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1 1 (March 27, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govzfx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CogesinlReerh1evc 0 Updated March 27, 2018 Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Related Groups AQIM, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), was formed when the Algerian-led Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat formally joined with Al Qaeda and renamed itself in 2006-2007. AQIM's leader reportedly remains in Algeria, but the group's center of gravity has moved southward into West Africa's impoverished Sahel region, and east toward Libya. AQIM has long pursued criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom and smuggling. In recent years, it also has claimed a siege at a gas plant in Algeria (2013) and mass shootings at hotels, restaurants, and resorts in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Cdte d'Jvoire (2015-2017). In March 2018, a Mali-based, AQIM- aligned coalition claimed a relatively sophisticated attack in Burkina Faso's capital that targeted the military headquarters and the French Embassy. AQIM and its local allies exploited the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Libya in 2011 and the subsequent civil war in Mali to expand their safe-havens and areas of influence. The collapse of the Qadhafi regime in Libya provided a new source of arms and recruits. In Mali in 2012, AQIM and allied groups leveraged a separatist rebellion and political crisis to assert control over a large swath of territory. They ultimately marginalized the separatists, appointed local administrators, and imposed a violent interpretation of Islamic law. AQIM also reportedly provided support to elements of Nigeria's Boko Haram. The French military deployed to northern Mali in 2013, but despite tactical successes against AQIM and its local allies, it did not fully defeat these groups. French troops have since remained in the Sahel under a regional mission known as Operation Barkhane. AQIM and its allies have returned to asymmetric attacks, targeting French forces, local state entities, UN peacekeepers, and civilians perceived as collaborators. Islamist armed groups have meanwhile proliferated in central and southern Mali, and are active in adjacent parts of Burkina Faso and Niger. AQIM and related groups in the Sahel have pledged greater unity since 2015, possibly in a bid to outpace France's ongoing military operations, undermine Mali's 2015 peace agreement with northern rebels, and/or respond to competition from a splinter faction that has aligned itself with the Islamic State. AQIM and erstwhile splinter group Al Murabitoun re-merged in 2015, and in 2017, AQIM's Sahel-based emirate and Al Murabitoun announced a merger with two Malian-led groups (see below). AQIM has not claimed attacks outside North-West Africa, and the State Department has characterized it as largely a regionally-focused group. The group's shifting tactics and opportunism have provoked debate over the appropriate U.S. approach to Islamist extremist groups whose activities are primarily locally oriented, but which pose a threat to U.S. interests and personnel in the areas where they operate. Figure I. AQIM Insignia Source: U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Leadership and Related Groups The purported leader/emir of AQIM is Abdelmalik Droukdel (aka Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud), an Algerian national reportedly based in northeastern Algeria. AQIM's operations in the Sahel are reportedly led by Algerian national Djamel Okacha (aka Yahya Abou el Hammam). An apparently fractious and decentralized organization, AQIM has cultivated close ties with local communities in the Sahel and has spawned various offshoots and affiliates: * Al Murabitoun (The Sentinels), formed in 2013 as the merger of two AQIM splinter factions, Al Mulathamun (The Masked Ones) and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (aka MUJAO, its French acronym). The group has claimed attacks in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, and has also reportedly been active in Libya. Founder Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar reportedly survived a U.S. air strike in Libya in 2015, and was reportedly again targeted there by a French strike in 2016; his death has been reported but not confirmed. Al Murabitoun has been designated as an FTO. * Ansar al Dine (Supporters of Religion), led by lyad Ag Ghaly, an ethnic Tuareg from northern Mali, and the closely tied Macina Liberation Front (MLF; Macina refers to a pre-colonial Islamic state), led by Amadou Koufa, an ethnic Fulani from central Mali. Ansar al Dine has been designated as an FTO. * Jama'at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM, Union for Supporting Islam and Muslims), a 2017 merger among AQIM's Sahel branch, Al Murabitoun, Ansar al Dine, and the MLF, led by lyad Ag Ghaly. Ties among these groups had already been evident, making the practical significance of the union uncertain. * Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade in Tunisia, which the State Department has described as AQIM- aligned. Current allegiances are uncertain; reports suggest some elements are loyal to the Islamic State.

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