1. For the past year, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) front organisation Ansar al-Sharia has been the de facto authority in a number of towns in southern Yemen. 2. Although ousted in a May-June government offensive, the group was not militarily defeated and it is unclear whether AQAP has abandoned its ambition of governing territory. 3. The risk of an AQAP resurgence in southern Yemen is exacerbated by the government's poor record of governance in the region and its reliance on irregular militias to maintain security.
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