Africa seen as “greatest global generator of jihadi violence”

Africa, according to a recently published research paper, has the “overall notorious reputation of being the greatest global generator of jihadi violence”.

Statistics, the Middle East Africa Research Institute (MEARI) maintains, paint “a worrying picture of the upward trajectory of jihadi terrorism in an increasingly volatile African theatre of operations”.

The 80-plus page report “Tracking terrorism trends in Africa” examines major terror groups, their affiliations, operational strategies, targets, goals, organisational structures, international links, attack frequencies, profiles and the nature of targets.

Terrorism, it notes, is not new to Africa and has been around for over 50 years with historical roots on the continent. Prior to the August 1998 terrorist bombings of United States (US) embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam that killed 224 people and injured more than five thousand, the continent was not widely considered a hotbed of international terrorism. Even with these high-profile attacks, the terrorist threat in Africa was generally seen as isolated, narrowly focused, and rooted in domestic problems rarely transcending international borders. This, MEARI has it, would begin to change in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks and the launching of the American-led war on terror.

“With its vast ungoverned spaces and uncontrolled borders, weak and corrupt governments and impoverished and alienated populations, Africa had come to be seen by many-especially the US and its Western allies as a fertile breeding ground for international jihadist-inspired terrorism.”

The growth of radical Islamist terrorism since the early nineties is something the report calls “a most disturbing trend”. It now poses one of the biggest, and more direct, threats to African peace and stability. African governments, regional and sub-regional organisations and the international community have subsequently given high priority to address this scourge. In Africa today there are numerous home-grown radical Islamist groups with varying degrees of organisation, structure and activism that engage in and/or facilitate a new and highly potent form of terrorism, the report reads in part.

Statistics drawn from published research, according to MEARI, show militant Islamist violence in five major zones, referred to as “theatres of instability”. They are the Lake Chad Basin, the Sahel, Egypt, Somalia and Mozambique. Alarmingly, 22 African countries – almost half the continent – face violence from jihadi groups.

South Africa

MEARI reports that cells in South Africa loyal to Islamic State constitute another important hub in the financing of both ISCAP (Islamic State Central Africa Province) and the Islamic State in Mozambique. While not formally organised as an Islamic State so-called “province,” cells in South Africa play an “outsized role’ in revenue generation and co-ordination for central, eastern and southern Africa, as well as local revenue generation for the Islamic State elsewhere.”

On revenue generation in South Africa, the report has it the activities of Islamic State-loyal cells are predominantly criminal in nature. “The alleged Durban-based Islamic State cell led by Farhad Hoomer was reportedly involved in kidnapping for ransom and extortion rackets in Durban and Kliprivier. “Hoomer’s plots to raise funds for the Islamic State were later confirmed by the US Treasury when it sanctioned Hoomer and three other South Africa-based individuals in March 2022 for terrorism financing.”

Other sources confirmed the inter-connected nature between ISCAP, Islamic State Somalia and Islamic State cells in South Africa. Additionally individuals linked to ISCAP worked with South Africa-based Islamic State cells. Two former ISCAP members describe traveling to South Africa – one in 2018, the other in 2021 – to receive military training and religious indoctrination, according to MEARI.

On financing, the report has it South African cells appear to be middlemen, consolidating funds from provinces and support networks primarily focused on generating revenue and transferring money. Money generated in South Africa and Somalia is, MEARI says, laundered across East Africa through a network financing Islamic State activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique.

The report maintains Islamic State money assisted in facilitating funding for both attempted and successful improvised explosive device (IED) blasts and suicide bombings in Uganda, the DRC and Rwanda from at least August 2021 to the end of 2022.

Recommendations

The MEARI report notes that terrorism in Africa is a reality, but it needs to be carefully viewed in the context of the continent’s unique history and its socio-economic problems. “This is the real security challenge for the 21st century. Too narrow a focus on terrorism alone—and particularly on international terrorism—as the fount of African insecurity would be a serious mistake,” the Institute reports.

“At the heart of the terrorism challenge in Africa is a plethora of other domestic problems, ranging from violent conflict, state failure, endemic poverty, poor governance, and lack of political and socio-economic inclusiveness. Terrorism is more of a symptom of these societal problems than a driver of insecurity itself and unless headway is made against these problems then terrorism will continue to plague the continent. It has become a tool of the weak and disenfranchised to articulate domestic grievances.

“Jihadi terrorism has now arguably assumed pandemic-like proportions. Indeed a highly ‘virulent strain’ of jihadi terrorism appears to have infected the continent, one that quickly adapted, and rapidly mutated and metastasized into one of Africa’s gravest national and regional security threats to date. Overall attempts at developing a definitive cure has remained elusive.”

To address terrorism, challenges, MEARI believes the solution to African terrorism will only be found in promoting broader societal and human security. “To be sure, developing stronger counter-terrorism capability is part of the equation, but it must be used judicially and not at the expense—or instead of—other non-military tools that seek first to alter the conditions that breed terrorism and allow it to prosper.”

Eliminating root causes of terrorism (by providing basic social services, establishing better land use and property rights etc.), working jointly across the continent, applying selective military pressure and political-economic incentives are other recommendations, along with reducing communal tensions on which terrorists thrive, and improving economic governance. Combatting transnational organised crime is also crucial to weakening terrorist activity, along with reducing armed conflict.

Source » defenceweb