AL QAEDA AND ISIS ALLY IN NEW THREAT TO WEST AFRICA
Surge in regional violence attributed to extremists expanding sphere of influence in the Sahel
Groups linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS are collaborating to gain control over vast areas of land in the Sahel, prompting fears that a surge in violence over the past year will escalate further.
The leader of US Special Operations Command Africa Brig Gen Dagvin Anderson said this week that the extremists’ push in West Africa could become a threat for the West and the United States if left unchecked.
The two groups have fuelled ethnic clashes in Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali as they expand their foothold in the Sahel, a semi-arid region between the Sahara desert and the continent’s savannas in the south.
While the scenario poses no direct threat overseas, the US Air Force general said “it’s very destabilising to the region”.
Experts have long been concerned about a collaboration between Al Qaeda – which has been successfully consolidating its presence in northern Mali – and ISIS, which claimed an attack that killed four US soldiers in Niger in 2019.
In Burkina Faso, a recent spate of violence rocked the once-peaceful nation and turned it into the latest front for attacks by affiliates of the two groups. In January, 14 people, including seven children, were killed when a bus triggered a bomb in the country’s north.
Senior UN officials from all three countries said last year that insecurity had “reached unprecedented levels”. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and thousands more have been killed as violence spirals across the region.
While groups linked to Al Qaeda are focusing on establishing safe havens in the Sahel, the largest ISIS affiliate in West Africa, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, is working to destabalise governments, gain territory and rally people to its cause.
High poverty rates and poor services in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – all among the 10 least developed countries in the world – create fertile conditions for extremist groups to recruit young men with promises of employment and a better life.
France, which leads military efforts in the region with 5,000 troops stationed there, announced this month that it was sending 600 more troops to combat militants in the Sahel.
Fighters linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS are working together in West Africa’s sprawling sub-Sahara region, giving the extremist groups greater strength as they push into new areas.
The commander of the US military’s special forces in Africa, Brig Gen Dagvin Anderson, said the groups could become a “great threat to the West and the United States” if allowed to co-operate unchecked.
Experts have long worried about collaboration between Al Qaeda and ISIS.
While co-operation in the sub-Sahara region is not a direct threat to western powers at the moment, Gen Anderson said it was “it’s very destabilising to the region”.
The collaboration between the groups is a result of ethnic ties in a region that includes Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
“Whereas in other parts of the world they have different objectives and points of view that tends to bring ISIS and Al Qaeda into conflict, here they’re able to work for a common purpose,” Gen Anderson said.
Working together also allows extremists to broaden their appeal in a largely rural region where government presence is sparse and discontent over unemployment is high.
In the past year, there has been an increase in violence in the region, with more than 2,600 people killed and more than half a million displaced in Burkina Faso alone.
Al Qaeda is the deeper threat in the region and across the world, Gen Anderson said.
“ISIS is much more aggressive and blunt and so in some ways they appear to be the greater threat,” he said.
But Al Qaeda, which continues to quietly expand, is “the longer strategic concern” for the US, he said.
The group has consolidated efforts in northern Mali, moving south into more populated areas “and taking various groups and galvanising them into a coherent movement”, Gen Anderson said.
The most prominent of those affiliates is a coalition of Al Qaeda-linked groups known as
Jnim, with about 2,000 fighters in the region, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
For years, authorities have struggled to contain extremists in the vast strip of land south of the Sahara.
In 2012, Al Qaeda-linked fighters seized large areas of northern Mali. French forces forced them from strongholds in 2013 but the fighters have regrouped and spread south.
The largest ISIS affiliate in the region, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, rose to prominence more recently and the group claimed responsibility for killing four US soldiers in Niger in 2017.
The attack caused an outcry in Washington and raised questions about the US military presence in Africa.
Between the advances of Al Qaeda and ISIS-linked fighters, Burkina Faso has become the latest front for an alarming rate of deadly attacks.
Al Qaeda affiliates visit areas in advance to “engage with key leaders in key locations to recruit early” before others move in, Gen Anderson said.
Fighters are funded by ransoms from kidnappings as they try to control access to markets via taxation, he said.
They may also be looking for gold to boost their income.
“I believe they’d be happy to be able to control some of the mines in the area, especially the gold and other precious metals that are easily transportable,” Gen Anderson said.
While Al Qaeda affiliates work to establish safe havens, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara wants to destabilise local government, control territory and rally people to their cause.
The strategy for countering the growing threat from the patchwork of extremist groups goes beyond military efforts but Gen Anderson said there was “no easy answer”.
Many young men in the largely impoverished region feel isolated from government and are drawn to the extremists because of promises of employment and purpose.
“Al Qaeda, whether we agree with it or not, brings some level of justice to many of these areas and some services that aren’t provided by central governments,” Gen Anderson said.
“And they provide some representation to minority groups that don’t feel part of the larger community, such as the Fulani or the Tuareg.”
He said African partners must invest in government, though international involvement was necessary to quell the threat.
France leads military efforts in the region with more than 5,000 troops in the area and Paris hopes to bring in more European partners.
France also urged the US to reconsider any cuts to its already small military footprint of about 1,400 personnel in West Africa.
The US has about 6,000 personnel across the continent.
Gen Anderson said the US was already doing a lot in the region.
“Instead of looking at the size of the presence, I think we should look at what is the appropriate engagement across the government, from all levels,” he said.
The US is still able to help countries develop the capabilities to build coalitions and share intelligence, Gen Anderson said.
“It’s going to take all these nations working together, but also it’s going to have to be African solutions to an African problem,” he said.