In accordance with paragraph 13 of resolution 1822 (2008) and subsequent related resolutions, the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee makes accessible a narrative summary of reasons for the listing for individuals, groups, undertakings and entities included in the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List.
Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui was listed on 9 August 2018 pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4 of resolution 2368 (2017) as being associated with ISIL or Al-Qaida for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” and “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq (QDe.115).
Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui was a former spokesperson of the Mouvement pour l’Unification et le Jihad en Afrique de l’Ouest (MUJAO) (QDe.134), he joined Al-Mourabitoun (QDe.141) at the time of its creation in August 2013.
In May 2015, Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui announced his allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), listed as Al-Qaida in Iraq (QDe.115) and proclaimed himself emir of the Al-Mourabitoun group in Mali. This provoked a negative response from Mokhtar Belmokhtar (QDi.136) and resulted in a split by al-Sahraoui and his followers. In October 2016, ISIL acknowledged it received a pledge of allegiance from the group under al-Sahraoui.
The group al-Sahraoui commands was composed of fighters of Fulani, Tuareg, and Sahraoui origin. It mostly targeted security forces in Niger and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) at the border between Niger and Mali. He ordered several kidnappings of foreigners, including Australian citizen Kenneth Elliot. On January 2018, the group claimed responsibility for attacks against international forces, including the Tongo Tongo attack on 4 October 2017, which led to the death of four American soldiers and five Nigerien soldiers.
Adnan Abou Walid al-Sahraoui was reportedly killed in 2021.