Historical development and Cultural Contexts:
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) operating in the Sahara and Sahel. The group traces its origin to Algeria’s civil war in the 1990s, before 2007 it was known as Salafist Group. AQIM attack threat in North and West Africa.
AQIM’s descent extends back to a guerilla Islamist movement known as the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which violently opposed Algiers’ secular leadership in the 1990s. The revolt began after Algeria’s French-backed military canceled a second round of parliamentary elections in 1992 when it appeared that the Islamic Salvation Front was poised to win power.
“Adopting the famous name may have enhanced AQIM’s legitimacy among extremists and facilitated recruitment, while enabling al-Qaeda to burnish its international credentials.” —Alexis Arieff, Congressional Research Service
That year, 2007, marked the height of AQIM suicide attacks and other violent incidents in Algeria. In Algiers in December, AQIM simultaneously bombed the regional UN headquarters and the Algerian Constitutional Court, killing thirty-three people.
According to West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, AQIM’s objectives include freeing North Africa of Western influence; overthrowing governments, including: Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia to instate fundamentalist regimes based on sharia.
Sharia: Guides Muslim’s way of life based on Mohammed’s teachings from the Quran.
Social:
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) established by Hassan Hattab, previous Armed Islamic Group (GIA) regional commander who broke with the GIA in 1998 in protest over the GIA’s slaughter of civilians. After an amnesty in 1999, many former GIA fighters laid down their arms, but a few remained active, including members of the GSPC.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb functions as a media outlet known as al-Andalus, which regularly releases propaganda videos showing AQIM operations, hostages, and statements from members.
Economic:
AQIM’s tactics include guerilla-style raids, assassinations, and suicide bombings of military, government, and civilian targets. Its members have frequently kidnapped, and sometimes executed, aid workers, tourists, diplomats, and employees of multinational corporations.
The group raises money through kidnapping for ransom and trafficking arms, vehicles, cigarettes, and persons, according to the U.S. State Department.
On July 2012, analyst Gen. Ham, described AQIM as al-Qaeda’s “wealthiest affiliate.” Raising 50 million in the last decade.
Political:
The group is divided into katibas, or brigades, which are organized in often-independent cells. Members include Arab volunteers, including Osama bin Laden. Leading the group now is Abdelmalek Droukdel. He is a trained expert on explosives and engineer. France was his target. He was sentenced to death along with twenty-four other terrorists, by an Algerian court in February 2015.
According to Arieff, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin E. Dempsey, characterized AQIM as “a syndicate of groups who come together episodically, when it’s convenient to them, in order to advance their cause. Sometimes their cause is terrorism. Sometimes it’s criminal. Sometimes it’s arms trafficking.”
Solution:
A dual Legal System, Many majority Muslim countries have a dual system in which the government is non-religious but Muslims can choose to bring familial and financial disputes to sharia courts. Including marriage, divorce, inheritance, and guardianship. This would help the state have control over the people bringing matters into their own hands.