Fear of Extremism Grows in Maghreb
Nassif Hitti comments on regional concerns about the rise of extremism following developments in Mali.
The Maghreb countries' nuanced positions are shown in their varying positions on the French military intervention in Mali — a necessary military step, but not sufficient to stop and roll back the advance of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other radical groups into south Mali. Their positions can be explained through the following points.
First, those countries are currently undergoing the early wave of different forms of Islamism — whether in power, connected to power or pushing for power — as the entire Arab world undergoes a time of Islamist awakening.
Second, some fear that the military operations could radicalize an already radical Salafist constituency engaged in a permanent, all-out clash against the West. This clash could allow that constituency to gain support from moderate Islamists in the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood wants to settle, gain and share its power through political means. Meanwhile, much of its political core continues to rally under ideological slogans and principles that oppose any form of Western incursion into the land of Islam.
Interestingly, many who profited from the West's military operations in toppling Moammar Gadhafi in Libya strongly oppose — and even fight against — those same Western forces as they intervene in Mali.
