Africa Research WLEDGE IS ENL O I N G H K T ENMEN T NNATIONALI INTELLIGENCEU ARI Initiative U N I V E R S I T Y Newsletter Second Edition — March 2015 of the Africa Issue Highlights Research Letter from the National Intelligence Research and Research Fellowships Initiative University President . .. 2 at the National Intelligence Symposium Articles . .. 3 University’s Center for Strategic Center for Strategic Intelligence Research . 35 Intelligence Research Data Corner . 26 Africa Research Initiative Report . .. 37 CSIR Director Islam in Africa Research Centers . .. 27 Regional Expertise and Culture Michael Petersen, PhD Select Scholars who Work on Islam Program, Africa Report . .. 39 Michael.petersen@ in Africa . 28 dodiis.mil, John T . Hughes Library Selected Michael.b.petersen@coe. ic.gov, Bibliography . 32 (202) 231-5004 Africa Research Initiative ARI Chief Researcher Kris Inman, PhD KRISTIE.Inman2@ dodiis.mil, By Ms. Theresa Whelan, National Intelligence Officer Kristie.Inman2@dodiis. for Africa ic.gov, As we approach the halfway point in the second decade of Symposium (202) 231-5488 the 21st century, the African continent continues to dem- ARI Research Assistant onstrate that it is one of the most dynamic regions on the Islam in Africa Phuong Hoang globe—economically, politically, militarily, and socially . It Phuong.hoang@ remains a study in extremely stark contrasts, with some of Contributions from: dodiis.mil, the highest economic growth rates in the world co-existing Phuong.D.Hoang@coe. with the greatest levels of poverty . Similarly, it boasts Dr. Felicitas Becker ic.gov, greater potential than ever before as a source of natural Dr. Liazzat J.K. Bonate (202) 231-6536 resources that could be leveraged to benefit people on the continent, yet governance limitations, in both management Dr. Kristin Doughty The views expressed in this paper are and span of control, have left the majority of Africans still those of the editor and contributors Dr. Ashley E. Leinweber and do not reflect the official policy living without power and/or easy access to water . Some or position of the United States longstanding civil wars and insurgent conflicts have finally Dr. Sebastian Elischer Government, the Department of been resolved, but new and potentially even more destabi- Defense, or any of its components. Dr. Alice Kang lizing security threats have emerged as technology enables non-state actors—rebels, terrorists, and criminals alike—to Dr. Audra Grant LLIGENC TE E N U pose serious challenges to the integrity and authority of I N I L V A E today’s African states . Although the African independence N R S O I I T T movement occurred years before the “Arab Spring,” with Y A N ientia est l c s u x lu cis African states making dramatic, and sometimes violent, 1962 Continued on Page 25 2 ARI Newsletter, March 2015 Letter from the President The National Intelligence University: The Center of Academic Life for the Intelligence Community By Dr. David R. Ellison, Rear Admiral, United States Navy (Ret.), President, National Intelligence University This is an exciting time for the National Intelligence University (NIU), as it begins its second half-century with deep roots and a bright future . Established in 1962, the institution has grown in stature and impact over the years, with a mission, curriculum, and student body that have evolved to meet the increasingly complex challenges to the national security of the United States . Building on more than 50 years of experience delivering rigorous academic programs, NIU today provides career profes- sionals with a rigorous and collaborative joint-learning environment to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, con- duct research on real-world problems, and build trust and mutual understanding that will last a lifetime . Its three degree programs—the Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence, the Master of Science and Technology Intelligence, and the Bachelor of Science in Intelligence—are augmented by a growing number of graduate certificates on specialized topics . In addition to the main campus in Washington, DC, NIU now boasts five academic centers, including the Southern Academic Center in Tampa, Florida, and the European Academic Center at RAF Molesworth in the United Kingdom . The student body has grown to include more than 700 current students from across the U .S . intelligence and national security communities, taught by 149 highly qualified full- and part-time faculty members . I invite you to explore the National Intelligence University website (www .ni-u .edu) . You will find a broad and rigorous curriculum, as well as a growing research program focused on some of the toughest national security challenges . One of the most exciting developments in recent years has been the expansion of NIU contributions to the literature of intelligence and scholarly research conducted by the Center for Strategic Intelligence Research (CSIR) . The newslet- ter you are reading now is one of the results of that expansion . It grows out of NIU’s new Africa Research Initiative, an effort to harness NIU’s research capabilities by both conducting research on security issues related to sub-Saharan Africa and reaching out to academic expertise for support with difficult analytic challenges on the continent . This combination of research conducted on behalf of the Intelligence Community with outreach to academia successfully leverages the strengths of both by bringing in important scholarly voices to official discussions on global security . The research featured in this newsletter also resonates well in the classroom . It exposes students to cutting-edge work conducted by top-flight scholars in academia and the Intelligence Community . Ultimately, research like this will inform policy and analysis, as NIU’s students go on to serve the United States in a wide variety of positions in the military and civilian agencies . In addition, NIU takes very seriously its mission of contributing its own scholarly research on key regions and issues . NIU faculty members produce, publish, and present a broad and diverse array of research, including work on Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, cyber issues, and science and technology . Much of the research NIU pro- duces has made a positive contribution to intelligence, national security, and policymaking circles . My vision for NIU is to serve as the center of academic life for the Intelligence Community . In this position, it can encourage, develop, and promote the natural analytic ties between academia and the Intelligence Community . In my experience, IC personnel derive great benefit from the tremendous subject matter expertise found in academia, and promoting ties between the two is in the best interests of the nation as a whole . NIU therefore serves many purposes . It provides a first-class education to U.S . Intelligence Community personnel, fosters and encourages top-flight research on national and global security issues, and forges connections to academia by reaching out to universities around the country and the world . This is indeed an exciting time for the university . ARI Newsletter, March 2015 3 Symposium Articles Islam in Africa Radical Rhetoric and Real-Life Pragmatism in East African Islam, by Dr . Felicitas Becker . 3 Between Da’wa and Development: Three Transnational Islamic Nongovernmental Organizations in Mozambique, 1980–2010, by Dr . Liazzat J .K . Bonate . 7 Stories of Resistance: Muslims in the Rwandan Genocide, by Dr . Kristin Doughty . 11 Islam in Congo: A Minority’s Journey from Colonial Repression to Post-conflict Organization, by Dr . Ashley E . Leinweber . 14 The Management of Salafi Activity in Africa: African State Strategies and their Consequences in the Sahel, by Dr . Sebastian Elischer . 17 The Politics of Women’s Rights in Muslim Countries: An Illustration from Niger, by Dr . Alice Kang . 20 Evolving Sufi Organizations in North Africa, by Dr . Audra Grant . 23 Radical Rhetoric and Real-Life rhetoric is far more widespread than the commitment Pragmatism in East African Islam to violent action . There are strong countervailing forces to violent radicalization in East Africa . Unfortunately, By Dr. Felicitas Becker, University Lecturer in African there is no good way of distinguishing armchair radicals History, Cambridge University, [email protected] from actual ones, and kneejerk reactions against the for- mer would be unhelpful . Compared to the drawn-out battle with Al-Shabaab occurring in the Horn of Africa, violent Islamic radi- The Westgate Mall attack was not the first terror attack in calism is much less active in East Africa (defined here the region . East Africa was put on the map as a theater of as Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) . But the attack on Islamist terrorism by the 1998 U .S . Embassy bombings the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2013 in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi . The attacks killed over highlighted the threat of the region getting caught up in 200 people, the vast majority of them Kenyans with no Al-Shabaab’s vortex of violence . Nonetheless, while the connection to the embassy, and first brought Osama Bin possibility of an increase in violent religious conflict is Laden and Al-Qaeda to the attention of a wider Western real, there is reason to think violence will remain limited . public . In 2010, Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bombing of a bar in Kampala, Uganda, that killed The position of Islamists and the likelihood of their over 70 patrons watching a televised World Cup soccer turning violent must be assessed separately, in politi- game . Evidently, international Islamist terrorism is able cal context, for each country in the region . Moreover, to use East Africa as a staging ground . But this is hardly the salience of radical, at times jihadist, rhetoric in East surprising, as major terrorist attacks have occurred even Africa should not be taken too readily as a predictor in European countries with small Muslim minorities and of events .