Nouakchott — With turbulent conditions across North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is trying to take advantage of the situation by stepping up its multimedia campaign.

Last Thursday (June 27th), al-Andalus Media Productions aired an audio and video news bulletin entitled "Monthly Report of AQIM".

The piece recorded 3 days earlier contained a summary of recent terror tapes and a full report on recent al-Qaeda operations in Sahel-Saharan countries. It also drew attention to the terror network's new Twitter account and AQIM blog.

The new video sought to target citizens by using the terrorist organisation's own "country names", such as al-Manara [i.e. Mauritania] and Kairouan [i.e. Tunisia].

The list included an admonition to Ennahda in Tunisia by Algerian AQIM leader Sheikh Abu Abdulillah Ahmed al-Jijeli. Mauritanian Abu Yahya al-Chinguetti also delivered an address to the people of Tunisia urging them to support Sharia.

Other propaganda messages were aimed at audiences in Mauritania and Mali while Sheikh al-Jijeli wrote an article where he railed against the Algerian government.

The most prominent points in the latest recorded message focused on addressing the political regime in Tunisia, represented by Ennahda, according to Islamion.com.

The message also included a repetition of what Sheikh al-Jijeli said when he confirmed that the group would adhere to the recommendations of Ayman al-Zawahiri not to target post-revolution governments, extend a hand of co-operation with them to apply Sharia, "liberate" Muslim countries and consider the country of Kairouan as land of preaching.

The sheikh then demanded Ennahda review its policies towards the group and to apply Sharia. Meanwhile, he warned it of the consequences of injustice.

However, the spokesperson for the terrorist organisation said al-Qaeda was prepared to discuss any issue with Ennahda and reiterated their support of Ansar al-Sharia and other radical groups.

Although AQIM's intervention in Maghreb politics is not new, the latest bulletin carries symbolic connotations that may be different from previous connotations, said Sid Ahmed Ould Tfeil, an expert in salafist groups' ideology.

"Al-Qaeda's speech and its various statements are only a political, security manoeuvre that mainly targets the political elite in Arab Spring countries. However, these statements also carry implied messages for the peoples," he said.

Ould Tfeil added that "Al-Qaeda wants to say that it sympathises with the vulnerable governments in Arab Spring countries. This is, however, in the interest of al-Qaeda itself because it too suffers from precariousness and crackdowns, but hides this feeling with this show of force."

Hamdi Ould Abdullah, a political analyst, told Magharebia that through this statement, the Maghreb branch of al-Qaeda wants to say that it was a partner in the Arab Spring revolutions and, on the other hand, it wants to prove relations with the parent al-Qaeda at a time when all other terrorist branches, whether in Syria or Iraq, are suffering from lack of harmony.