Baba Ould Cheikh is a Lemhar Arab Malian drug trafficker with close ties to jihadist groups.
[1] During his time as the mayor of Tarkint, Cheikh managed two construction companies in Gao in the early 2000s.
[4] In negotiations for Fowler, Cheikh put special advisor to the Burkinabe president Moustapha Ould Limam Chafi in contact with AQIM emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
[5][6] Cheikh was arrested again on January 21, 2018, by unknown armed men, but he was released that February.
[7] Cheikh is the father of Mimi Ould Baba, who was arrested in Mali in January 2017 and accused of being a key figure behind the 2016 Ouagadougou attacks, which left thirty people dead at the request of Abu Hassan al-Ansari.