The Dying Sahara: US Imperialism and Terror in Africa
Purchase on AmazonIn The Dark Sahara (Pluto, 2009), Jeremy Keenan exposed the collusion between the US and Algeria in fabricating terrorism to justify a new ‘Saharan front’ in Washington’s War on Terror. Now, in The Dying Sahara, he reveals how the designation of the region as a ‘Terror Zone’ has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of thousands of innocent people.
Beginning in 2004, with what local people called the US ‘invasion’ of the Sahel, The Dying Sahara shows how repressive, authoritarian regimes - cashing in on US terrorism ‘rents’ - provoked Tuareg rebellions in both Niger and Mali. Further, he argues that US activity has unleashed a new, narco-trafficking branch of Al-Qaeda.
Keenan's chillingly detailed research shows that the US and its new combatant African command (AFRICOM) have created instability in a region the size of western Europe.
Reviews & critics
'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' If J. Keenan was wrong, then what on earth are the western powers doing in the Sahara? The French operation Barkhane alone costs amount to 3 billion euros over only one year (and is going to last several ones according to the FRA MoD). Its results? Twenty tons of explosives, ammo and light weapons seized, around 3 tons of drugs, a few 4 by 4s and 165 terrorists "neutralised" (65 prisoners). From an accountant point of view it's a bad investment when it comes to protect civilisation and democracy as we know it.
The situations, machinations of the many complex players - countries of the region, not-so-great powers like france and the US of A., local peoples like the Tuaregs - are explained in this book as well as anywhere by one of the few independent scholars of the region - Jeremy Keenan, world class expert on what is transpiring there. The story itself - an ugly tale - is beautifully and comprehensively told: how the United States has helped instigate regional instability in order to justify the opening of its second front on the global war on terrorism - in the Sahara. In the background - it's all about oil, natural gas, uranium, gold - and what nations and companies won't do in the name of human greed.