Jihadist groups have found a ‘safe haven’ in northern Mali. They have managed this by operating strategically to establish themselves and to develop relationships with local communities, but characteristics of the environment have also facilitated their development and survival. In northern Mali, the political landscape is fragmented, and replete with competition between the central authority and various groups of local elites, who are themselves divided. I conceptualise this fluid environment as a context that incentivises ‘political nomadism’. Using the Tuareg communities as an entry point, I explore the complex dynamics between local and national political actors and jihadist groups in northern Mali. I argue that the jihadist ‘safe haven’ in northern Mali is highly relational and has been facilitated by the form of political nomadism practiced in the region since the 1990s. The article is based on eight months of fieldwork conducted between 2016 and 2017 in Mali and Niger.

中文翻译：

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马里北部的政治游牧主义和圣战分子“避风港”：图阿雷格人关系政治动态的切入点

圣战组织在马里北部找到了“安全避难所”。他们通过战略性运作来建立自己并发展与当地社区的关系来实现这一目标，但环境的特征也促进了他们的发展和生存。在马里北部，政治格局四分五裂，中央当局与当地各精英团体之间充满竞争，而这些精英团体本身也存在分歧。我将这种流动的环境概念化为激励“政治游牧主义”的背景。我以图阿雷格社区为切入点，探讨了马里北部地方和国家政治行为体与圣战组织之间的复杂动态。我认为，马里北部的圣战分子“避风港”具有高度的相关性，并且自 20 世纪 90 年代以来该地区实行的政治游牧主义形式促进了这一点。本文基于 2016 年至 2017 年在马里和尼日尔进行的八个月的实地调查。