Summary:With substantial international assistance, Mali has emerged from a complex political and security crisis, yet still faces stark challenges. Between 2011 and 2013, Mali experienced a separatist rebellion in the north led by members of the nomadic minority ethnic Tuareg community, a military coup that overthrew an elected government, a regional drought that caused a food security crisis, and ultimately the takeover of the northern two-thirds of the country by Islamist extremists. By mid-2012, three Islamist extremist groups had routed or integrated most of the separatist fighters and asserted control over most of northern Mali. These groups were: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a regional network led primarily by Algerian nationals; the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), an AQIM splinter faction founded by Mauritanian and Malian Arabs; and a Malian Tuareg-led group, Ansar al Dine. In 2013, MUJWA and another AQIM splinter faction merged as Al Murabitoun, a group described by the State Department as âthe greatest near-term threat to U.S. and international interests in the Sahel.â These groups reportedly have ties to the Nigerian group Boko Haram, elements of which reportedly received training in northern Mali in 2012.
