Nigeria, a major oil producer, is the most populous African country with around 130 million people, of whom half are Muslim, 40 percent are Christian and 10 percent follow indigenous faiths. Nigeria has a civilian government, but is troubled by widespread corruption and uneven institutional... MORE

Mauritania is grappling with a range of fundamental issues, including religion, development, political and social progress and institution building. After the August 3 bloodless military coup that toppled Mauritania's autocratic president Maaouiya Ould Taya, the country reached a critical juncture in both its efforts to... MORE

The threat of Islamic terrorism to the Republic of South Africa (RSA) is surprisingly real. Aside from the possibility of an al-Qaeda strike against U.S. and other Western interests in the country, there are a number of indigenous Islamic networks that have the potential to... MORE

Terrorism is not new to North and West Africa. The region as a whole has been affected by a range of ethno-nationalist and religious conflicts, a number of which have been accompanied by highly destructive campaigns of terrorism. The civilian carnage wrought by the Armed... MORE

This is the second of a two part series on Islamism and Terrorism in Darfur. The conflict in Darfur is closely tied to the War on Terrorism, largely because the influence of the U.S. to deter ethnic and political violence in the region has been... MORE

On June 15 the "Media Department of al-Qaeda Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers," the Iraqi affiliate of al-Qaeda, issued a statement that included an endorsement of the Algerian mujahideen. Its statement "May Allah bless the work of those heroes who took upon... MORE

Moroccan militants have carried out a number of daring and devastating attacks in the last 24 months: from the train bombings in Madrid, to the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and the executions of more than 166 Moroccan civilians regarded as "bad Muslims".... MORE

The following article is the first in a two part series on Islamism and Terrorism in Darfur. The United States has made some strange alliances in the War on Terrorism, but none odder than its growing relationship with the ruling Islamists of Sudan. Once eager... MORE

A cross border raid carried out on June 4 against a military post by at least 150 members of the Algerian Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC) on Mauritanian territory left 15 Mauritanian soldiers dead, with 17 wounded. The night-time raid at... MORE

Militant Islamist forums have circulated a statement dated May 8 purporting to announce the formation of a new al-Qaeda cell in Algeria. The group, Qa'idat al-Jihad fi al-Jaza'ir (al-Qaeda [base] of the Jihad in Algeria), has modeled its name on the group led by Abu... MORE