At the foot of a hill on the southern edge of the Sahara, hundreds of Malian troops are practising their shooting skills, spattering the cardboard targets with bullets. "Good! Good!" the US military officers shout in encouragement, telling them they're proud of the effort the soldiers are putting in.
Welcome to northern Mali, where the inhospitable terrain has become one of the shifting frontlines in the war on terror. The desert region, vast and difficult to monitor, is an important point of passage for militant groups and arms traffickers. The Bamako government is battling al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), regarded as al Qaeda's branch in northern Africa, which has abducted a number of Westerners and held them for ransom.
As well as providing specialist anti-terrorism training, the US government is also supplying Mali with military vehicles and communications equipment. After two hours of shooting practice, the Malians - all wearing American uniforms - switch to close-quarters training. It's a case of slithering along the hot sand, weapon in hand, and being quick on the draw.
"I have been impressed by your determination," Captain Simon Powelson, who heads the group of 30 instructors, tells the men later at a sort of graduation ceremony in Gao, about 1,200 kilometres (800 miles) north-east of Bamako. "Today you are ready, ready to serve your country where you are needed." Abdoulaye, a 23-year-old Malian soldier, has little but admiration for the trainers.
"They don't talk a lot, they go out there and do the same thing as us," he says. The next day, at 7:00 am, the Americans leave the hotel they have hired in its entirety for themselves in Gao, where they have hooked up their own Internet network and brought their own mineral water and food.
When Malian paratroopers arrive, dozens of vehicles set off in convoy for the desert where a new training session is about to begin. Hundreds more will have followed suit by the end of December. The US Army has been training Mali's military in counter-terrorism tactics for several years under a trans-Sahara partnership agreement.
The Sahel region, where Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger all touch the Sahara, has become a theatre not only for militants bent on violence but also for groups involved in kidnapping for ransom and smuggling of all kinds. In February 2008, two Austrian tourists were kidnapped by AQIM in Tunisia, who took them to northern Mali and released them after eight months.
A year ago two Canadian diplomats were seized in Niger and were soon joined by four European tourists - two Swiss, a German and a Briton - kidnapped in the border region between Mali and Niger. The Canadians, the Swiss and the German were released during the following months, but AQIM said it killed the Briton, Edwin Dyer.
Ransoms are believed to have been paid and deals struck to release jailed militants, although most of the governments involved vehemently deny any such deals. In June, an American was shot dead in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott. And a month ago, three Spaniards were seized in northern Mauritania and a Frenchman in Mali.
Talks are said to have started with AQIM to try to secure their release. Meanwhile, the United Nations has sounded the alarm about drugs smuggling after the discovery of a burnt-out Boeing airliner in the Malian desert which the UN says was transporting cocaine from South America.
"The desert is large and hard to monitor," says Colonel Kalifa Keita, the governor of Gao region where the Frenchman was kidnapped. "The struggle against terrorism involves all the countries in the region. Our troops, properly trained, will contribute to that common task."
As well as the special forces training Mali's army, which according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies was 7,350 strong in 2004-2005, the Americans have deployed a satellite and eavesdropping surveillance system, according to a Malian military source under cover of anonymity.
People living in northern Mali have been recruited to translate transcripts of captured telephone conversations, AFP has learned. "Information exchange between all the countries in the Sahel-Sahara region is another focal point of the training," the same Malian source said. "Without that information there is no fight" against terror, he added. "We are working hand in hand with the Americans on this area."
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