The Transmutation of Jihadi Organizations in the Sahel and the Regional Security Architecture
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From Operation Serval to Barkhane
same year, Hollande sent French troops to From Operation Serval the Central African Republic (CAR) to curb ethno-religious warfare. During a visit to to Barkhane three African nations in the summer of 2014, the French president announced Understanding France’s Operation Barkhane, a reorganization of Increased Involvement in troops in the region into a counter-terrorism Africa in the Context of force of 3,000 soldiers. In light of this, what is one to make Françafrique and Post- of Hollande’s promise to break with colonialism tradition concerning France’s African policy? To what extent has he actively Carmen Cuesta Roca pursued the fulfillment of this promise, and does continued French involvement in Africa constitute success or failure in this rançois Hollande did not enter office regard? France has a complex relationship amid expectations that he would with Africa, and these ties cannot be easily become a foreign policy president. F cut. This paper does not seek to provide a His 2012 presidential campaign carefully critique of President Hollande’s policy focused on domestic issues. Much like toward France’s former African colonies. Nicolas Sarkozy and many of his Rather, it uses the current president’s predecessors, Hollande had declared, “I will decisions and behavior to explain why break away from Françafrique by proposing a France will not be able to distance itself relationship based on equality, trust, and 1 from its former colonies anytime soon. solidarity.” After his election on May 6, It is first necessary to outline a brief 2012, Hollande took steps to fulfill this history of France’s involvement in Africa, promise. -
Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Dynamics in Mali
MC Chartrand Map of Mali and neighbouring countries. Insurgency and Counterinsurgency Dynamics in Mali by Ismaël Fournier Ismaël Fournier is a former infantryman with the operations. Key to these groups’ freedom of movement and 3rd Battalion of the Royal 22nd Regiment, who deployed with them to freedom of action is their access to geographical lines of com- Bosnia in 2001, and then to Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan in munication and to the civilian population. The former allows 2004 and 2007 respectively. Severely wounded in an IED explosion insurgents to move from their bases of operation to their objec- during the latter deployment, and after multiple restorative surger- tives, the latter will provide intelligence, recruits, food, and, in ies, Ismaël made a professional change to the military intelligence some cases, safe havens for the insurgents. VEO leaders will branch. Since then, he completed a baccalaureate, a master’s frequently deploy overseers in the villages to control the popu- degree, and a PH. D from Laval University in history. Leaving the lation and impose their will on the villagers. In other instances, armed forces in 2019, he is currently employed by the Department insurgents will come and go as they please in undefended villages of National Defence as am analyst specializing in strategy and to preach radical Islam, impose Sharia law and collect whatever tactics related to insurgencies and counter-insurgencies. they require. Introduction Part of counterinsurgency (COIN) operations will aim to deny insurgents access to villages via the deployment of static security ince the launch of the Tuareg rebellion in 2012, forces that will remain in the populated areas to protect the civil- violent extremist organisations (VEOs) have been ians. -
S/2019/868 Security Council
United Nations S/2019/868 Security Council Distr.: General 11 November 2019 Original: English Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel Report of the Secretary-General I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2391 (2017), in which the Council requested me, in close coordination with the States members of the Group of Five for the Sahel (G5 Sahel) (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and the Niger) and the African Union, to report on the activities of the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel. It provides an update since my report of 6 May 2019 (S/2019/371) on progress made in the operationalization of the Joint Force, international support for the Force, the implementation of the technical agreement signed between the United Nations, the European Union and G5 Sahel States in February 2018, challenges encountered by the Force and the implementation by the G5 Sahel States of a human rights and international humanitarian law compliance framework. 2. The period under review was marked by low-intensity activity by the Joint Force due to the rainy season, which hampered the movements of the Force, and the impact of persistent equipment and training shortfalls on its operations. In accordance with resolution 2391 (2017), international partners continued to mobilize in support of the G5 Sahel. The attack of 30 September on the Force’s base in Boulikessi, Mopti region, central Mali, inflicted heavy casualties. The terrorist group Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack. -
The Jihadi Industry: Assessing the Organizational, Leadership And
The Jihadi Industry: Assessing the Organizational, Leadership, and Cyber Profiles Report to the Office of University Programs, Science and Technology Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security July 2017 National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism A Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence Led by the University of Maryland 8400 Baltimore Ave., Suite 250 • College Park, MD 20742 • 301.405.6600 www.start.umd.edu National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism A Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Center of Excellence About This Report The authors of this report are Gina Ligon, Michael Logan, Margeret Hall, Douglas C. Derrick, Julia Fuller, and Sam Church at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Questions about this report should be directed to Dr. Gina Ligon at [email protected]. This report is part of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) project, “The Jihadi Industry: Assessing the Organizational, Leadership, and Cyber Profiles” led by Principal Investigator Gina Ligon. This research was supported by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate’s Office of University Programs through Award Number #2012-ST-061-CS0001, Center for the Study of Terrorism and Behavior (CSTAB 1.12) made to START to investigate the role of social, behavioral, cultural, and economic factors on radicalization and violent extremism. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. -
Remote Warfare Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Remote Warfare Interdisciplinary Perspectives ALASDAIR MCKAY, ABIGAIL WATSON & MEGAN KARLSHØJ-PEDERSEN This e-book is provided without charge via free download by E-International Relations (www.E-IR.info). It is not permitted to be sold in electronic format under any circumstances. If you enjoy our free e-books, please consider leaving a small donation to allow us to continue investing in open access publications: http://www.e-ir.info/about/donate/ i Remote Warfare Interdisciplinary Perspectives EDITED BY ALASDAIR MCKAY, ABIGAIL WATSON AND MEGAN KARLSHØJ-PEDERSEN ii E-International Relations www.E-IR.info Bristol, England 2021 ISBN 978-1-910814-56-7 This book is published under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license. You are free to: • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material Under the following terms: • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission. Please contact [email protected] for any such enquiries, including for licensing and translation requests. Other than the terms noted above, there are no restrictions placed on the use and dissemination of this book for student learning materials/scholarly use. Production: Michael Tang Cover Image: Ruslan Shugushev/Shutterstock A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. -
Case Study One: the G-5 Sahel Background
Case Study One: The G-5 Sahel Background: G5 Sahel countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – face a plethora of complex challenges, including the growing threat of violent extremism, governance deficiencies, climate change and demographic growth. The interconnectedness of these challenges have made it imperative that countries coordinate their efforts to promote regional development and tackle cross-border insecurity. The G5 Sahel, which is an inter- governmental organization established in 2014 in Nouakchott was intended to do exactly that. So far, however, the response of the involved countries has been largely dominated by a security focus. In 2017, the G5 Sahel launched a Joint Force (Force conjointe du G5 Sahel, FC-G5S). This concept of joint military operations was not new in the Sahel. Rather, this collaboration sought to resurrect a short-lived joint Malian-Mauritanian experiment that had taken place in 2011. In Operation Benkan (Unity), the forces of both countries collaborated to dislodge militants of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) from their base in the Wagadou forest on the Malian side of their border. In 2013, the Nigerian, Malian and French armies conducted Operation Roussette on the border between Mali and Niger. After Operation Roussette, a handful of cross-border military operations were carried out in early 2014 by hundreds of troops from the five armies concerned. Each army operated on its side of the border, but had a right of hot pursuit, and was assisted by French troops who provided support in terms of planning, logistics, intelligence, air cover, and medical evacuations. After a year of coordinated military action in which the practice of coalition warfare proved promising, the necessity for the affected states to institutionalize their military consultation, planning, and operations became more pressing. -
The Al Qaeda Network a New Framework for Defining the Enemy
THE AL QAEDA NETWORK A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING THE ENEMY KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN SEPTEMBER 2013 THE AL QAEDA NETWORK A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR DEFINING THE ENEMY KATHERINE ZIMMERMAN SEPTEMBER 2013 A REPORT BY AEI’S CRITICAL THREATS PROJECT ABOUT US About the Author Katherine Zimmerman is a senior analyst and the al Qaeda and Associated Movements Team Lead for the Ameri- can Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. Her work has focused on al Qaeda’s affiliates in the Gulf of Aden region and associated movements in western and northern Africa. She specializes in the Yemen-based group, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and al Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, al Shabaab. Zimmerman has testified in front of Congress and briefed Members and congressional staff, as well as members of the defense community. She has written analyses of U.S. national security interests related to the threat from the al Qaeda network for the Weekly Standard, National Review Online, and the Huffington Post, among others. Acknowledgments The ideas presented in this paper have been developed and refined over the course of many conversations with the research teams at the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project. The valuable insights and understandings of regional groups provided by these teams directly contributed to the final product, and I am very grateful to them for sharing their expertise with me. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Kimberly Kagan and Jessica Lewis for dedicating their time to helping refine my intellectual under- standing of networks and to Danielle Pletka, whose full support and effort helped shape the final product. -
LET4CAP Law Enforcement Training for Capacity Building NIGER
Co-funded by the Internal Security Fund of the European Union LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING FOR CAPACITY BUILDING LET4CAP Law Enforcement Training for Capacity Building NIGER Downloadable Country Booklet DL. 2.5 (Ve 1.2) Dissemination level: PU Let4Cap Grant Contract no.: HOME/ 2015/ISFP/AG/LETX/8753 Start date: 01/11/2016 Duration: 33 months Dissemination Level PU: Public X PP: Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission) RE: Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission) Revision history Rev. Date Author Notes 1.0 20/03/2018 SSSA Overall structure and first draft 1.1 06/05/2018 SSSA Second version after internal feedback among SSSA staff 1.2 09/05/2018 SSSA Final version version before feedback from partners LET4CAP_WorkpackageNumber 2 Deliverable_2.5 VER1.2 WorkpackageNumber 2 Deliverable Deliverable 2.5 Downloadable country booklets VER V. 1 . 2 2 NIGER Country Information Package 3 This Country Information Package has been prepared by Eric REPETTO and Claudia KNERING, under the scientific supervision of Professor Andrea de GUTTRY and Dr. Annalisa CRETA. Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy www.santannapisa.it LET4CAP, co-funded by the Internal Security Fund of the European Union, aims to contribute to more consistent and efficient assistance in law enforcement capacity building to third countries. The Project consists in the design and provision of training interventions drawn on the experience of the partners and fine-tuned after a piloting and consolidation phase. © 2018 by LET4CAP All rights reserved. 4 Table of contents 1. Country Profile 1.1Country in Brief 1.2Modern and Contemporary History of Niger 1.3 Geography 1.4Territorial and Administrative Units 1.5 Population 1.6Ethnic Groups, Languages, Religion 1.7Health 1.8Education and Literacy 1.9Country Economy 2. -
254 the Social Roots of Jihadist Violence in Burkina Fasos North
The Social Roots of Jihadist Violence in Burkina Faso’s North Africa Report N°254 | 12 October 2017 Translation from French Headquarters International Crisis Group Avenue Louise 149 • 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 • Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Preventing War. Shaping Peace. Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 The Social Roots of the Crisis ........................................................................................... 3 A. Malam Ibrahim Dicko, from the Radio to Jihad ....................................................... 3 B. The Challenge to an Ossified and Unequal Social Order .......................................... 4 C. A Distant Relationship with the Government ........................................................... 7 D. An Especially Vulnerable Province on the Border with Mali .................................... 9 A Considerable Military Effort ......................................................................................... 11 A. The Sahel Region under Threat ................................................................................. 11 B. A Security Apparatus under Reconstruction ............................................................. 13 C. Regional and International Cooperation .................................................................. -
S/RES/2359 (2017) Security Council
United Nations S/RES/2359 (2017) Security Council Distr.: General 21 June 2017 Resolution 2359 (2017) Adopted by the Security Council at its 7979th meeting, on 21 June 2017 The Security Council, Recalling its resolutions 2295 (2016), 2253 (2015), and 2227 (2015), Recalling its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, Affirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Expressing its continued concern over the transnational dimension of the terrorist threat in the Sahel region, as well as the serious challenges posed by transnational organized crime in the Sahel region, including arms and drug trafficking, the smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons, and its increasing links, in some cases, with terrorism, and underscoring the responsibility of the countries in the region in addressing these threats and challenges, Recalling the listing of MUJAO, the Organisation of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Eddine and its leader Iyad Ag Ghali, and Al Mourabitoun on the Al-Qaida sanctions list established by the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, reiterating its readiness, under the above- mentioned regime, to sanction further individuals, groups, undertakings and entities who are associated with Al-Qaida and other listed entities and individuals, and taking note of the merger of AQIM, Al Mourabitoun and Ansar Eddine terrorist groups into Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin -
The Sahel Alliance
POLICY BRIEF DISORDER FROM CHAOS: WHY EUROPEANS FAIL TO PROMOTE STABILITY IN THE SAHEL Andrew Lebovich August 2020 SUMMARY France, Germany, and Sahel countries launched the Sahel Alliance in 2017 with the aim of bringing together major international donors to better coordinate development assistance and other financing efforts for the region. The Alliance aimed to integrate security, development, and governance perspectives but has struggled to find coherence and effectiveness – although it has adopted some novel approaches. The worsening security situation in the Sahel led international actors to then set up new initiatives, including the Partnership for Security and Stability in the Sahel and, more recently, the Coalition for the Sahel. However, the relationship between these initiatives remains largely theoretical, with the practicalities of cooperation and burden sharing yet to be fully defined. These new initiatives risk privileging security solutions to complex problems, meaning that necessary governance reforms may fall by the wayside. This is despite widespread acknowledgement, including from senior French officials, that there is no purely military solution to the varied conflicts and challenges in the Sahel. Introduction Hopes were high when French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of the Sahel Alliance at a G5 meeting in Nouakchott, Mauritania in July 2017. The new alliance’s goal was for France and Germany, along with other international partners, to play a more effective role in improving stability in the Sahel by bringing development concerns together with security and governance work. The activities of the Sahel Alliance since its formation demonstrate some of the wide-ranging ambitions of European and international policy in the region. -
Niger: Frequently Asked Questions About the October 2017 Attack on U.S
Niger: Frequently Asked Questions About the October 2017 Attack on U.S. Soldiers Alexis Arieff, Coordinator Specialist in African Affairs Lauren Ploch Blanchard Specialist in African Affairs Andrew Feickert Specialist in Military Ground Forces Kathleen J. McInnis Analyst in International Security John W. Rollins Specialist in Terrorism and National Security Matthew C. Weed Specialist in Foreign Policy Legislation October 27, 2017 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R44995 Niger: Frequently Asked Questions About the October 2017 Attack on U.S. Soldiers Summary A deadly attack on U.S. soldiers in Niger and their local counterparts on October 4, 2017, has prompted many questions from Members of Congress about the incident. It has also highlighted a range of broader issues for Congress pertaining to oversight and authorization of U.S. military deployments, evolving U.S. global counterterrorism activities and strategy, interagency security assistance and cooperation efforts, and U.S. engagement with countries historically considered peripheral to core U.S. national security interests. This report provides background information in response to the following frequently asked questions: What is the security situation in Niger? How big is the U.S. military presence in Niger? For what purposes are U.S. military personnel in Niger, and what role has Congress played in the U.S. military presence there? Is the U.S. military presence in Niger related to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)? What is the state of U.S.-Niger relations and aid? Where else in Africa are U.S. military personnel deployed? Medical evacuation: What is the “golden hour” and does it apply to troop deployments in Africa? What are the broader implications of building partner capacity in Niger for DOD? Who were the four U.S.