Regional Security Cooperation in the Maghreb and Sahel: Algeria’s Pivotal Ambivalence Ammour, Laurence Aida Arms trafficking This is a security brief highlighting the growing influence of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), that has heightened concerns of instability across the Maghreb and Sahel. In recent years, AQIM militias have conducted operations across wide swaths of northern Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and southern Algeria. Mixing abduction of foreigners, car and cigarette smuggling, drug trafficking, and arms dealing, many consider AQIM’s motivations more criminal than political or religious hence fuelling illicit financial flows in the process . Washington DC ACSS 2012 2012 Text 8p. http://iffoadatabase.trustafrica.org/iff/regional_security_cooperation_in_the_maghreb_and_sahel_algeria’s_pivotal_ambivalence.pdf