In the wake of the ferocious religious war that tore Algeria apart in the 1990’s, a great number of Muslim fundamentalist Arabs fled south to the vast Sahara that covers part of Mali. Then, in 2011, Western-backed regime change in Libya toppled Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi and drove more fundamentalists to flee into the desert –&#160;but not before they had gotten their hands on a significant part of Qaddafi’s heavy weaponry, as well as many vehicles.
20世纪90年代，残酷的宗教战争让阿尔及利亚陷入了分裂，大量原教旨主义阿拉伯穆斯林向南逃入广袤的撒哈拉沙漠——马里正是撒哈拉沙漠的一部分。接着，2011年，在西方的支持下，利比亚推翻了卡扎菲政权，这让更多的原教旨主义者逃入撒哈拉——此时他们已经控制了卡扎菲庞大武库的主要部分，还掌握了大批车辆。