TSG IntelBrief: Islamists Gain Ground Amid Mali Coup

• The failure of the Malian government to put down a rebellion by Tuareg separatists in the northern part of the country along with complaints from soldiers that they were battling insurgents with inadequate weapons and supplies led to a March 22 uprising by low-ranking soldiers that toppled the democratically elected government. While the Malian military was distracted by the coup and subsequent cutoff of foreign military assistance, the rebels went on the offensive, capturing the three regional capitals in the north and effectively seizing control of half the West African country.

• More ominously, fighting alongside the separatists were Islamists from two militant groups, the Ansar Eddine (“Supporters of Religion”) and the Jamaat Tawhid wal Jihad fi Garbi Ifriqiya (“Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa”), both with links to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Reports indicate that the Islamists have assumed a leading role in the administration of the captured towns, imposing their version of shari’a on residents.