Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has determined that Libyan weapons
have reached Al Qaida in Mali.

Officials said thousands of missiles and rockets were taken from the
arsenal of then-Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi and brought to Al Qaida
strongholds in Mali.

The officials said the anti-tank and surface-to-air missiles have bolstered Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb and its proxies.

“They created opportunities for Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb to
exploit instability and establish new and expanded safe havens,” said Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Amanda Dory said.

Officials said the U.S. Africa Command has sought to prevent AQIM
mergers and alliances. They said AQIM, bolstered by new weapons, was moving
into such countries as Niger, Nigeria and Somalia.

“If they are able to coordinate their efforts, share funding, training,
weapons exchange and what have you, I think that presents a real challenge
for us,” Africa Command chief Gen. Carter Ham told the House Armed Services
Committee in February 2012.

In an address to a conference on July 18, Ms. Dory said Libyan weapons allowed AQIM and their Tuareg allies to capture northern Mali and use it as an insurgency base. The Pentagon official said the new safe haven was threatening U.S. allies in North Africa and the Sahel region.

Ms. Dory’s remarks contradicted that of the assurances of the State
Department throughout 2011 that Libyan weapons were not finding their way
abroad. Over the last few months, the State Department asserted that most of
the 20,000 SAMs in Gadhafi’s arsenal were believed to have remained with
Libyan militias rather than with AQIM.

“The [Defense Department] is closely watching what this will mean for
the stability of the region and the ability of AQIM to target partner and
U.S. interests,” Ms. Dory told the National Defense University.

  Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, Amanda Dory, Gen. Carter Ham, Libyan weapons enabled Al Qaida stronghold in northern Mali, Tuareg, U.S. Africa Command