It’s been estimated that approximately 40% of child soldiers are active on the African continent. This bears testament to the climate of post-conflict societies in many African countries simmering on the edge of reverting back into civil war, where children were exploited into participating primarily for their loyalty, physical agility, psychological malleability and low maintenance. […]
Tag: Boko Haram
Busting Myths on Global Jihadism in Nigeria
Editors Note: In the upcoming months, TAJ will be featuring contributions from analysts and scholars in the field of (counter-)terrorism research who I’ve come to learn from and highly respect. This presents a fantastic opportunity to diversify levels of engagement and participation as well as introduce unique perspectives and analyses by some of the top […]
A Recent Overview of Terrorism in Africa
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 […]
Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: Implications for African Islamic State Affiliates
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 […]
Abubakar Shekau: The Al-Qaeda-Islamic State Nexus
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 […]
