit to the region, Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis said
there was a real danger the security situation could deteriorate.
"We have to tackle this in a multi-faceted way," he said.
"We know al-Qaeda is looking to spread its activities in areas it
believes state security is inadequate and weak, and the population is
poor.
"It wants to appeal to that population and offer welfare initially. We
[need to combine] security with development."
But on the sleepy, sandy streets of Timbuktu, people insist the threat
is being exaggerated.
They say most incidents have happened far from the town itself.
"We are absolutely safe and peaceful," said regional governor Col
Mamadou Mangara.
But he added: "If the threat is real, then the world's great powers
have a duty to... give us the means to fight it before it is too late.
"We are a poor country and the Sahara is vast. We need vehicles, equipment."
The US has already responded with the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership - a five year, $500m programme targeting nine African states.
But the regional governor says poverty, not terrorism, is the biggest threat.
And local officials argue that negative travel advisories are
worsening poverty.
Col Mangara said 7,203 tourists visited the town in 2008, but only
3,700 between January and October 2009.
A special festival is being held next month in the hope of encouraging
visitors.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8373821.stm
Published: 2009/11/23 12:02:38 GMT
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