According to the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), 23 070 incidents of terror occurred in Africa between 2000 and 2018. The continent’s top five deadliest attacks in this period were instigated by a combination of jihadi and ethnic insurgent/rebel groups, namely: Al-Shabaab in Somalia, (588), the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) (400) and tribesmen (339) in the… Read More A Recent Overview of Terrorism in Africa
I had the pleasure of attending a seminar on Addressing the Threat of Violent Extremism in Southern Africa late last month with the expectation that it would perhaps offer a crash course on exactly what’s going on with regards to the emerging group in Mozambique. Quite interestingly however, it appeared the group had the distinguished… Read More Violent Extremism in Mozambique: The Importance of Drawing Key Lessons from the Emergence of Terrorist Organisations in Africa
Yesterday U.S President Donald Trump declared leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead as a result of a U.S military raid of a house he was hiding in Syria’s Idlib province. Certainly, this may be seen as a major (as he would like to say) “win” for Trump as he approaches a major… Read More Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: Implications for African Islamic State Affiliates
Every year since the tragic events of 9/11 when nearly 3000 innocent American citizens lost their lives as a result of a terror attack planned and instigated by Al-Qaeda, countless articles are written about the terrorist organisation, as the events marked a watershed moment in the field of security studies, which precipitated a so-called War… Read More Measuring the Success of Terrorist Organisations: Reflecting on Al-Qaeda’s Public Discourse Post-9/11
Over the course of my research into the nature and types of terrorist affiliations, I thought an examination on Boko Haram’s affiliations would be a worthwhile thought experiment for two reasons: firstly, I found myself asking the simple question of who Boko Haram is affiliated to, leading to the second reason which is the fact… Read More Abubakar Shekau: The Al-Qaeda-Islamic State Nexus
We are typically drawn to events involving mass casualty terror attacks, affiliatory developments such as mergers (or acquisitions), factional battles and splinter groups, media publications and statements, particularly those with important announcements or a break from the norm in terms of strategy, operational tactics, or rarely seen personalities like Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. These observable activities… Read More Al-Shabaab’s Foreign Fighters and Why they Matter
Over the past year and a half, I’ve taken a keen interest in the international dynamics of African terrorist organisations. This is due to the fact that the literature on African terrorism has offered three major lines of inquiry: a rehashing of major incidents, analyses of local factors contributing to the emergence of terrorist organisations,… Read More In Africa, Jihad is Not Local
