SUMMARY
AQIM (Qaida al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Maghrib al-Islami, al-Qaida Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb), an Algerian rebel group, was until early 2007 known as GSPC (Groupe Salafite pour la prédication et le combat, Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat). It emerged in 1998 as a splinter group of the GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé, Armed Islamic Group), which had since 1993 fought an intra-state conflict against the Algerian government.
AQIM was founded in Algeria by former GIA member Hassan Hattab. It dissociated itself from GIA’s view that civilians were legitimate targets, reverting to the conventional takfiri belief that the state only, and not the whole society, should be regarded as “impious”. Accordingly, the group’s stated to focus on government targets and the security forces in its struggle. Despite this pledge, it made use of one-sided violence in the 2000s.
In 2003, the rebel group declared its support to the al-Qaida struggle against the USA and in 2006, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a senior leader of the international al-Qaida confirmed that the group had joined al-Qaida. Analysts argue that al-Qaida may have provided funding to Hassab to establish the group under the name GSPC in 1998. It is, however, unclear whether AQIM has had any operational links to the international network.
The organisation of the rebel group is decentralised with a number of local groupings. Some of them have surrendered to the Algerian government that offered them amnesty in 2006.
The founder of AQIM, Hassan Hattab, led the movement until 2003 when he was succeeded by Nabil Sahraoui. Sahraoui was killed by the Algerian army a year later and Abdelmalek Droukdel also know as Abu Musab Abdul Wadoud, took over the leadership. According to analysts, many top-commanders leading the group in the mid-2000s were trained in Afghanistan. Intense power struggles within the group have been reported.
AQIM has engaged in the intra-state conflict against the Algerian government with the goal of replacing the secular Algerian regime with an Islamic state.
AQIM has been involved in the intra-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
