March 12, 2018 | FDD's Foreign Podicy

Africa’s Jihadist Frontiers

Episode 9
Clifford D. May

Founder & President
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Senior Advisor on Asymmetric Warfare
March 12, 2018 | FDD's Foreign Podicy

Africa’s Jihadist Frontiers

Episode 9

Clifford D. May

Founder & President
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Senior Advisor on Asymmetric Warfare

About

Jihadists in Africa are not just spreading. They’re also learning and innovating. Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have spawned such groups as Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab south of the Sahara, in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and beyond. A new FDD study shows that the number of jihadist attacks against Western interests in Africa has nearly tripled since the so-called 2011 Arab Spring. Yet, we hear little about these groups and their acts of terrorism in the mainstream media.

Foreign Podicy host, Cliff May, is joined by FDD Senior Fellow Daveed Gartenstein-Ross to discuss these evolving threats and what can be done now to stop – or at least slow – them.

Listen

Background resources

Evolving Terror: The Development of Jihadist Operations Targeting Western Interests in Africa

After the Arab Spring, North African countries experienced growing instability, and jihadist groups capitalized on both social unrest and local conflicts. As these groups strengthened, jihadists expanded their operations into the Sahel, and were able to propagate their transnational ideology to new audiences. The threat that jihadist groups in Africa pose to Western interests has grown over the past decade, as groups operating in North Africa, the Sahel, West Africa, and the Horn of Africa have honed their capabilities. This is reflected in the increased frequency and complexity of attacks against Western interests. Between January 2007 and December 2011, jihadists conducted 132 successful, thwarted, or failed attacks against Western interests in Africa. This figure nearly tripled to 358 attacks between January 2012 and October 2017.

Read the FDD Report

Spike in African Terrorism Highlights the Importance of Jihadist Innovation

In early 2011, as the Arab Spring revolutions were just beginning, a New York Times article concluded that for most analysts, “the past few weeks have the makings of an epochal disaster for Al Qaeda, making the jihadists look like ineffectual bystanders to history while offering young Muslims an appealing alternative to terrorism.” The vast majority of terrorism experts believed the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and North Africa were the death knell not only for regional despots, but also for the jihadist movement.

Read in War on the Rocks

.
.

 

 

Issues:

Al Qaeda Jihadism Military and Political Power