Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 06/2011

The Many Faces of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou

May 2011

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy

Abstract

Since its reinvention as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) in 2007, the Algerian Salafist Group for Predication and Combat (GSPC) has sought and managed to expand its regional domain of action throughout North Africa, the Sahel, and West Africa, and in targeting France has pursued a strategy of steady internationalization of its threat.