Social and territorial control of Northern Mali by Jihadism in a context of crisis

Abstract

This paper analyzes the control of northern Mali by jihadist armed groups between 2012 and 2013. First, the factors that created the situation of crisis prior to the occupation that ended up facilitating the outbreak of the tuareg rebellion, have been explored as well as the subsequent triumph of the jihadists hosts. Second, a review is made of the tuareg conflict and the main features of the myriad jihadi groups who settled in northern Mali in recent years. In addition, the control of the territory in northern Mali and its population by jihadists until the intervention of the French military that expelled them, is also analyzed. To illustrate life under the jihadist yoke, this study uses the case of a particular region in northern Mali and the testimonies of people who lived through the laws that jihadists enforced upon them to turn into reality an assumed Islamic state in the heart of Western Africa. To conclude, the state and local response to the crisis is addressed, including and the current situation in northern Mali.