Historical Background

Instability in Mali dates back to 2012, when the Tuareg ethnic community started a rebellion against their own government. Tuaregs belong to the Sahel region of Africa. Mostly they live in the northern and western states of Africa, including Mali, Niger, Libya, Burkina Faso, and Algeria. In 2011, they served in Libya’s “Islamic Legion”, the pan-Arabist paramilitary force created by Muammar Gaddafi, which was part of his dream to create “a greater Islamic State of the Sahel.” After the fall of Gaddafi, Tuaregs returned to Mali and Niger.

Mali is among the largest states of Africa. And due to its large area, some of its parts were not governed properly. The Tuaregs realised that the government of Bamako was not doing well with regard to governing northern Mali, which they called Azawad, a state that had no international recognition. This prompted them to form the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in order to fight against marginalisation and lack of economic development. However, the uprising was not very effective because of the presence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrib (AQIM). But it laid the foundation for the power vacuum and created a pathway for insurgency.

Emergence of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara

Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) was founded in 2015 by Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi. It was the result of a power vacuum created by the Tuaregs. It is the subgroup of Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and operates in the Liptako-Gourma region of the Sahel, which includes states like Niger, Mali, Algeria, and Burkina Faso. In 2016, it formally pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Before joining IS, Al Sahrawi was the leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), a splinter group of al-Qaeda.

In 2013, MUJAO merged with al-Mourabitoun, today known as Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). When al-Sahrawi pledged allegiance to IS in May 2015, Belmokhtar, the leader of JNIM, opposed the decision and showed loyalty to al-Qaeda. Al-Sahrawi’s allegiance was not immediately recognized by IS. So, to show its power to IS, ISGS started attacks in different military regions in North and West Africa. After their 4 years of malicious attacks, they were recognized by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS until 2019.

After the acceptance by ISIS, they further expanded their territory and attacked the government leaders and officials. Their attack pattern included mass casualty attacks and ambushes. They recruited locals in their organization to increase their forces. They formed groups such as the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA). They fought using weaponry from the Tuareg, including rifles, mortars, rocket launchers, machine guns, and others. They targeted the Tuareg since the ideologies of the ISGS were for an Islamic state and not ethnic nationalism.

Emergence of........

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