Black flags in Timbuktu

The drawback to waging a global counter-terrorism campaign is that, just when you think you have one bunch of Islamist militants on the run, another one pops up to take its place. For all the breakthroughs chalked up by those prosecuting the war against al-Qa’eda, the movement has re-emerged in new guises in Somalia and Yemen. The murderous riots in Libya last week, ostensibly triggered by a homemade American video, were being quickly traced back to what may be the latest and safest home for al-Qa’eda: northern Mali.

Those who hoped the war on terror was about to end in Afghanistan have not wanted to think about Mali. But it is growing harder to ignore the fact that al-Qa’eda in the Islamic Maghreb now runs a chunk of territory three times larger than Britain. For most in the intelligence community, the establishment of this desert kingdom is on a par with Osama bin Laden’s decision to move to southern Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

The moment the jihadis started flying their black flags in Timbuktu, al-Qa’eda was transformed from a terrorist group into a de facto Islamic republic. By way of announcing their arrival, the masters of this new fiefdom promptly arranged for the public stoning to death of a couple who were accused of having children outside marriage. The interim president of Mali, Dioncounda Traoré, is overwhelmed and has called for outside military assistance to expel the jihadi menace. François Hollande, the new French president, has urged African countries to come to the aid of its former colony. But from everyone else in the West, there has been almost total silence.

Since its inception, the al-Qa’eda movement has sought to seize control of an entire country to have the facets of governmental infrastructure at their disposal.