Mali: how did it come to this? [View all]

[dipsydoodle]

Four elements explain the current violence in the Sahel, a poor relation among the various theatres of extremism over the last decade. The first is the radical transformation of the region. Weaponry looted from Libya after Colonel Gaddafi's fall, the collapse of central government in Mali and the rebellion by local Tuareg tribesmen who became brief allies of the extremists, combined to turn a harsh environment that restricted the capabilities of the militants into one that favoured them. Suddenly there were arms, anarchy and auxiliaries – everything a jihadi group needs.

The southern, Mali-based part of the fractured al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was formed out of the remnants of older Algerian groups in January 2007.

It has gone from being "a first-rate criminal organisation and a second- or third-rate terrorist organisation" in the words of Peter Pham, an expert at the Washington-based Atlantic Council thinktank, who frequently advises the US and other governments on Africa, to a force that is now, with its allies, taking on the French army.

A second factor was the rivalry between AQIM factions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/17/mali-aqim-background