NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2021

ANALYSIS
West Africa’s security headaches continue
The dislocation and relocation of terrorist cells and training camps in the wake of the
global war on terror launched by the US 20 years ago have profoundly redefined the
security terrain in the Sahel, writes Mohammed Nurudeen Issahaq
APART from the fallout from the
global war on terror, the Arab
Spring also had a significant
influence on the emergence of violent
extremism, especially in West Africa. The
toppling of the Libyan leader, Muammar
Gaddafi, in particular, and the resultant
governance vacuum in that country
facilitated the proliferation of weapons on
a massive scale from Libya into other parts
of the region.
The Libyan situation also served as
a boost for North African-based terrorist
organisations such as Al-Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) whose activities
have witnessed a surge, spilling over into
Mali and other neighbouring states. The
culmination of these dynamics, coupled
with West Africa’s peculiar security
challenges, has given rise to the chilling
reality of terror and the growing number
of terrorist attacks in countries including
Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Burkina
Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Mali.
The latest major attack occurred at
Salhan village in northern Burkina Faso
along the border with Mali and Niger in
June this year, claiming the lives of 132
innocent civilians, including children.
Each successful terrorist attack, in spite of
existing local security safeguards hitherto
considered as adequate, goes to underscore
the vulnerabilities in the security
architecture of not only the countries under
attack, but the whole region.
The vulnerabilities alluded to here
include porous frontiers that make
illegal cross-border movements easy,
large expanse of ungoverned spaces
within the region that provide habitat for
fugitives, and even legitimate cross-border
movements such as those guaranteed
under the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) Protocol which,
to a large extent, render mobility and
infiltration easy for terrorist groups.
The existence of such safe havens
allows for easy recruitment, training and
indoctrination of radicals. When granted
a safe haven in which they are free to
operate, terrorist organisations become
as potent as guerrilla groups. The large
ungoverned spaces in Northern Mali
provided a sanctuary that enabled AQIM
to grow and become militarised to launch
assaults openly in that country.
Other enabling factors are the
proliferation of small arms and light
weapons, large numbers of unskilled/
unemployed youth, and the absence of
regional mechanisms and systems for
Nana Akufo-Addo: “No country is immune to terrorist attacks”
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AFRICA BRIEFING NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2021