reflectiigeopolitice.ro

Policy Problem

(FPRI) — As the global epicenter of Salafi-jihadi activity, the Sahel in 2023 accounted for 26 percent of global terrorist attacks, which caused 47 percent of terrorist-related deaths. Burkina Faso is ranked as the country most affected by terrorism in the world, followed by Mali in third place and Niger in tenth. Both would be one spot higher if not for Hamas’s October 2023 attacks in Israel. These standings show the prevalence and lethality of jihadist groups in the Sahel. The situation has not always been this dire. After Malian and French security forces regained control of northern Mali from jihadists in 2014, terrorist attacks were infrequent. There was little evidence of insurgencies until 2016. However, jihadist activity rose steadily from 2017 until 2021, and since 2021, jihadist attacks have doubled and resulting deaths have tripled. Mali has little control over its northern regions and is constantly contested in its central regions. Jihadist groups control or contest over half of Burkina Faso. In all three countries, jihadists are encircling areas closer to the capitals. Attacks have spread to coastal countries Benin, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire. Thus, jihadist groups have reconstituted since their 2014 setback to wage escalating insurgencies and conduct complex terrorist attacks.

Financing:
Kidnappings, robbery and extortion:
Boko Haram gets funding from bank robberies and kidnapping ransoms. As an example, in early 2013 gunmen from Boko Haram kidnapped a family of seven French tourists on vacation in Cameroon. Two months later, the kidnappers released the hostages along with 16 others in exchange for a ransom of $3.15 million.Any funding they may have received in the past from al-Qaeda affiliates is insignificant compared to the estimated $1 million ransom for each wealthy Nigerian or foreigner kidnapped.

Highlights:

Established In: 1996-1997

Established By: Ibrahim Haji Jaama’ Al-Afghani

Also Known As: Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, HSM, Al-Shabaab al-Islaam, Al-Shabaab al-Islamiya, Al-Shabaab al-Jihaad al Shabaab, As-Saḥab, Ash-Shabaab, Hezb al-Shabaab

Since 1991, the United Nations has led a series of fruitless efforts to resolve the standoff over Western Sahara. A swath of desert about the size of the entire United Kingdom, Western Sahara is claimed both by the Polisario Front—a rebel group that the UN recognizes as the legitimate representative of the region’s inhabitants—and by its northern neighbor, Morocco, which wants to cement its de facto control over what it considers its “southern provinces.” By now, the dispute may seem frozen—or worse yet, that might is beating right: over the past five years, Morocco has bypassed the UN and secured extralegal bilateral endorsements of its sovereignty from France, Spain, and, most consequentially, the United States. But recent events in Azerbaijan, Sudan, and Israel show how suddenly so-called frozen conflicts can shift—and the contours of the Western Saharan dispute are poised to shift dangerously. The Polisario Front has started to take on Morocco more aggressively in legal forums, challenging its right to exploit Western Sahara’s resources, and Morocco and its neighbor Algeria—a key backer of the Polisario Front—have begun a dangerous arms race.