LAGOS, February 3rd (AMSP/CGTN) – – The UN says Africa has become the focal point of global terrorism, accounting for nearly 59 percent of all terrorism-related deaths worldwide.
Despite the military takeovers in the Sahel, which were largely spurred by security concerns, the region is still battling increased cases of terrorism.
From Mali to Burkina Faso and then Niger, a wave of military coups hit the central Sahel region of West Africa from 2020 to 2023.
The military blamed the governments they overthrew for failing to curb the worsening security situation and promised to arrest it. But before a new long term plan can take shape, terror attacks are continuing to spike.
“Attacks by terrorist groups have spiked out of control. Indeed, the number of attacks has almost quadrupled. They are fighting ISIS-linked militants, al-Qaeda-linked militants, and of course, the Azawads, who are mostly Tuaregs,” said Adib Saani, Regional Security and Conflict Analyst.
In the first half of 2024 alone, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger recorded over 7,000 terrorism-related deaths, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
“Think of the perfect storm. Honestly, that’s the circumstance that we have in the Sahel region. Development indexes are their worst… So that’s the Sahel, and that is why these groups are finding safe havens, and they are being exploited, as it were, by international groups that, you know, find partnership with them,” said Kabir Adamu, Regional Security Consultant.
The three nations created their own Alliance of Sahel States bloc and recently exited the ECOWAS regional bloc.
They are set to form a 5,000-troop force to tackle terrorism in the region. But issues still remain.
“Without regional cooperation, we find out that these terrorists have a window to operate. Now you know that they are even raising a military force of 5,000 men to fight terrorism. Now they are fighting, where else do you think the terrorists will run into? Nigeria’s borders are very porous, and most likely they are going to run into Nigeria,” said Security Consultant Dennis Amachree.
The three countries have also turned away from Western countries, saying past cooperation has yielded little results. It remains to be seen if their new approach will end the scourge of terrorism in the Sahel.
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