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Jihadists' Surge in North Africa Reveals Grim Side of Arab Spring
(New York Times) Robert F. Worth - The Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi warned that if he fell, chaos and holy war would overtake North Africa: "Bin Laden's people would come to impose ransoms by land and sea." In recent days, that unhinged prophecy has acquired a grim new currency as a one-eyed Islamist bandit organized the brazen takeover of an international gas facility in Algeria, taking hostages that included more than 40 Americans and Europeans. Four months ago an American ambassador was killed by jihadists in Libya. "It's one of the darker sides of the Arab uprisings," said Robert Malley, the Middle East and North Africa director at the International Crisis Group. "Their peaceful nature may have damaged al-Qaeda and its allies ideologically, but logistically, in terms of the new porousness of borders, the expansion of ungoverned areas, the proliferation of weapons, the disorganization of police and security services in all these countries - it's been a real boon to jihadists." And it comes as world powers struggle with civil war in Syria, where another Arab autocrat is warning about the furies that could be unleashed if he falls. The dauntingly complex jihadist landscape across North Africa belies the easy label of "al-Qaeda," with multiple factions operating among overlapping ethnic groups, clans and criminal networks. Although there have been hints of cross-border alliances among the militants, such links appear to be fleeting. And their targets are often those of opportunity, as they appear to have been in Benghazi and at the gas facility in Algeria. Gaddafi acted as a lid, keeping volatile elements repressed. Once that lid was removed, and the borders became more porous, there was greater freedom for various groups - whether rebels, jihadists or criminals - to join up and make common cause.