Across Africa there is an exponential rise of Jihadi- Salafi movement pushing the whole continent into a bed of extremist Islamist terrorism. This includes the mushrooming of various avatars of the Al Qaeda and the Islamic State plunging Africa in the dark medieval world of orthodox extremist Islam.

Nigeria

In Nigeria more than 30,000 people have been killed and nearly 3 million displaced in the last decade owing to Boko Haram’s terror activities in Nigeria, according to UN offices for the Co-ordinated Humanitarian Affairs.

The destabilization of north-eastern Nigeria has led to an upsurge in mass kidnappings of school children.

In December last year, Boko Haram claimed to have kidnapped 300 school boys in Nigeria marking an alarming move in Northwest Nigeria according to a report by Reuters.

The IS militants in Nigeria have targeted the government security forces and even humanitarian aid workers.

On 16th April, the UN News reported due to clash between armed militants and government forces in northeast Nigeria, 65,000 people were forced to flee and humanitarians were targeted by the militants. The armed militants targeted humanitarian aid workers by hunting for them “house-to-house” according to the UN News.

Lake Chad Region

According to the UN, violence committed by the extremist Islamist outfit, Boko Haram has affected 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced as many as 2.6 million people rendering them homeless.

Sahel

In Sahel an Islamic Sate affiliate disrupted Presidential elections in western Niger.

According to the UN a whopping 2 million people are displaced in Sahel due unabated terrorist activities.

Somalia

Al-Shabaab Islamist militant group formed in early 2000s remain a formidable force in Somalia despite decades of fight against it. It continues to target the Somali state and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces.

The Al-Shabaab has doubled its attacks in the Somalian capital, Mogadishu since January this year amidst political unrest in the country.

Kenya

The Islamist militant outfit Al-Shabaab is continuing to attack neighbouring Kenya along with Somalia. On January 15, 2019, it attacked an upscale Nairobi hotel complex which left at lest 21 civilians killed and several others held hostage.

The Al-Shabaab is increasingly imposing its writ on social behavioural control to confirm to orthodox mediaeval Islamic standards in parts of north-eastern Kenya.

Ethiopia

There is an ongoing fight in Trigray region in noth-eastern Ethiopia. A border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan has also raised tensions in the border areas.

Mozambique

Ansar al-Sunna, an ISIS affiliate in Central Africa Province, on March 24, 2021,  mounted a large-scale attack against Palma, a Mozambican coastal city with about 75,000 inhabitants, and took it over. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands were displaced during the 12 day takeover of Palma by the ISIS affiliate.

Notably, the city is situated in north-eastern Mozambique where the militant terrorist organisation’s area of operation is centred near the largest natural gas field in Africa, in which foreign companies are involved in natural gas exploration.

Libya

An interim government was appointed in Tripoli headed by Abdelhamid Dbeibah after much delay to end the decade long chaos and conflict in Libya to oversee the formation of a government by holding elections by December 2021.

Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising, called the ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011 which toppled Gaddafi, who was later killed.

For years, the country was split and controlled by rival administrations – the Tripoli-based GNA, and a parallel cabinet with its headquarters in the east, under the de facto control of forces loyal to renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Turkey has backed the GNA, while Haftar has drawn on support from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, France and Russia.

The new Prime Minister is said to have the dubious distinction of holding several posts under Gaddafi as well as sharing close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UN has estimated there are 20,000 foreign fighters in Libya, including Syrians, Turkish, Sudanese and Russians brought to the country by the rival sides.

It is a great challenge for the new interim government to get co-operation from the warring factions to conduct the elections by December and end the decade long crisis by facilitating the formation of a new and stable government.

Source: 1.  Treadstone 71,@Treadstone71LLC cyber intelligence, counterintelligence, infiltration, OSINT, Clandestine Cyber HUMINT, cyber intel and OSINT training and analysis, cyber psyops, strategic cyber security, Interim CISO Services View all posts by Treadstone 71

2. Al-Shabab in Somalia | Global Conflict Tracker (cfr.org)

3. UN News.

4.After 12 days in which Palma was held by ISIS, the Mozambican army regains control of the city – The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (terrorism-info.org.il)

5. Libya’s interim government takes power after handover in Tripoli | Middle East News | Al Jazeera

Image sourced from internet

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