I'm John Bachelor, the Sahil, the shores of the desert.

And in those shores are troubled nations that here to four have been understood as democracies,

but some of them not anymore.

I welcome Mariam Waba of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, writing with her colleague Daniel Swift and national interest about one of the shores,

nations on the shores of the Sahara, Mali, a nation with an ancient and important

or cultural heritage, the Tuareg peoples of Mali, are builders of unusually vivid cities.

Once you see them, you don't forget them. They come from,

say, another galaxy to build these cities and mosques. However, since these last years, the jihad has

been making headroads into Mali and the accompanying Niger and Burkina Faso.

And that headwind, the road that the jihadists have been making is now threatening the whole region,

including the very powerful and populated Nigeria.

Mariam, a very good evening to you.

Because your column is helpful, we name names, not just large organizations.

So I ask you to introduce me to Iad Aggali, Etwarag, meaning he's from Mali.

Who is he, and what is he done to his country?

Good to be with you tonight, sir.

So our character and our story really begins with this character, Iyad Agali.

And I will introduce him as the leader of JNIM, which is an Al-Qaeda-affiliated militia

that has now been seizing the capital of Mali for about a couple of

weeks.

But his interesting story doesn't start with jihadism and his affiliation with Qaeda, but

actually years ago, this man, Iyad Agali, actually is a whiskey-dr drinking, blues rock band writing man from Molly. And he was

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