Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui

On 15 December the heads of state of Mauritania Chad Burkina Faso Mali and Niger – the members of the G5 military coalition – gathered in Niamey to mourn the deaths of 71 Nigerien soldiers killed in an attack on their forward base at Inates on the Malian border by jihadist commander Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui's Islamic State in the Greater Sahara...

Near Ménaka in the eastern area of Mali bordering Niger a coalition of Tuareg self-defence groups backed by Malian troops and French special forces has inflicted significant losses on the group clustered around Abu Walid al Sahraoui...

Jihadists have responded to the prospect of a reinforced counter-terror effort by Sahelian states with a predictable verbal and military riposte: the État Islamique dans le Grand Sahara led by Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui has declared that jihadists in the Sahel sub-region are 'working together' to fight against the G5 troops...

Possible splitA further complication is the possible existence of an alliance between Ansar Al Islam and an ill-defined armed group under the control of a former MUJAO operative Abu Walid al Sahraoui who has been active on the Malian-Burkina border and was reportedly recognised by Islamic State as one of its affiliates in October 2016...

One thing that remains unclear is whether there is also coordination with the followers of Abu Walid el Sahraoui a jihadist commander operating in the east who last year pledged allegiance to Da'ish ('Islamic State')...