Terrorism in Africa: The Rise of Islamist Extremism and Jihadism.

• Author: Alvi, Hayat
• Position: ARTICLE

Introduction (1)

Major developments in the Middle East, South Asia, and Cold War politics have led to al-Qaeda strategically using Africa as the springboard for its global "Jihadist"-based violence in the post-Cold War era. (2) The U.S. Embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya on August 7, 1998 put al-Qaeda on the map in the most sinister way. The attacks killed more than 250 people and injured hundreds. The bombings brought al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden into the center of the West's radar. Most of the victims of the embassy bombings were African and Muslim civilians.

This paper presents the details of al-Qaeda and related violent Jihadist groups' exploitation of African "safe havens" from which al-Qaeda has launched regional and global operations. Since the early 1990s until today, al-Qaeda and its ideological offspring, such as the ISIS, have come full circle from and to the continent of Africa. In addition, the definitions, terms, concepts, and ideologies pertaining to al-Qaeda, Jihadism, and violent Islamist extremism are explained. The thesis of this paper posits that, due to mostly conflict-related human and physical security deficiencies along with repressive governments in parts of Africa, which present violent extremist organizations (VEOs) with so-called soft targets, al-Qaeda and related groups have been able to operate from safe havens and launch their regional and global operations mostly with impunity. Therefore, good governance with simultaneous human security improvement is imperative. These factors presuppose that conflicts are resolved ensuring peace and justice for the long term.

It is important to define terrorism in Africa within specific contexts of pivotal events in modern history. The nature of terrorism that constitutes the focus of the study is al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Shabaab in Somalia, and most recently the ISIS, which broke away from al-Qaeda Central and set up cells in Libya and northern Sinai. The specific contexts are: post-Cold War, post-9/11 attacks, post-Libya campaign in 2011, and post-rise of ISIS in 2014.

Before engaging in deep analysis of terrorism in Africa, the concept of "terrorism" has to be defined and addressed. In this paper, terrorism is treated as the overarching concept under which a number of categories exist, such as "Islamist extremism," "violent Jihadism," and "violent extremist organizations;" the latter of which is the standard terminology that the U.S. government agencies utilize to describe organizations that embrace violent extremist ideologies. These ideologies serve the basis for violent operations that such organizations like al-Qaeda operationalize for specific geopolitical, socio-cultural, and ideological agendas as they interpret and apply them. Moreover, terrorism and its categories of Islamist extremism and violent Jihadism tend to target both combatants and non-combatants alike, hence civilians are often targeted and/or suffer as by-standers.

Generally, the term "terrorism" is controversial and often a normative concept. Therefore, the word terrorism is difficult to define, but the United Nations as well as law enforcement, security, intelligence, and counter-terrorism organizations have attempted to construct a conventional description of terrorism. For example, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines terrorism according to two contexts: (i) international terrorism--perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with designated foreign terrorist organizations or nations (state-sponsored); (ii) domestic terrorism--perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily U.S.-based movements that espouse extremist ideologies of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature. (3)

The United Nations (UN) has a customary definition of terrorism, while, at the same time, emphasizing the difficulties in defining the term particularly in a universal context. According to the UN,

a customary rule of international law regarding the international crime of terrorism, at least in time of peace, has indeed emerged. This customary rule requires the following three key elements: (i) the perpetration of a criminal act (such as murder, kidnapping, hostage-taking, arson, and so on), or threatening such an act; (ii) the intent to spread fear among the population (which would generally entail the creation of public danger) or directly or indirectly coerce a national or international authority to take some action, or to refrain from taking it; (iii) when the act involves a transnational element. (Interlocutory Decision, 2011, para. 85). (4) At the same time, the United Nations recognizes the challenges stemming from the absence of a universal definition of terrorism, saying that,

The implications of the absence of a universal definition of terrorism for legal purposes are wide-ranging. One is that the lack of a definition may facilitate the politicization and misuse of the term 'terrorism' to curb non-terrorist (or sometimes even non-criminal) activities. In turn, this can result in States, e.g., violating the rights of their own or other States' citizens, such as those of international human rights law, in the course of their counter-terrorism efforts.... Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the [UN] Security Council adopted Resolution 1373 (2001), which required States to take effective national legislative action as part of their global efforts to counter terrorism more effectively. Although, on the one hand, this obligated States to take legislative action, in the absence of a universally agreed definition of terrorism, the result has been a mixed legislative response and approach by Member States, sometimes with the potential to hinder rather than facilitate international cooperation. (5) The term "Jihad" is equally controversial, but Islamist extremist groups have exploited the term to justify their violence. Jihad is an Arabic word meaning "to struggle, to strive" in the context of improving oneself to be more pious and righteous. However, it also has the meaning, "holy war," and the person who engages in the fight is called a "mujahid" the plural of which is "mujahideen." (6) Hence, we get the term "freedom fighters" during the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, (7) and then once the global violent Jihadist networks emerged mainly under the banner of al-Qaeda, the common term to describe them now is "Jihadists," and "violent extremist organizations," or VEOs. "Jihadism" is the principal term used for the violent ideologies that these VEOs promote under the banner of their narrow interpretation of the word "Jihad."

Most Jihadist ideologies follow an ultra-orthodox Sunni interpretation of Islam that can be described as "radical" or "extremist" in nature and implementation. While comparable Shia extremism exists as well, the vast majority of al-Qaeda-type Jihadist organizations have been Sunni, and, in fact, embrace Salafism. The concept of Salafism, which means "antecedent," is based on the belief that the "true" and "ideal" interpretation of Islam is found in the time of the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century AD. Thus, Salafists promote the idea of replicating Islamic society of the Prophet's 7th century prototype of the "Islamic State" in today's world. That requires applying "not just the 'spirit' but [the] letter' of the law, which is what sets [Salafists] apart from their mainstream counterparts." (8) Some Salafists embrace violent Jihadism. Salafism was at odds with the concept of jihadism--itself a violent offshoot of Salafism--as practiced by groups such as al-Qaeda that sought to use force to manifest their Islamist ideology. The Salafist movement could also afford to stay away from political activism in large part because it had a political backer in the government of Saudi Arabia. While many Salafists didn't agree with some of Riyadh's policies, its historical role as the birthplace of Salafism and its financial role as the patron underwriting the global spread of Salafist thought kept the movement within the Saudi orbit. Following the 9/11 attacks, Salafism rapidly spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Salafists organized more effectively and began to run charitable organizations and social relief groups. (9)

In turn, Jihadism is "the idea that jihad (religiously-sanctioned warfare) is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) incumbent upon all Muslims, rather than a collective obligation carried out by legitimate representatives of the Muslim community (fard kifaya), as it was traditionally understood in the pre-modern era. They are able to do this by arguing that Muslim leaders today are illegitimate and do not command the authority to ordain justified violence. In the absence of such authority, they argue, every able-bodied Muslim should take up the mantle of jihad." (10) As a result, Islamist/Salafist-based violent extremism has driven the contemporary global Jihadist movements and operations. The global Jihadist movements base their actions on what they view as a "Just War" paradigm according to their respective interpretations and frustrations pertaining to foreign and domestic policies of governments that they deem hostile to (Salafist) Islam and its principles.

These realities have led governments to strengthen counter-terrorism measures, including in Africa. Western powers have provided training, intelligence, supplies, equipment, and military advice for counter-terrorism efforts in Africa. Generally, the security cooperation involving these strategies and tactics has targeted al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and other al-Qaeda-affiliated |cells; Boko Haram in Nigeria; al-Shabaab in Somalia; and ISIS cells in Libya and northern Sinai, Egypt. Recent fronts in the counter-terrorism battles have been in the Sahel, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger...