Fighters of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and allied Islamist factions pushed Tuareg rebels of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) out of their last foothold in northern Mali, the town of Ansogo, about 100 kilometers north of Gao, on July 12. For the first time since the rebellion pushed Malian government forces out of Azawad in April, the entire region is now completely in Islamist hands. The remaining MNLA fighters are believed to have fled into Niger. Islamist militants have surrounded Gao with landmines, making it almost impossible to enter. But Britain's Guardian newspaper says it has obtained film footage depicting foreign Islamists patrolling Gao, dragging the bodies of senior Tuareg insurgents through the town behind pick-up trucks and conducting public whippings of three young people for "offenses" under sharia law, including smoking and having sex outside marriage.

With elections underway in Libya, "federalists" demanding a greater share of power in the east of the country are blocking roads and oil terminals to enforce their call for a boycott. A helicopter carrying election materials was shot at, and an official from the High National Electoral Council (HNEC) who had been onboard was killed near Benghazi. Polling stations in Brega and Ajdabiyah were unable to open due to the incident. The federalists are demanding an equal distribution of National Assembly seats between Libya's three historic provinces of Barqa, Fezzan and Tripolitania. The current allocation of seats gives Tripolitania—where more than half of Libyans live—109 seats in the 200-member body. The three regions appear to be based on the Ottoman-era administrative divisions, with the name Cyrenaica changed to Barqa—probably to de-emphasize Cyrenaica's status as a self-governing territory at various times in Libya's history. (See map.)

A lawyer for the International Criminal Court (ICC) who was recently released from detention in Libya stated July 6 that she did not believe Libya could hold a fair trial for Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. Melinda Taylor was detained by Libyan authorities for nearly four weeks for allegedly passing illicit information to Saif al-Islam in a Libyan prison. She maintains that her detention in the country was unjustified. Taylor and three other ICC staff members were detained by Libyan authorities while on an official mission to meet with Saif al-Islam and assist with his legal defense. The ICC has expressed concern about Libya's ability to give Saif al-Islam a fair trial since he was captured by Libyan rebel forces in November. Taylor said the actions of Libyan authorities have demonstrated that they are incapable of holding a fair and impartial trial.

The Libyan government on July 2 released four International Criminal Court (ICC) staff members who had been detained for nearly four weeks. The release was announced while the ICC's president, Sang-Hyun Song, was visiting the country. The prosecution's office confirmed the release and noted that a hearing in their cases is expected on July 23. It added that the four staff members are expected at the hearing, but, even if that is not the case, a verdict will be issued in absentia. The release announcement came two weeks after the Libyan government started its investigation of ICC staff members. They had been accused of spying and attempting to smuggle documents to the imprisoned son of Moammar Qaddafi, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, from his former aide.

Islamist fighters of Ansar Dine have completely pushed Tuareg rebels of the MNLA out of Timbuktu, the jihadist organization announced June 27—days after a loosely allied Islamist faction, the MUJAO, took control of Gao from MNLA forces. A convoy of Islamist fighters is now said to be headed to Gao from Kidal, to drive the last remaining MNLA forces from the territory. Ansar Dine fighter Oumar Ould Hamaha told AP by telephone that the group now commands the northern half of Mali, an area larger than France, and plans to fully impose Islamic law. "Our fighters control the perimeter. We control Timbuktu completely. We control Gao completely. It's Ansar Dine that commands the north of Mali," said Hamaha, chief of security for the group in Gao. "Now we have every opportunity to apply shariah." Last week in the city of Gao, an unmarried couple was publicly lashed 100 times by the militants, according to AP.

In a statement issued June 19 at its Stuttgart headquarters, US Africa Command chief Gen. Carter F. Ham said last year's Operation Odyssey Dawn, the NATO mission in Libya, "imparted important lessons [for] the Defense Department's newest combatant command" and said it "welcomes a new African partner to the fold while still dealing with some of the residual challenges left by the former regime." Gen. Ham said that AfriCom "is forming a new military-to-military relationship with the Libyans and is working to strengthen its long-term military-to-military relationship with the Tunisians." Speaking about the Pentagon's future role on the African continent, Ham stated: "It is probably not going to be very often where Africa Command goes to the more kinetic, the more offensive operations in Africa. But nonetheless, we have to be ready to do that if the president requires that of us." (US Africa Command, June 19 via AllAfrica)

Since Azawad broke away from Mali in April, we've been wondering how long the world powers will tolerate the situation. On one hand, the logistical nightmare of a potentially protracted war against a hydra-headed insurgency of mutually hostile Tuareg rebels and jihadi factions in the most remote part of the Sahara; on the other, a vast and resource-rich swath of Africa outside the control of any state. One thing that may have held up intervention was the change of administration in France. Now new president François Hollande appears to remove doubts that he is ready for war. In a Paris meeting with Niger 's President Mahamadou Issoufou, he warned: "There is a threat of terrorist groups setting up in northern Mali. There is outside intervention that is destabilizing Mali and setting up groups whose vocation goes well beyond Mali, in Africa and perhaps beyond." (AFP, June 11) We can imagine that French uranium interests in what is now "Azawad" may color Hollande's thinking on this question.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) said June 9 that four ICC staff members have been detained in Libya since Thursday the 7th. They traveled to Libya on the 6th to meet with Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of Moammar Qaddafi. Reportedly among the detainees are Melinda Taylor, an Australian lawyer working for the ICC. A representative for the Libyan courts said that Taylor attempted to give documents to Saif al-Islam that were from his former aid, Mohammed Ismail, who has been in hiding since the Libyan conflict began. She was therefore found to pose a threat to Libyan safety.