As terrorist groups expand in the Sahel, is Algeria the missing link?

Over the past two years, the steady expansion of terrorist and fundamentalist threats in the Sahel has not gotten the attention it deserves given the region’s repeated military coups and political turmoil. Due to the apparent contagion effect of military coups, the political instability in the Sahel has resulted in a regional and international focus on electoral timetables and constitutional rule while overlooking the rise of terrorist groups, which continue to gain ground and menace the very existence of Sahel countries.

IN DISORDER, THEY THRIVE: HOW
RURAL DISTRESS FUELS MILITANCY
AND BANDITRY IN THE CENTRAL SAHEL

The central Sahel — Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger — has changed dramatically since the armed insurgencies that emerged in northern Mali in 2012. The resulting deterioration in security has been worse and more far reaching than anything experienced by the region in recent times. Aggressive extremist organizations, unaccountable community-based armed groups, and criminal gangs have all proliferated, wreaking havoc on populations in the central Sahel countryside.

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ISIS beats back Wagner offensive in central Syria

It has been an accepted fact that ISIS ceased being a territory-controlling entity in Syria after its March 2019 defeat in the town of Baghouz. Yet it is perhaps time to reevaluate this perspective on the group and its insurgent trajectory in the country. While recent massacres of civilians in central Syria have refocused some international attention on the desert region, known as the Badia, the renewed widespread battles between militants and regime security forces that have occurred in parallel to these attacks have gone unnoticed. The most significant of these was the recent battle for the village of al-Kawm between ISIS cells and Syrian military units led by the Russian private military company Wagner Group. The fighting has, as of the time of this writing, ended in a stalemate, with ISIS militants retaining control of the mountains overlooking the village.

Récupérer les revenus d’al Shabaab

Pour couper les revenus annuels d’al Shabaab, estimés à 100 millions de dollars et générés par les extorsions, il faudra rétablir l’intégrité des agences financières, judiciaires et de renseignement compromises de la Somalie.

Pakistan: Origins, Identity And Future – Book Review

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy is a prominent nuclear scientist, well-known author, columnist, and human rights activist. In his latest volume, he presents robust and provocative arguments in what can only be described as a daring, and must-read book. He sets the stage in his introduction by asking striking questions: was the partition of India worth the price in Muslim blood? What is the ideology of Pakistan, and why does it matter? Why couldn’t Pakistan become an Islamic state? Why is Pakistan a praetorian state? Just what are Pakistanis, and how do they self-identify?

Expulsion of 7,000 Migrants From Algeria Puts Pressure on Niger

Since January several flows of emigrants expelled by Algerian authorities have been constantly arriving in the town of Assamaka.

Niger Interior Minister Hamadou Amadou Souley fears the emergence of a humanitarian crisis in Assamaka, a town where 7,172 sub-Saharan migrants expelled by Algeria are stranded.

Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters (RFTFs) and Their Families in the Western Balkans

Introduction

This concept note was commissioned by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience
Fund (GCERF) to contribute to a better understanding of current efforts to prevent and counter
violent extremism (P/CVE) in the Western Balkans, and more specifically to provide an
overview of the most immediate needs in rehabilitation and reintegration (R&R) of ex-ISIL
fighters and their family members in the region. Such a mapping exercise was assumed to
produce useful recommendations for policy planning and budgeting of P/CVE and R&R
activities in the Western Balkans. In order to fulfill this goal, the scope of this paper was
widened to include supplemental data and analysis that should provide more factual background
and context-specific insight. Though a slight diversion from the original extent and format of
the paper, this change allows for the presentation of more nuanced complexities and,
consequently, to more fine-tuned policy responses to P/CVE and R&R in the Western Balkans.

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