In his unlikely New York Times op-ed of Jan. 22, "The One-State Solution," plugging his utopian scheme for a single country uniting Israel and Palestine as "Isratine," Muammar Qaddafi (this appears to be the Colonel's preferred spelling), the one-time bad boy of intransigent Arab nationalism, actually mimics Zionist revisionism on the 1948 Nakba. To wit:

In one of its first statements since President Barack Obama took office, the US State Department Jan. 23 called for "the immediate return to constitutional order" in Mauritania, and protested "[t]he junta's announced plans to organize unconstitutional elections" and "its attempts to silence" ousted President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and his supporters. "We call on the military junta to permit President Abdallahi's full participation in the political process, to assure his freedom of movement and association, and to assure his personal safety," the statement said. (State Department press release, Jan. 23)

Tuareg guerillas killed at least at least nine soldiers in an attack on an army post in Mali's remote north Dec. 22. The government claimed 11 rebel fighters were also killed when when gunmen in more than 20 four-wheel-drive vehicles raided the post at Nampala. The attack came despite a five-month-old Algerian-mediated ceasefire between the government and the rebels. Early reports put government casualties at 14.

A Niger guerilla faction led by dissident Tuareg insurgent leader Rhissa Ag Boula announced Dec. 16 it had abducted Canadian UN special envoy Robert Fowler, who disappeared with an aide while driving some 30 miles northeast of the capital Niamey. The vehicle was found abandoned. In a posting on its website, Ag Boula's Front of Forces for Rectification (FFR), which split from the Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) in May, said it was holding four people, including Fowler.

A Moroccan criminal court Nov. 13 convicted Moroccan citizen Said Boujandia of crimes related to terrorist acts. The Salé Criminal Court sentenced Boujandia to 10 years in prison. Boujandia admitted his association with with an organization which sought to aid the Afgahn Taliban, but denied committing any crime. Boujandia was held in US custody in Guantánamo Bay from 2001 until May 2008.

Around 30 MPs opposed to Mauritania's ruling junta boycotted the opening of the country's parliament Nov. 10. The boycott followed a statement from the head of the five-party Front for the Defense of Democracy (FNDD), Mohamed Ould Moloud, who called the session "pointless and without an aim" in "the absence of a legal government and legitimate president." Police deployed in front of the parliament building in Nouakchott, and carried out checks on the surrounding streets. (AFP, Nov. 10)

A suicide car bombing near the eastern Algerian town of Dellys killed three people Sept. 28, as Ramadan draws to a close amid a heavy deployment of security forces throughout the country. Three armed Islamists were killed by security forces in eastern Algeria a day earlier, and an alleged leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Sept. 5. Four police officers were also wounded in a bombing near the eastern city of Tizi Ouzou Sept. 14, and a gendarme killed and two others wounded in Ain Defla, west of Algiers, Sept. 24. For all that, it was Algeria's least bloody Ramadan since 1992; 60 were killed in the Muslim holy month last year.

Kidnappers holding 11 European tourists and eight Egyptians moved from Sudan into Libya with their hostages Sept. 25, the Sudanese government said. Sudanese authorities said a day earlier they had them all surrounded at their encampment near Jebel Oweinat, a mountain near where the borders of Egypt, Sudan and Libya meet. Egyptian officials have said the kidnappers are demanding a large ransom. One security source said they wanted 6 million euros to set the hostages free. "The Libyan authorities have been informed. They are now following the progress of the group," Ahmed said. Ali Youssef Ahmed, head of protocol in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, told Reuters. (Reuters, Sept. 25; AlJazeera, Sept. 23)