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WikiLeaks cables: Algeria goes from security joke to US ally in Maghreb
After 2007 suicide bombings US diplomats lambasted country's security forces, but relations have greatly improved since then.
Algeria's government was badly shaken by al-Qaida bombings three years ago as the terrorist organisation opened a new front in north Africa and the country's "sclerotic and suspicious" security forces struggled to respond, US diplomatic cables show.
But secret reports from the US embassy in Algiers reveal that intelligence co-operation with the US has since improved so much that Washington considers Algeria the most important country fighting al-Qaida in the Maghreb region.
In December 2007, however, there was an embarrassed silence from President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after near simultaneous suicide bombings of a UN building and the supreme court in the capital killed 41 people.
US embassy cables show disarray, confusion and an inability to handle basic security problems. Bouteflika requested European help "to tap cell phones whose sim cards are changed" while the US had been asked earlier to help in countering car bombs, the documents show.
Many of the embassy's Algerian contacts attributed the president's silence after the attacks "to his embarrassment that the suicide bombers were previously known to the security services" and had benefited from an official reconciliation programme for former militants. Some of 250-plus Islamists who had been granted amnesties had joined al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).
By February 2008, however, US co-operation with Algerian military intelligence had improved and paid dividends. "They are a prickly, paranoid group to work with," the embassy reported, "but with them we have rolled up several networks that sent Algerian jihadis to Iraq."
A FBI office had been set up at the embassy to establish collaborative programmes with the interior ministry, "but the Algerians are not rushing to co-operate". In military and security co-operation, the Algerians remained "exceptionally careful".
In September 2008, Aqim called for the assassination of the then US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, during her visit to Algiers. Algerian security forces foiled a plot to attack the Hassi Messaoud airport, reportedly acting on information received from an al-Qaida cell in Europe. The alleged plan involved hijacking an aircraft and a car bomb.
By late 2009, the US documents show, Algeria had "taken the lead" in persuading its Mauritanian, Nigerien and Malian neighbours to set up a regional command for joint counter-terrorism operations at Tamanrasset, in southern Algeria.
"Aqim," a senior Algerian official told US officials, "wants to embed itself in the region and, therefore, Algeria intended to take the fight beyond Algeria's borders. Like a skilled boxer ... the key is to keep pressure on your opponent and increase your room for manoeuvre."
When the Algerians pressed for more intelligence-sharing, a US defence official countered that surveillance overflights would have to be linked to direct action on the ground since the cost of one mission was around $50,000, "so we had to be sure of the result". Algeria also needed sophisticated improvised explosive device jammers because insurgents used cell phones to detonate such bombs remotely.
The cables show that the Algerians were scathing about Mali, complaining that officials in the capital, Bamako, "have alerted insurgents that their cell phone calls were being monitored and leaked sensitive intelligence". Algeria also accused Mali of facilitating ransom payments for hostages and called the country "a favourable business environment for terrorists".
Late in 2009, Algeria was slow to respond to a US request to allow surveillance flights by EP-3 aircraft "to survey the sigint (signals intelligence) environment in areas of Mauritania and Mali where Aqim operates". This followed a visit by the US Africa command chief, General William Ward, and was "a demonstration of the enhanced security co-operation we want to support in the face of the Aqim threat in the trans-Sahara region."
The flights were later approved but a new problem emerged this January when the Algerian foreign minister summoned the US ambassador, David Pearce, to protest that the country had been included on a list for "enhanced screening" by the US transportation Security Administration. That followed last Christmas Day's attempt by the "underpants bomber" sent by al-Qaida in Yemen to bring down a passenger plane over Detroit.
"The placement of Algeria on a list that includes state sponsors of terrorism and countries of interest creates the impression that Algeria is part of the problem and less than a full partner in the fight against terrorism," the envoy was told.
"Over the past year, we have had a green light to develop new ties across the board, from military to law enforcement," he reported back to Washington. "That light has now turned yellow." Pearce added: "It is worth remembering that no country is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaida in the Sahel and Maghreb."
The Guardian
After 2007 suicide bombings US diplomats lambasted country's security forces, but relations have greatly improved since then.
Algeria's government was badly shaken by al-Qaida bombings three years ago as the terrorist organisation opened a new front in north Africa and the country's "sclerotic and suspicious" security forces struggled to respond, US diplomatic cables show.
But secret reports from the US embassy in Algiers reveal that intelligence co-operation with the US has since improved so much that Washington considers Algeria the most important country fighting al-Qaida in the Maghreb region.
In December 2007, however, there was an embarrassed silence from President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after near simultaneous suicide bombings of a UN building and the supreme court in the capital killed 41 people.
US embassy cables show disarray, confusion and an inability to handle basic security problems. Bouteflika requested European help "to tap cell phones whose sim cards are changed" while the US had been asked earlier to help in countering car bombs, the documents show.
Many of the embassy's Algerian contacts attributed the president's silence after the attacks "to his embarrassment that the suicide bombers were previously known to the security services" and had benefited from an official reconciliation programme for former militants. Some of 250-plus Islamists who had been granted amnesties had joined al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).
By February 2008, however, US co-operation with Algerian military intelligence had improved and paid dividends. "They are a prickly, paranoid group to work with," the embassy reported, "but with them we have rolled up several networks that sent Algerian jihadis to Iraq."
A FBI office had been set up at the embassy to establish collaborative programmes with the interior ministry, "but the Algerians are not rushing to co-operate". In military and security co-operation, the Algerians remained "exceptionally careful".
In September 2008, Aqim called for the assassination of the then US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, during her visit to Algiers. Algerian security forces foiled a plot to attack the Hassi Messaoud airport, reportedly acting on information received from an al-Qaida cell in Europe. The alleged plan involved hijacking an aircraft and a car bomb.
By late 2009, the US documents show, Algeria had "taken the lead" in persuading its Mauritanian, Nigerien and Malian neighbours to set up a regional command for joint counter-terrorism operations at Tamanrasset, in southern Algeria.
"Aqim," a senior Algerian official told US officials, "wants to embed itself in the region and, therefore, Algeria intended to take the fight beyond Algeria's borders. Like a skilled boxer ... the key is to keep pressure on your opponent and increase your room for manoeuvre."
When the Algerians pressed for more intelligence-sharing, a US defence official countered that surveillance overflights would have to be linked to direct action on the ground since the cost of one mission was around $50,000, "so we had to be sure of the result". Algeria also needed sophisticated improvised explosive device jammers because insurgents used cell phones to detonate such bombs remotely.
The cables show that the Algerians were scathing about Mali, complaining that officials in the capital, Bamako, "have alerted insurgents that their cell phone calls were being monitored and leaked sensitive intelligence". Algeria also accused Mali of facilitating ransom payments for hostages and called the country "a favourable business environment for terrorists".
Late in 2009, Algeria was slow to respond to a US request to allow surveillance flights by EP-3 aircraft "to survey the sigint (signals intelligence) environment in areas of Mauritania and Mali where Aqim operates". This followed a visit by the US Africa command chief, General William Ward, and was "a demonstration of the enhanced security co-operation we want to support in the face of the Aqim threat in the trans-Sahara region."
The flights were later approved but a new problem emerged this January when the Algerian foreign minister summoned the US ambassador, David Pearce, to protest that the country had been included on a list for "enhanced screening" by the US transportation Security Administration. That followed last Christmas Day's attempt by the "underpants bomber" sent by al-Qaida in Yemen to bring down a passenger plane over Detroit.
"The placement of Algeria on a list that includes state sponsors of terrorism and countries of interest creates the impression that Algeria is part of the problem and less than a full partner in the fight against terrorism," the envoy was told.
"Over the past year, we have had a green light to develop new ties across the board, from military to law enforcement," he reported back to Washington. "That light has now turned yellow." Pearce added: "It is worth remembering that no country is more important than Algeria in the fight against al-Qaida in the Sahel and Maghreb."
The Guardian
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