In Mali, a Splinter Militia Emerges

A group of militiamen in northern Mali announced Sept. 24 that they plan to break away from the country's main non-Islamist rebel movement, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, to form their own organization in order to focus on protecting their home territory. The group, which has dubbed itself the Front for the Liberation of the Azawad, takes its moniker and much of its leadership from an earlier incarnation of a militant group with the same name.

The announcement comes nearly a year into the ongoing separatist rebellion in northern Mali. The rebellion was sparked by the influx of Tuareg militiamen leaving Libya after the fall of Moammar Gadhafi's regime, which indirectly led to a military coup in Bamako in March. Since the formation of a new national unity government in August, other countries in the region and Western powers have considered providing military assistance to re-establish government control and prevent the area from falling into the hands of Islamist militants tied to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. If the Front for the Liberation of the Azawad proves successful in defending its ethnic base around Gao, it could play a useful (if limited) role in restoring order to part of the country.