Latest Articles about Africa
Somalia’s Regional Proxy War and its Internal Dynamics
The scramble for power in Somalia's violent and contorted clan-based politics is occurring at every new stage of development, opening up fresh possibilities and opportunities as well as new risks and dangers. The stunning victory of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) over CIA-backed warlords left... MORE
Morocco Cracks Down on Islamist Opposition Group JSA
In a major operation in late May, Moroccan security forces arrested over 300 members of al-Adl wa al-Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality Association—JSA), including ranking leaders, over vague allegations that the group was plotting a violent overthrow of the monarchy (https://www.aljamaa.com). The arrests were made in... MORE
Warlords or Counter-Terrorists: U.S. Intervention in Somalia
As the insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to dominate headlines, a new front in the war on terrorism has opened in Somalia. At a brutal cost to Mogadishu's civilian population, once-discredited warlords have reinvented themselves as "counter-terrorists," seeking and apparently gaining U.S. support by... MORE
Understanding Somali Islamism
The security situation in Somalia flared up dramatically in the past few weeks, following a number of acts of provocation between Mogadishu's newly-formed coalition of warlords, dubbed the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, and gunmen allied to the Islamic Courts Union. As... MORE
Bin Laden’s African Folly: Al-Qaeda in Darfur
Could a United Nations peacekeeping mission face al-Qaeda's fighters in Darfur? According to Osama bin Laden, if a UN force deploys in the region, al-Qaeda will attack UN troops. On April 23, al-Jazeera television broadcast a bin Laden audiotape in which he called for al-Qaeda... MORE
GSPC Leader Issues New Threat to U.S. Military Bases in North Africa
A recent threat from a prominent Algerian jihadist may expand Algeria's 14-year-old Islamist revolt to include U.S. military targets in the African Sahara and Sahel. The statement, issued by Mukhtar Bilmukhtar (Khaled Abu al-Abbas), comes at a time when the movement is under intense pressure... MORE
Emerging Terrorist Trends in Spain’s Moroccan Communities
Recent counter-terrorism operations in Spain have spotlighted an increasing presence of Salafi-Islamists and al-Qaeda "loyalists" in Andalucia and, more alarmingly, in the Spanish autonomous communities of Ceuta and Melilla (located on the northern coast of Morocco). Since the 2004 terrorist attacks in Madrid, Spanish security... MORE
The Importance of the Western Sahara to Maghrebi Security
On March 11, 2004, as the world focused on the Madrid commuter bombings, there were reports that armed forces from Chad, Niger, and Mali had engaged a large group of operatives from the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), and had inflicted significant... MORE
Jailed Extremists Pardoned in Tunisia
On Monday, February 27, Tunisian President Zine Abidine Ben Ali released over 1,600 prisoners by official pardon—some 70 of them considered to be Islamists from the outlawed al-Nahda (awakening) movement—many of whom had been jailed on terrorism-related charges (https://www.akhbar.tn, February 26). Nearly 1,300 of the... MORE
GSPC in Italy: The Forward Base of Jihad in Europe
Italy has evolved from a logistics base for Islamic militants to a de facto base of operations for Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) targeting Italy, other European countries and the United States. While the GSPC continues to engage in and support terrorist... MORE