Could Africa be the next ISIS frontier?
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
By LAEED ZAGHLAMI
Screen grab of a video purportedly released by West African terrorist group Boko Haram, militants in “Wilayat Gharb Ifriqiyyah” again pledge their allegiance to the Islamic State. The video is titled “Investigate” and was released on March 31, 2016.
Could Africa be the next
safe haven for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists fleeing
from the Middle East?
The concern emerged at the 10th session of the focal points of
African Centre for Research and Study on Terrorism held on December 14 in
Algeria.
Most of African Union (AU) members were represented at the Algiers
conference.
The Algerian AU Peace and Security commissioner, Mr Smail Chergui,
warned that '‘2,000 to 2,500 ISIS terrorists were regrouping with a view to
relocating to the troubled regions in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and Great
Lakes".
"‘Tunisian borders were also a source of worry following the
ISIS terrorists’ defeat in the Libyan city of Sirte," he pointed out.
Security challenge
The Boko Haram terrorists, still active in northern Nigeria also
constituted another major security challenge in the surrounding region.
Mr Chergui underlined that some ISIS elements were of African
origin, hence the vulnerability of the continent to their operations.
"They were already
present in Yemen and Somalia," he said.
Consequently the AU commissioner advised; "our priority is to
be able to gather information and intelligence about them, share with our
partners, then develop a concrete regional and international cooperation to
curb the imminent terrorism danger".
Mr Chergui revealed that during his recent visit to Russia and
Iran, both countries expressed their support for the counter-terrorism
cooperation with AU.
The new Ghanaian director of the Algiers-based terrorism research
centre, Mr Larry Gbavlo Lartey, explained that '‘the dangerous impact of
terrorism and its trans-national character compelled us to strengthen our
cooperation by taking practical actions to curb sources of violence and
extremism".
"It is important that we should set up our political
architecture to fight terrorism in an efficient and effective manner with the
involvement of all members of the society," he said.
Mr Chergui further explained that an AU force was on the ground in
Somalia and another one would be deployed in collaboration with United Nations
in north Mali, to secure the agreement signed between the different Malian
factions but very often subject to violations.
However, he expressed fears that with the presence of terrorists
in the impoverished parts of the continent, it remained easier for them to
radicalise, especially the younger people and then convince them to join the
terror groups.
The use of technology to spread terror was also discussed at the
Algiers meeting.
Social media
Algerian Religious Affairs minister Mohamed Aissa said information
and communication technology constituted the easiest and the most readily
available tool for the ISIS recruitment.
He indicated that the Internet and social media were the main
instruments for spreading the ISIS propaganda.
The minister disclosed that so far, only a handful of young
Algerians had joined ISIS compared to neighbouring countries whose combined
numbers represented over 20 per cent ISIS troops.
The African Centre for Research and Study on Terrorism was
established in 2004 in Algiers.
It is an AU institution that aims principally to offer assistance
to the member states in developing strategies for the prevention and combating
terrorism.
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