The appointment âis an attempt by al-Qaeda to create a balance between different nationalitiesâ¦and a response to disgruntled youth who have been excluded from the terrorist organisationâ, journalist Rajel Ould Oumar said. According to Sahara Media, the new emir of the Al Vourghan brigade was born in 1981 in Nouakchott. Ould Hacen graduated in 2006 from the Higher Institute of Islamic Studies and Research, where he submitted his thesis while jailed on charges of belonging to one of the jihadist groups during the transitional period and the rule of former Mauritanian President Ely Ould Mohamed Vall. After roughly fourteen months of incarceration, he disappeared in 2006, only to resurface as the spokesman for AQIMâs Sahara emirate. http://www.eurasiareview.com/28112012-al-qaeda-appoints-new-mali-chief/