Al Qaeda Is on the Brink of Taking Over a Country (Mali)
Story by Benoit Faucon
Al Qaeda militants are moving closer to seizing the capital of the West African nation of Mali, which, should the city fall, would become the first country in the world run by the U.S.-designated terrorist group.
The rapid advance of the jihadists in Africa comes after Islamist groups took power in both Afghanistan and Syria, but, if they take Bamako, it would be the first time militants with direct and current connections to al Qaeda achieve such a feat.
They appear to be getting close, though they will likely wait some time before making any decisive move, security specialists say. Insurgents are blocking food and fuel deliveries to Bamako, the capital city, triggering shortages that are even hindering the army’s ability to respond, according to local and European officials and footage posted by the jihadists.
Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which translates as Support Group for Islam and Muslims, is betting on a creeping takeover rather than an all-out assault, European security officials say. “The longer the blockade drags on, the closer Bamako comes to collapse,” said Raphael Parens, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a nonpartisan policy center in Philadelphia.
JNIM was formed in 2017 from the merger of veteran al Qaeda affiliates and immediately pledged allegiance to the group. Its fighters have received assistance in bomb-making and ideological training from the organization’s core leadership in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, according to Western and African officials.
Al Qaeda Is on the Brink of Taking Over a Country
Another proxy war from the same playbook used in Syria. As with Sudan, United Arab Emirates with the help of the US, UK, etc. is a major financier and supplier of weapons and military advisors to JNIM.
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