THE RISING TRENDS OF VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN WEST AFRICA: A THREAT TO REGIONAL SECURITY
Abstract
The West African sub-region has witnessed an upsurge in the activities of violent extremist groups in recent years. Many extremist groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, Ansarul Islam in Burkina Faso and Mali, Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin' in parts of West Africa and the Maghreb, and the Islamic State's West Africa Province, among others, have taken undue advantage of the numerous security challenges in the region to launch persistent attacks on security targets and civilians. Burkina Faso and Mali, in particular, are gradually becoming the focal points of violent activities and terrorist attacks in West Africa that have claimed the lives of security personnel and many civilians. Available data indicates that between January and March 2020, there were about 85 incidents of extremist attacks with over 438 associated deaths in Burkina Faso alone. These attacks and the resultant effects have spillover consequences for other West African states, such as Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, and Togo. The Economic Community of West African States, the sub-regional body, has formulated different strategies, with the support of the international community, to nip this menace in the bud. While these strategies, without a doubt, have helped reduce the effects of the violent attacks, the trends of violent extremism and terrorist insurgency are still rising in some Western African countries. Therefore, this paper explains the increasing trends of violent extremism in West Africa and outlines the factors influencing extremism in the sub-region. The discussion also considers the responses of individual member states in the sub-region and suggests how to curb the increasing threat of violent extremism in the sub-region.
Keywords
Violent Extremism, Radicalization, West Africa, ECOWAS, the Sahel Region
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