Ansar al-Sharia (Mali) ( Partisans of

Islamic Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

) is a radical Islamist group that operates in the

Azawad Azawad, or Azawagh (Tuareg languages, Tuareg: Azawaɣ, or Azawad; ), was a short-lived diplomatic recognition, unrecognised state lasting between 2012 and 2013. Azawagh (''Azawaɣ'') is the generic Tuareg, Tuareg Berber name for all Tuareg Ber ...

region of

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Background

Following the Azawad insurgency in 2012, the northern region of Mali achieved de facto independence from the Mali central government, with the region taken over by a number of Islamist groups including

Ansar Dine Ansar Dine ( ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''), meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) (Defenders of the Faith) and also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD), was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Gha ...

, Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. On 9 December 2012, a group of Malian Islamists in the city of

Gao Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an imp ...

announced the creation of a new group called Ansar al-Sharia, a name used by recently founded organizations in a number of Muslim countries including Yemen, Libya and Tunisia. Most of the group's leaders are from the Arab clans of Berabiches from

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...

; some of the families of this tribe reportedly have relations by marriage with elements of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The ethnic makeup of this group is in contrast to that of the

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

-dominated

. Like the other Ansar al-Sharia groups, the branch in Mali is described as based on certain principles, such as opposition to western-democracy, Salafist Jihadism ideology and the goal of establishing an Islamic emirate. Its formation was not accompanied by the provision of aid and religious preaching that has been typical of other branches of Ansar al-Sharia. Following the 2013 French intervention in northern Mali, the Jihadist groups formerly running the region switched to fighting an insurgency; however, Ansar al-Sharia has not been credited with participating in any of them.

References

Jihadist groups Islamism in Africa Islamist groups Azawad Rebel groups in Mali Military units and factions of the Mali War {{Paramilitary-org-stub