Combating Terrorism in Africa

Terrorism has increased in parts of Africa at an alarming rate and some states are failing to contain it. The African Union’s (AU) Algiers-based African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism, reports a 400 percent rise in attacks in Africa, fuelling a 237 percent rise in deaths between 2012 and 2020. In 2023 sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 48 percent of global deaths from terrorism. Attacks have spread beyond historical hotspots such as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa to southern Africa and coastal regions of West Africa. According to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West Africa recorded more than 1,800 attacks in the first six months of 2023 resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths. That’s in addition to that half a million people in ECOWAS are refugees and nearly 6.2 million are internally displaced. However, these terrorist insurrections in Sub-Saharan Africa have become more localised over time, building on local grievances and becoming intertwined with community and ethnic conflicts.