Al-Qaeda meets with resistance as it tries to gain Africa footholds

KABUL -- As al-Qaeda seeks to make inroads in Africa, it has met with fierce resistance from civilians and governments who reject its violence.

Driven by extremist ideology but increasingly focused on consolidating local power and securing financial resources, al-Qaeda affiliates have tried to carve out a space for themselves through violence and opportunistic alliances.

Al-Qaeda affiliates like Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) and al-Shabaab operate across the continent, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa.

They have sought to exploit weak governments, ineffective militaries and economic crises to fuel their expansion, financing their activities through smuggling, illegal taxation and guerrilla warfare.

But the group's presence has not been welcomed on the African continent, where people have experienced the group's terrorism first-hand.

Al-Qaeda's mass-casualty attacks in Africa include 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 200 people.

"Past experiences in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have shown that al-Qaeda brings violence, poverty, and the collapse of social structures wherever it establishes a foothold," said Paris-based terrorism analyst Tawfiq Rahimi.

"Africa is no exception," he told Salaam Times.

Brutality against civilians

"Al-Qaeda forcibly recruits children and teenagers as soldiers, forcing them into suicide attacks or frontline combat," Rahimi said. "Many families hide their children in fear of these groups."

In March 2019, al-Qaeda-linked fighters attacked the village of Ogossagou in Mali, killing over 160 civilians, including women and children, in one of the deadliest terrorist incidents in West Africa.

Resistance to al-Qaeda continues to mount across the region, with African Union forces demonstrating early success by driving al-Shabaab from the Somalian capital of Mogadishu in 2011, though the group remains active in rural areas.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud surviving a March 18 al-Shabaab bombing attempt in Mogadishu as security forces prepared to battle the group.

"The explosion went off along the road in Hamar-Jajab area, destroying a civilian-populated building," a security official told AFP.

"The attack was thwarted, and the president safely arrived at his destination as planned," the government said.

Mohamud has promised "total war" against al-Shabaab, with the army joining forces with local militias in a military campaign backed by an African Union force and US airstrikes.

"Given al-Qaeda's ties with some local groups and its shifting strategy, effective measures are needed to contain this network," UK-based political analyst Mohammad Aslam Mirzapoor told Salaam Times.

This requires global cooperation, strengthening local governments and conducting targeted operations against the group's leaders, he said.