Mali: A new chapter of the Qatari support for terrorism

The Qatari support for terrorism appears not to be limited to place or time, where a number of reports confirm that this support extends to the African continent as Doha has provided financial and logistical support to terrorists in Mali.

In this context, Mali act website reported that there are many indicators confirming Qatar's involvement in supporting terrorists in Mali.

The report notes that Doha has been logistically and financially supporting terrorist armed groups in Mali such as Ansar Al-Din, the separatist MNLA, the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other terrorist groups in West Africa.

 The report adds that Qatar has tried to build partnerships with terror Emirs in Africa and Mali at a time when terrorists in this African country were trying to establish an Islamic state in northern Mali and control the gas and mining resources in the region. 

 Qatar's support for terrorists in Mali represented a point of the French-Qatari conflict during the reign of French President François Hollande.

Hollande has asked the French company, Vivendi, to maintain its 53 percent stake in Morocco Telecom, while Qatar insisted to take over the company, which had a strategic role in the French military operation in Mali, the report said.

The French president feared losing the company, which represents one tool for the French intelligence service in Mali, where it was used to wiretap terrorist contacts in the African Sahel.

The Maghrabyya group has a majority stake in the major telecommunications operators in the Sahel region, including Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Niger, but mainly in Mali, which made great help to the intelligence tasks for the French military operation specially that the French company “Vivendi” owns a large stake in the company.

The report notes that Vivendi did not listen to the Elysees instructions before the tempting offer from Qatar Telecom (Qtel).

Finally, Qatar has successfully acquired a stake in Morocco Telecom by acquiring 42.7% stake in a Kuwaiti company, Wataniya Telecom.

 The Elysee widely suspected that Qatar supports armed terrorist groups and put the French military operation at risk by controlling the Moroccan telecom company, resulting in very tense relations between Paris and Doha at that time.