ISWAP Expands into Ondo and Edo in Southern Nigeria    Islamic State in West African Province (ISWAP) has developed new tactics and strategies since ejecting Abubakar Shekau from the eponymous “Boko Haram” Shekau faction in 2016. These have included conducting roadside ambushes on the military to... MORE

Al-Shabaab’s Attack in Ethiopia: One-off Incursion or Persistent Threat?  Ethiopian forces in July contained and repulsed an attack conducted in the eastern part of the country by Somalia-based al-Shabaab. Fighters from the militant group entered from southwestern Somalia and targeted four border towns in Ethiopia’s... MORE

Mozambican Militants Launch New Offensive On September 2, Portugal’s Prime Minister, António Costa, completed a two-day official visit to Mozambique, where the main focus of his meetings with his Mozambican counterpart, Filipe Nyusi, was economics. During the visit, Costa also offered Portugal’s support to Mozambique’s... MORE

Abu Sayyaf’s Local and Global Prospects Look Increasingly Grim in the Philippines In one of the most recent counter-insurgency successes against Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines army announced that 100 former fighters have renounced the group, pledged loyalty to the government, and returned to their homes... MORE

This summer, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) organized two multilateral security dialogues with African nations, which highlight Beijing’s efforts to promote an alternative model of international security. In June, representatives of the PRC and six East African states convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for... MORE

Togolese officials reported the first successful jihadist attack on its territory overnight on May 10 (RFI, June 15). The attack, which targeted the northern town of Kpekankandi, left eight Togolese soldiers dead and was later claimed by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Sahel, Jama'at Nasr al-Islam... MORE

Islamic State (IS) propaganda in videos, photos, and editorials since June has increasingly focused on Africa, particularly Nigeria and Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP). However, its publications have also regularly referred to Mozambique, Congo, and the Sahel. Although it appears that through propaganda and... MORE

ISWAP's Kuje Prison Break Points to Expansion of Operations Throughout Nigeria Jacob Zenn In one of the most dramatic, and surprising, attacks in the history of the now 13-years long jihadist insurgency in Nigeria, on July 6, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) raided... MORE

New Alignments Emerge Among Al-Qaeda's West African Affiliates In late 2021, al-Qaeda’s Nigerian affiliate, Ansaru, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which formalized the relationship between the groups that had existed since AQIM permitted Ansaru to break from Boko Haram in 2012... MORE

Introduction Following the October 2020 ceasefire and successful United Nations-brokered Libyan Political Dialogue Forum Process (LPDF), Libya finally saw the formation of a new, unified government, which ended almost six years of division. During those six years, the country had two governments: the internationally recognized... MORE