On 9 December 2012, a group of Malian Islamists in the city of Gao announced the creation of a new group called Ansar al-Sharia, a name used by recently founded organizations in a number of Muslim countries including Yemen, Libya and Tunisia.[1]
Most of the group's leaders are from the Arab clans of Berabiches from Timbuktu; some of the families of this tribe reportedly have relations by marriage with elements of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.[2] The ethnic makeup of this group is in contrast to that of the Tuareg-dominated Ansar Dine.
Like the other Ansar al-Sharia groups, the branch in Mali is described as based on certain principles, such as opposition to western-democracy, Salafist Jihadism ideology and the goal of establishing an Islamic emirate.[1] Its formation was not accompanied by the provision of aid and religious preaching that has been typical of other branches of Ansar al-Sharia.[3]
Following the 2013 French intervention in northern Mali, the Jihadist groups formerly running the region switched to fighting an insurgency; however, Ansar al-Sharia has not been credited with participating in any of them.[3]