# Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin **Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin** (JNIM, "Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims") is [[Al-Qaeda]]'s affiliate in the Sahel and the most powerful armed group in [[Mali]]. The United States designates it a terrorist organization. Its rise is the measure of the failure of the bargain Mali's junta struck with Moscow: trading Western security partners for Russian mercenaries. ## Origins JNIM was formed on **March 2, 2017** by the merger of four jihadist groups: Ansar Dine, al-Mourabitoun, Katiba Macina and al-Qaeda's Saharan branch. Its emir is **Iyad Ag Ghaly**, a Tuareg leader of the 1990s rebellions who founded Ansar Dine during the 2012 northern uprising. The merger fused a Tuareg-led northern movement with a Fulani-based central one under Hamadou Koufa's Katiba Macina, which gave JNIM roots in local grievances that a purely foreign jihadist brand would lack. It has fought a running war with its rival, the Islamic State's Sahel branch, as well as with the region's governments. ## From insurgency to siege JNIM's strategy since 2025 has shifted from attacking soldiers to strangling the state economically: | Date | Event | |---|---| | Sep–Nov 2025 | Fuel blockade of southern Mali, burning tanker convoys on the routes from Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire; fuel shortages closed schools nationwide | | Apr 25, 2026 | Allied with the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, launches one of the largest coordinated offensives Mali has seen in years, the first joint jihadist–separatist assault since the 2012 northern uprising: Defence Minister Sadio Camara is fatally wounded by a suicide car bomb at his Kati residence, and Russia's [[Africa Corps]] is driven out of Kidal (see [[2026 Mali Attacks]]) | | Late Apr 2026 | Declares a blockade of all routes into and out of Bamako | | Sep 2026 | Still burning escorted tanker convoys in western Mali, now with motorcycle ambushes rather than fixed roadblocks | The junta says the army has escorted more than 1,900 tankers into Bamako since the blockade began. JNIM retains the ability to choke the capital's fuel. ## Why it matters to this vault JNIM is the test case for Russia's security-for-influence model in Africa. Mali expelled French forces in 2022 and the UN mission in 2023 and replaced them with the [[Wagner Group]], then Africa Corps. Wagner's record included the 2022 [[Moura Massacre]] and the 2024 defeat at the [[Battle of Tinzaouaten]]. Since then JNIM has grown stronger, not weaker. See [[Alliance of Sahel States]] for the regional bloc built on the same bargain, and [[Security-for-Minerals]] for what Russia was paid. ## See Also - [[Mali]] · [[2026 Mali Attacks]] · [[Africa Corps]] · [[Wagner Group]] · [[Alliance of Sahel States]] - [[Al-Qaeda]] · [[Islamic State]] · [[Assimi Goïta]] · [[Burkina Faso]] · [[Niger]]