GIS’ deaths put focus on Niger
NIAMEY, NIGER» Less than a year ago, the Islamic State’s ambitions in Africa seemed all but shattered. In Libya, militias assisted by U.S. Special Operations soldiers and airstrikes drove the militants from their stronghold in the city of Sirte. Hundreds of Islamic State fighters died. Others fled south toward desert hideouts.
“There were no more black flags,” recalled Claudia Gazzini, a senior Libya analyst for the International Crisis Group, describing the situation when she visited southern Libya after the militant group’s defeat in December.
But many highly trained Islamic State fighters crossed into the vast ungoverned areas of impoverished Niger, according to regional security officials and analysts. Some then flowed to zones where militants were active in Mali, Nigeria and other countries.
The fighters have helped inject new energy into a spreading Islamist militancy, creating new challenges for U.S. forces in the region. Few Americans knew their troops were engaged in one of the world’s most complex battlegrounds until four U.S. soldiers were killed by militants last month in a remote corner of Niger.
Instead of celebrating the defeat of the Islamic State in Africa, the Pentagon and its allies are confronting an increasingly potent constellation of militant groups and a deepening rivalry between al-qaeda and the Islamic State for influence and recruits.
“The big challenge is the instability in Libya,” Kalla Moutari, Niger’s minister of defense, said in an interview Wednesday. “Fighters and weapons from Libya continue to come to this part of the world because there are no controls over there.”
Islamist militants have managed to exploit ethnic and communal tensions as well as resentment over poverty and unemployment to gain support. Complicating the efforts to defeat the militants are the weakness or repressive actions of the region’s armies, poor governance and porous borders.
The killing of the four U.S. soldiers has set off questions in Washington about the U.S. military’s role in the Sahel, a barren belt stretching from western Africa to its northcentral region.
The Trump administration suspects a relatively new Islamic State ally was responsible for the American soldiers’ deaths. The U.S. government has doubled down on its military commitment in the region, the latest sign being a $60 million pledge last week to build a new counterterrorism force there.
U.S. authorities are concerned that with the Islamic State losing territory in Iraq and Syria, it is shifting more of its focus to North Africa and West Africa. Thousands of Islamic State militants who fought in Iraq, Syria and Libya are originally from this region, particularly Tunisia and Morocco.
“As they are pressed, it becomes all the more important that they seem to be visible and active elsewhere and thus still relevant to the overall cause,” said Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. “In their view, they want to show that they are still able to position themselves ahead of alqaeda in their competition and rivalry.”
In recent months, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has sought to make a comeback in Libya, orchestrating suicide bombings and other violence. An Islamic State affiliate based in Egypt’s northern Sinai has killed several hundred policemen and soldiers this year. Islamic State-linked groups and cells have emerged in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram — which in 2015 pledged loyalty to the Islamic State — has expanded its reach, staging attacks in Cameroon, southern Niger and Chad. Libyan militia commanders and officials have said many West Africans fought with the Islamic State in Libya before its defeat there.
U.S. military officials believe the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, or ISGS, targeted the U.S. soldiers and several of their Nigerien counterparts in last month’s ambush.
The militia, led by former al-qaeda militants, was formed in 2015. It was recognized by Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-baghdadi only in October 2016.