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Story Publication logo May 10, 2013

In Mali, a New Terror Battleground

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Mali
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Mali: War on Terror's Next Battleground

In northern Mali, far from Western eyes, a powerful Al Qaeda affiliate has managed to carve out what...

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Mali had long been considered to be a rare African success story. It had a democratically-elected parliament and president, and its economy was beginning to slowly grow. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The West African nation was known for a thriving music scene. Thousands of tourists used to flock to the country for its famed 'Festival in the Desert,' a multi-day party headlined by top musicians like singer and guitarist Baba Salah. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
All of that changed early last year when a loose alliance of Tuareg separatists and Islamist radicals swept across northern Mali, defeating the Malian army on the battlefield and quickly taking control of the region. The fighting destroyed hundreds of buildings and left many others damaged beyond repair. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
New construction projects sprung up throughout the Malian capital of Bamako, and the city's population swelled as Malians flocked there for jobs. With cars far too expensive for the average Malian, new and old residents commute on scooters, often with unusual cargo. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The fighters who conquered the north said they were creating a new Islamic state, with Sharia as its sole source of law. Robbers had their hands cut off, women suspected of adultery were flogged, and bars and clubs were torched. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The Islamists treated many residents of the north brutally, and sexual abuse became commonplace. The room above was where Islamists in Gao raped dozens of young women. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
French forces ousted the Islamists earlier this year, using warplanes and attack helicopters to blast militant positions in Gao and other northern cities. This administrative building in central Gao was a key Islamist base. Weeks later, bullet casings, scraps of clothing and small bits of human flesh still littered its blown-out rooms. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
Colonel Didier Dacko spent a year at the National Defense University in Washington writing a dissertation on the security situation in northern Mali. He's now the man charged with improving it. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The Malian military has received tens of millions of dollars of American aid, but it was quickly defeated and booted out of northern Mali last year. France wants to pull out its troops and turn control of the region back over to the Malian army, but its far from clear that the troops are up to the job. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The graceful, walled compound in downtown Gao which houses the city's mayor was destroyed in February after Islamists snuck back into the city and ambushed a Malian patrol. The daylong gun battle was a vivid reminder that the Islamists continue to pose a major security threat even though they have been rooted out of northern Mali's major cities. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The soaring mountains and cliffs of northern Mali once made the region a hotspot for Western hikers and rock climbers. Today, the terrain gives fugitive Islamist fighters an endless array of potential hiding places. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.
The Islamists who controlled Timbuktu for nearly a year erected an Arabic language billboard welcoming visitors to Timbuktu, 'City of Sharia.' Local residents blacked out the words after French troops forced the fighters from the city. The question facing the residents of Timbuktu -- and all of northern Mali -- is whether the Islamists will come back. Image by Yochi Dreazen. Mali, 2013.

A year ago, a coalition of Islamist radicals tried to turn northern Mali – a vast expanse of towering mountains and seemingly-endless patches of desert – into a new Afghanistan. They imported vast quantities of weapons and opened training camps for Islamist fighters from an array of other countries. Their new nation, Mali's Islamists rulers said, would be a place where Sharia was the sole source of law and where fighters plotting attacks against Western or African targets would have safe places to live and train. That changed this January, when French forces routed the Islamists out of the north's main cities and put the region under the nominal control of Mali's weak and under-equipped military. What happens next, as these photos indicate, is yet to be determined.

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