Following intense protests against widespread government corruption and a deterioriating security apparatus, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was ousted last week in an apparent military coup. The coup has since drawn widespread international...
Recent attacks by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara—local affiliates of al-Qaeda and ISIS—against one another is punctuating a security breakdown in West Africa, a region already challenged by...
Weakened by a French military intervention in 2013 in Mali, Ag Ghaly bounced back in 2017 by uniting the Ansar Dine, Katiba Macina and Al-Mourabitoun groups to form JNIM.
His nickname is "the strategist", said Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the think tank Counter-Extremism Project (CEP). A highly experienced organiser, his long contacts with Al-Qaeda and the "successes" of the JNIM have made him a respected emir, Schindler added.
Analysts with the Counter Extremism Project recently warned that a JNIM victory in Mali could make it the first country ruled by al-Qaida. Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, believes a JNIM victory could result in indirect rule instead.
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) said the militants have captured large amounts of weaponry from government forces and now use drones in attacks. The Malian army, supported by Russian paramilitary fighters under Moscow’s “Africa Corps,” has carried out helicopter strikes and patrols, claiming to have killed dozens of insurgents. But attacks continue to spread across central and southern Mali, leaving garrisons isolated and deepening shortages. JNIM, which declared allegiance to al Qaeda in 2017, has been active across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. Its recent advances have heightened fears of regional contagion.
The militants have seized large amounts of weaponry from government forces and demonstrated their ability to use drones, says the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), which analyzes terrorist groups.
This is the third installment in a new series analysing the threat environment in the Sahel based on the propaganda output by Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic State–West Africa Province (ISWAP), and the Islamic State–Sahel...
A new report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) assesses Burkina Faso’s status as the deadliest country in the world for terrorist violence—and outlines how the state’s response is making matters worse. The failure to contain these terror...
This is the second entry in a new series analysing the threat environment in the Sahel region based on the terrorist propaganda output by Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) and the Islamic States Sahel...
This is the first entry in a new series analysing the threat environment in the Sahel region based on terrorist propaganda output by Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa’l-Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP), and the Islamic States Sahel...
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