is planning to expand its drone program to northwest africa. the us will -- the aim is to gather intelligence against rebel groups in the region. this is where the rebel groups operate across africa. in nigeria, boca harrumph -- in

is planning to expand its drone program to northwest africa. the us will -- the aim is to gather intelligence against rebel groups in the region. this is where the rebel groups operate across africa. in nigeria, boca harrumph -- in nigeria, fighters have -- resistance army is active in the region between the south and the central african republic'. in this stretches where the al qaeda and other groups are based -- in this stretch is where the al qaeda and other groups are based. a former u. s. flight officer says that recent events have made -- a former flight officer says that recent events have made this necessary. >> the situation 10 months, 12 months ago, the concerns about drone strikes and civilian casualties -- i would say that many people in north africa probably now rate the risk from al qaeda affiliates as higher. this is all in retrospect, seeing what has happened in algeria, seeing what has happened in mali. there is quite a lot of concern from north african nations about the presence of al qaeda in the monograph -- magreb and how ac

. >> it's in northwest africa. it's a big. >> stephen: how big compared to france? >> up there.s big. it's big. >> stephen: thank you for your -- [ laughter ] thank you for your precision. why does france care about mali? >> here is why france cares. mali say former colony of france. right? >> stephen: okay. wait, they had colonies? >> they had a ton of colonies. >> stephen: really? there were countries that surrendered to france? [ laughter ] >> and for many decades. >> stephen: no longer colonies. >> no longer a colonies. the french gave up the colonies around 1960 but kept them on a longer or shorter leash depending on which country and how much stuff they had. mali is in the middle of a part of africa where there's natural resources, tons of oil offshore. a lot of that oil gets dealt to the french on good terms. algeria is a place where there's all kinds of stuff the french want and get. >> stephen: is this al qaeda in there? >> it's al qaeda. >> stephen: there a guy like bin laden? is there a name i have to peoplerrize again? >> not yet and i hope there won't be any. >> ste

but the influence of the mali- based islamic organization al qaeda stretches across northwest africa from iraq. so it is likely there is support from abroad. the major fear is that rebels could flee across mali's porous borders and spawned a long- lasting guerrilla war. some observers see parallels between france's intervention and the international mission in afghanistan. that was supposed to be a limited-term deployment. it became a long war, but one political experts as comparing the conflict makes no sense. >> the people in mali are not as supportive of radical elements as was the case in afghanistan. and i would say that the countries that are intervening are deciding themselves what they are getting involved in. that is a huge difference to afghanistan. no one knew at the outset what they were getting into. >> french president francois hollande has set the bar high for the mission. his aim is to liberate no. mali and to stabilize the country over the long term. international community has largely backed the intervention, but whoever joins the fight likely faces a long and diffi

but the influence of the mali- based islamic organization al qaeda stretches across northwest africa from iraq. so it is likely there is support from abroad. the major fear is that rebels could flee across mali's porous borders and spawned a long- lasting guerrilla war. some observers see parallels between france's intervention and the international mission in afghanistan. that was supposed to be a limited-term deployment. it became a long war, but one political experts as comparing the conflict makes no sense. >> the people in mali are not as supportive of radical elements as was the case in afghanistan. and i would say that the countries that are intervening are deciding themselves what they are getting involved in. that is a huge difference to afghanistan. no one knew at the outset what they were getting into. >> french president francois hollande has set the bar high for the mission. his aim is to liberate no. mali and to stabilize the country over the long term. international community has largely backed the intervention, but whoever joins the fight likely faces a long and diffi

>> what they have done is, the group's generally in northwest africa are very ethnically different, religiouslyifferent grievances will probably primarily local. al qaeda works zero ways to unite these people and focus them on foreign powers, especially western powers. what the french have done as proof that god is great because they have now put troops on the ground, a foreign colonial power has returned to their colonial power country with there western friends in the u.s., and they know have something that will unite all of these groups. and i think the only thing that we have going for us at the moment is energy is of very hard not for the islamists to crack. if they destroy plants and wells and muslim countries, it puts muslims out of work. i think it is very instructive that the people that took this test plan did not kill a muslims intentionally. in fact, the let them go. lou: i can only caution this. we don't yet know. unworn. >> 600 of them that got away. lou: 600 dead, and then the numbers become in the foggy. we are still waiting to have a reliable and concrete update. you get the la

military is reportedly preparing a new base in northwest africa from which to fly its fleet of drones. according to the new york times, the initial plan is to use the drone base for surveillance flights targeting islamist militants, but that could turn into missile strikes later on. if approved, the base would likely be built in niger. it borders mali where the u.s. is currently aiding a french-led military operation in the country's north. on monday, french and malian troops retook control of the key malian historical site of timbuktu from islamist fighters. the fleeing militants set several buildings on fire, including a library holding priceless historical manuscripts. taureg fighters in northern mali say they have taken control of the city of kidal and seven other towns from the islamist rebels. egypt's army chief is warning ongoing political turmoil amid mass protests against president mohammed morsi could cause the egyptian state to collapse. in general issued the warning tuesday after residents in towns of the suez canal openly defied a curfew imposed on the morsi government, f

they are planning to establish a drone base in northwest africa to conduct unarmed surveillance.he base would most likely be in niger east of somali where frieench troops are fighting al qaeda militants who are trying to take over the country. meantime the french have taken control of timbuktu airport 0, the biggest victory since the invasion against islamist militants 17 days ago. >>> the prime suspect behind the terrorist attacks back in a guantanamo bay courtroom. the start of a four-day pretrial hearing where all sides are discussing how the men could be tried in a way that is fair and transparent. a judge is also deciding if u.s. agents illegally subjected the men to torture in order to get a confession. two of the six suspects including mastermind shaikh mohammed, staged a silent protest today that delayed the hearings for a bit. >>> and space monkey. iran claims to have successfully rocket launched a monkey 70 miles into space and back. it's another step toward the country's goal of sending astronauts. the u.s. worries technology for iran's space program is being used to d

is planning to create a drone base in northwest africa used primarily for surveillance missions in ordero collect intelligence on these local al qaeda affiliates and other extremist groups but the agreement also provides legal protection for any troops station there had. of officials are telling bloomberg news president obama doesn't inattend to send combat troops to niger but the fact that this drone is being opened up here, there has been a lot of call for the entire africom military area to have beefed up surveillance. >>> pennsylvania republican governor tom corbett faces a tricky situation. according to the latest quinnipiac university poll, a majority of people think he doesn't serve a second term. more importantly, just 31% say he should be re-elected. 51% say he should not. only 36% approve of the way he's handling his job as governor. corbett's low ratings could stem from all sorts of things. could it stem from how he handled the penn state scandal? interestingly the public is roughly split whether he did the right thing when he filed a lawsuit over the ncaa over sanctions impos

. >> in failed states in northwest africa. e.j. >> when i was at the inauguration yesterday, it could have been just where i happened to be walking, i saw more anti-drone demonstrators than i saw right to life demonstrators. i think that issue is going to be alive. you know, if the old slogan was peace through strength, boem's is arguing strength through peace. israelis saying we have to pull in and rebuild ourselves so we can be strong. >> let me interrupt you for just a second. the national prayer service has just ended, and the president is leaving washington national cathedral. it's a tradition that began with george washington's inauguration in 1789. i'm sorry we have to cut you off there, my friend. >> that's quite all right. >> prayer is more important than me. >> george washington's traditions are more important. coming up, 40 years after roe v. wade shows -- we will look at setbacks in the fight for choice when the president of planned parenthood joins us just ahead. mom always got good nutrition to taste great. she w

the new terror front in northwest africa.congressman, mike rogers of michigan. mr. chairman, thanks very much for coming in. >> wolf, thank you. >>> how credible do you think these groups are right now? >> well, the first thing they have to do is determine the capability to do it. when you look at mokhtar, he clearly has the capability to put operatives outside of mali, libya, and algerian area. he traveled in the '90s in afghanistan and pakistan. he has the ability, i believe, to get operatives outside of that region and i think the intelligence committee supports that as well. that makes it a credible threat and something that you have to absolutely take seriously. >> and when he says these jihadist websites that he's planning some horrendous or huge attack against france or denmark or other countries in europe, does he have the capability for a huge attack as opposed to something more modest? >> well, there's always a little marketing in their efforts. the whole idea of terror is to create chaos and fear in large scale. so

is laying the groundwork to build its first permanent base in northwest africa, from which to launchpy drones and potential missile attacks against militants in mali. the nearest american base is 3,000 miles away in djibouti. in what is called a significant escalation, britain has agreed to send troops to mali, as well as spy planes. >>> and there is developing news from america's crucial ally in the middle east, egypt. the u.s. embassy has been forced to close because of violence street protests there. the situation so bad, that one military official says egypt's fragile government could now collapse. abc's lama hasan is in cairo with the latest. good morning, lama. >> reporter: good morning, josh. egypt is on-edge this morning. here in tahrir square, the birthplace of the egyptian revolution two years ago, has seen five straight days of bloodshed and violence. overnight, protesters stormed a five-star luxury hotel. they broke down the security barriers before storming the lobby. and special forces swooped in to stop them. meanwhile, protesters defied an emergency law. in three prov

this map shows a huge area in northwest africa where this group operates. a former cia covert operations officer and president of diligence llc, it's a global intelligence and security firm. so in your line of work, you keep an eye on places like this. >> yes. jon: there are islamic militants who have been moving to the south, right, in algeria? >> this is a -- there's so many layers here, and i don't want to get lost in the weeds, but i think it's important for everyone to understand the context of this. the leaders of this particular hostage after taking incident at this very remote gas facility jointly operated by a norwegian company and bp, that's why there's so many foreign nationalities. but the leaders cut their teeth when the soviets occupied afghanistan, and after that they moved to various jihad causes including in algeria. the algerian military fought what was called the armed islamic group in the '90s, and that was involved in operations in algeria as far as back as the '90s. it was one of the ugliest, nastiest, most violent situations i've ever

forces that were militarized flowed not just into mali and algeria but across a huge chunk of northwest africa. as a result you see a huge destabilization that's affect in turn little tunisia in between algeria and libya, it has affected egypt. there is a whole section of africa that is very vulnerable to jihadist extremists. >> you know, i think that's what important here is that while it may have been unintended that this would empower a wide range of militarized forces, it's not only, quote, jihadists but a lot of people with a lot of guns. but it was not unanticipated. it was talked about widely. it was anticipated that it would happen more inside libya rather than over libya's borders, through algeria into mali but it was certainly anticipated this was exactly what was going to go on. by the time of the intervention, we should not forget inside libya, libya was an ally of the united states. now, it wasn't a great ally, we didn't maybe, quote, like it but it was an ally. gadhafi had given up his nuclear weapons, had given up everything that had made him a supposedly resistance hero in part

and the nato attack on libya, the hijacking of the libyan uprising has led to the flooding of northwest africatrol. the uprising, and the subsequent uprising in mali which has now been taken over by the al qaeda in the iz lslamic maghreb and further activities of the kidnappings are all of the direct consequences of an action that in my opinion, the united states should never have en gamged in. >> i would say as we watch that we will cover this in the future as we watch the french intervention in mali, the u.s. is not alone in engaging in ad hoc french policy, and some of the french citizens are asking themselves questions about that, donna. >> well, switching subjects, i think that we now know that the president is willing to go big, and we saw it in the statement that he made about what is going to be done on guns. both the 23 executive orders that he signed, but as well as saying to the congress, we have to have an assault weapons ban and we have to have universal background checks and get rid of the large capacity magazines. with we know that he understands that that is about the little ki

suddenly northwest africa is the latest front in the terror war.response to algeria's support for a french anti-terror offensive in neighboring mali where an al qaeda group has made major, major gains. brian todd is taking a closer look at what is going on there. >> wolf, we are getting information that there likely is a connection between the group which took these os stages and that group that's fighting for control of mali, right next door to ma lichlt. . that grouped call al qaeda and magrab. they could have taken that many hostages but experts say this group which claimed responsibility nor this action today is well practiced at that. translated into english, this group's name means, quote, those who sign in blood. it's also sometimes called, those who sometimes sign with blood. our terrorism expert and intelligence sources, this group is led by mokhtar belmokhtar and some of his followers are still afeel ated with that al qaeda affiliate in al qaeda. now, experts say that belmokhtar showed up in syria during the civil war there and his group

across parts of northern africa, some clouds moving in across libya. the wind coming in from the northwest. temperatures no higher than 21 degrees. it extends southwest as we move into central price of africa. seasonal rains pushing away further -- it extends southwest as we move into central parts of africa. we have seen significant parts of rainfall in zanzibar. it is a mixed bag. >> hello again. top stories here on al jazeera. five men in india are due to be charged in court of the murder and a gang rape of a young woman. the 23-year-old woman died in a hospital in singapore. thousands have been calling for stricter laws to protect women. air strikes against rebels in the northern state in myanmarl . more now on our top story. more about the tribal leader's life. >> he has been a crucial link. only for connections between the pakistani and afghan taliban and for harold al qaeda. he was suspected of having sheltered and -- and for afghan al qaeda. he was suspected of sheltering an being a part of the command and control. they were planning attacks across the border on american and coalit