Last January, Rosbalt commentator Aleksandr Zhelenin suggested it was a mistake to try to find some “grand political design” in Russia’s deepening involvement in Africa. The explanation for what has been occurring, he said, is “both simpler and more disturbing”: it is a reflection of... MORE

Executive summary: The battle for access and influence in the Horn of Africa is intensifying as the Gulf States, Turkey, and China race to secure footholds. At the same time, rivalries between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Turkey are shaping how... MORE

In July 2018, Kenya’s anti-terrorist police unit stormed a terrorist network suspected to be conducting financial operations for Islamic State (IS). After the operation, Waleed Ahmed Zein was identified as the network’s top leader. A 27-year-old man from the coastal city of Mombasa, Zein had... MORE

A maritime border dispute between Somalia and Kenya is threatening to derail the war against al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, which continues to execute a deadly war in the Horn of Africa. The dispute is particularly precarious because Kenya is a key contributor... MORE

Halima Adan Ali, a 34-year-old female Islamist militant has recently been revealed to be a financier, supporter, and recruiter of the Middle East-based Islamic State (IS). Her name is emerging at a time when the role of women as facilitators of terrorist activities has become... MORE

As it lost control of key regions in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State (IS) may have found a foothold in the conflict-ridden Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In April, IS claimed responsibility for two attacks on villages in eastern DRC, a region beset by rebel... MORE

Author’s note: This article follows from an article previously published in China Brief in February 2018: “The United Front Work Department in Action Abroad: A Profile of The Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China” (February 13, 2018). That article presented evidence... MORE

Islamic State Claims Signal Resilience and Shifting Strategy Brian M. Perkins Over the past several weeks, Islamic State (IS) has firmly demonstrated that it has entered the next phase of its global insurgency. The collapse of Baghouz, the last piece of the group’s caliphate to... MORE

A military airstrike in southern Somalia on March 22 killed Shaykh Ahmed Iman Ali, a.k.a Zunira, a deadly and influential Kenyan-born al-Shabaab militant leader. Ali, who was a fast-rising militant leader within al-Shabaab, or Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, died alongside another 40 middle-level commanders. The strike is... MORE

Al-Shabaaab, the Somalia-based terror group, has been largely portrayed as a male organization in its more-than-decade-long operational history, but it’s now emerging that women are also at the center of one of Africa’s deadliest insurgencies. The group, al-Qaeda’s terror network affiliate in East Africa, is... MORE