February 12, 2014 | Policy Brief

Mali’s MUJWA Ascendant

February 12, 2014 | Policy Brief

Mali’s MUJWA Ascendant

Four Red Cross workers and one other aid worker disappeared on Saturday while driving between Gao and Kidal in Mali. On Tuesday, Agence France Presse received a call from MUJWA official, Yoro Abdoulsalam, who appeared to accept responsibility, noting that his group “seized a 4×4 (vehicle) of the enemies of Islam with their accomplices.”

MUJWA, short for the Movement for Oneness & Jihad in West Africa, is a jihadi organization with strong ties to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Its members are largely black Africans, but the group identifies itself as “an alliance between native Arab, Tuareg and Black African tribes and various muhajirin (“immigrants,” i.e. foreign jihadists) from North and West Africa.”

Working in tandem with the Mali-based jihadi group Ansar Dine and AQIM, MUJWA was one of the terrorist groups to wrest control of territory in northern Mali in 2011. The three groups divided the region between them, with MUJWA controlling the city of Gao, and its environs.

While in power, MUJWA imposed a draconian interpretation of Sharia law on Malians. According to press reports, MUJWA attacked journalists, cut off the hands of thieves, and whipped “illegitimate” couples, smokers, and drinkers.

Now, one year after French and Malian troops forced MUJWA out of northern Mali, the group appears to be regaining strength. In February 2013, MUJWA claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Gao that wounded a Malian soldier. In May, the group killed 19 people in a pair of suicide attacks in Niger. The twin attacks targeted a military barracks and a uranium mine. In October, MUJWA claimed responsibility for blowing up a bridge near Gao, wounding two.

As France draws down its presence in Mali, MUJWA’s ascendance is cause for concern. With more successful kidnappings and subsequent ransoms, the group could easily finance a renewed campaign and destabilize Mali just as calm was close to being restored.

Laura Grossman is the deputy director for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Issues:

Al Qaeda