An official report from the EU anti-terrorism coordinator presented to the Interior Ministers of EU member nations nearly a month ago warns that the French invasion of Mali, and the subsequent “EU mission” are posing a direct, long-term threat to Europe itself.
Though conceding that the full scale of the threat is “hard to assess,” the report warns that the invasion will serve to radicalize young ethnic Malians, including the large number who have EU passports.
Worse yet, Islamist groups are using the French invasion of a Muslim region as a tool for “legitimizing” their arguments for armed fighting against the West, with advisers warning that Mali could replace Afghanistan, as EU member nations reduce troop levels in the later, as the primary rhetorical tool of militant recruiters.
The report mirrors similar warnings from French Judge Marc Trevedic, the head of the nation’s antiterrorism court, which says the threat of domestic terrorism in France, which has a large population of north African immigrants.