MUJAO — Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa
AQIM offshoot that ruled Gao during the 2012 occupation; both of today’s rival jihadist lineages trace through its remnants.
Broad area of activity
Gao region, 2012–2013.
Notable history
A splinter of AQIM aimed at recruiting sub-Saharan fighters, MUJAO governed Gao during the 2012 occupation and drove the MNLA from the city. Broken by the French intervention, its remnants merged with Belmokhtar’s fighters into al-Mourabitoun in 2013 — the faction of that merger which pledged to Islamic State in 2015 became the seed of today’s IS-Sahel. Both of today’s rival jihadist lineages thus pass through MUJAO.
Strengths
First mover in recruiting beyond Arab-Tuareg networks.
Limitations
Held a city against an airpower coalition and paid for it.
Lineage & institutional history
Successors: Al-Mourabitoun · Islamic State in the Greater Sahara lineage (via the 2015 split)
Key events
Jihadist takeover of the north
Ansar Dine, AQIM and MUJAO turn on and expel the MNLA from Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, imposing their rule on the northern cities — destroying shrines in Timbuktu and applying hudud punishments.