In response to rumors that Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s al-Mulathamun Brigade (AMB) had split with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) in early 2013, analyst Aaron Zelin told Reuters that AQIM appeared to have initiated a “controlled fragmentation.”Myra MacDonald, “Belmokhtar burnishes jihadi credentials with Algeria attack,” Reuters, January 17, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/sahara-crisis-belmokhtar-idUSL6N0AMCX620130117. The August 2013 merger of the AMB with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) to form al-Mourabitoun received widespread coverage because of Belmokhtar’s infamy as an al-Qaeda commander and the AMB/MUJAO joint attack on a French uranium mine earlier that year.“Belmohktar’s militants ‘merge’ with Mali’s Mujao,” BBC News, August 22, 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-23796920; “Sahara jihadist groups merge, threaten French interests – report,” Reuters, August 22, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/northafrica-islamists-idUSL6N0GN2OQ20130822. Since its emergence, al-Mourabitoun has specifically targeted French interests in the region, attracting the attention of Western media.Robbie Corey-Boulet, “Website: Terror group threatens France over Mali,” Associated Press, January 6, 2014, http://bigstory.ap.org/article/website-terror-group-threatens-france-over-mali; Adama Diarra, “French troops kill deputy to veteran Islamist Belmokhtar,” Reuters, November 21, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/21/us-mali-france-islamists-idUSBRE9AK0Q520131121.