Publications /
Opinion

Back
Violence Spillover into the Coastal States
Authors
March 7, 2022

More than two years ago I wrote in a report: “The current downward security trends in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso should serve as a wake-up call for the states in the Gulf of Guinea, mainly Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin.” Recent attacks in the northern Ivory Coast and Benin show that signs of earlier years now have taken on unique characteristics. Signs of the expansion of violent extremist organizations (VEOs) to coastal states have been there since at least since 2015. The coastal states share some of the same domestic vulnerabilities as their counterparts in the Sahel. Given the increasing threats of attacks in the northern regions of coastal states, security and prevention strategies by local, regional, and international actors should avoid the mistakes of the Sahel, where security and prevention efforts have struggled to produce tangible results.

 

No more speculation, jihadist militancy has arrived in the northern regions of coastal states

Northern Benin and the Ivory Coast are the two countries most affected by violence perpetrated by VEOs outside the Sahel. On 8 February 2022, presumed Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) militants carried out a complex ambush using an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), rocket, and gunfire against Beninese forest rangers and soldiers in the Point Triple area, where the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger intersect. Five rangers, one Beninese soldier, one civilian agent of the African Parks Network (APN), and one French instructor were killed, and twelve others were wounded. The militants also seized weapons, ammunition, and equipment. A series of incidents had occurred in the weeks before this attack in the same general area. On 4 February, suspected JNIM militants attacked a tourist site looting supplies and set the site on fire. The next day, security forces repelled another attack, again by suspected JNIM militants.

In areas such as northern Benin that are rife with criminal activity related to poaching and illicit trade, it can be challenging to identify those responsible for violent attacks unless an attack is officially claimed. However, based on the modus operandi in the 8 February attack, JNIM appears to be the responsible actor. Unlike poachers and criminals, JNIM is known for complex ambushes that involve improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and small arms or light weapons. The first IED attack in northern Benin occurred on 10 December 2021, when a Beninese army vehicle struck a roadside bomb believed to have been planted by JNIM militants near the town of Porga, seriously wounding four soldiers.

JNIM-affiliated militants have also made their presence known in northern Ivory Coast, southern Mali, and southwestern Burkina Faso. While the apparent presence of jihadist militants in this tri-state border area dates back to 2015, their activities have increased over the past two years. In addition to attacks on security posts and intimidation against the local population, the northern Ivory Coast saw its first IED attack in April 2021; several IEDs have been discovered and destroyed since. In Senegal, security incidents near the Malian border have been a growing concern over the past two years. Coastal countries provide opportunities for armed groups, including new transit zones for logistics and financing through illicit activities. For example, informal gold mines in Senegal and Ivory Coast may provide prospects for criminal groups to form convenient alliances with jihadists to undermine state presence. The overall trend reinforces fears that violent spillover from landlocked countries in the Sahel and suggests that the Sahel crisis has taken a more complex and dangerous turn. The implications are not only about security threats but also about relations between different communities and between state forces and local communities.

 

The Same Old Story

Hostility toward the Fulani in northeast Ivory Coast is on the rise, and mistrust between the diverse communities is growing. Tensions between communities are growing as Fulani communities are once again accused of being associated with extremist groups. On 20 July 2021, a traditional Fulani healer traveling in the area to sell traditional medicine was arrested after an attack and interrogated for three months without trial. Several Fulani herders said they were questioned solely because of their ethnicity after being reported by other local residents.  Jihadists often exploited these acts of injustice and stigmatization in central Mali, then in Niger and Burkina Faso, to gain popularity among Fulani communities.

Similar to the countries of the Sahel, West African coastal states are struggling with governance deficits and eroding social cohesion. These tensions, and economic insecurity, provide a fertile ground for the recruitment and spread of violent extremist groups and criminal networks. Despite fears that the Sahel crisis could spread to the West African coast, the response so far has been military rather than political. Securitized responses, such as the ongoing military operations in the Sahel, do not address
the root of the problems that have enabled the rise of VEOs.

Intercommunal and local conflicts play an essential role in expanding JNIM in West Africa and provide opportunities to exacerbate these tensions and exploit them to their advantage. Nonetheless, the Ivory Coast is taking initiatives to prevent extremism and recently announced plans to invest nearly $15 million in a youth training and vocational integration program. Youth in precarious economic situations are considered at risk of being radicalized and recruited by VEOs. The economic and financial context of the population must be regarded in counterterrorism efforts.

In summary, multifaceted regional solutions are critical to countering the threat of the Sahel crisis spilling over into the coastal states. These include streamlining current strategic operations and addressing the structural causes of terrorism, such as poor governance, injustice, and poverty. Such solutions were raised at the Dakar Forum on Peace and Security held in December 2021, where inter-community tensions and local grievances in West Africa were cited as triggers for extremism. Recent coups in West Africa and the Sahel have raised concerns among experts about "contagion."

With violent incidents on the rise and concern in northern coastal states, affected countries are taking serious security measures to counter the spread of jihadism. This security approach might succeed in containing jihadist groups and not allowing them to establish strong bases. Still, it does not address the core problems related to injustice, social cohesion, and peaceful coexistence. Apart from military operations, the success of the security approach depends on the trust of the local population and their cooperation with the security forces and the state in general.

 

 

 

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    April 5, 2018
    هل نشهد اليوم نشأة جيل ثالث من العنف في الساحل؟ بعد الظاهرة العالمية لتسعينيات القرن الماضي التي نشأت بدافع من المجاهدين الأفغان وقادها أسامة بن لادن وتنظيم القاعدة، برز مع ظهور تنظيم داعش خلال السنوات الأخيرة تيار جديد يتسم بأقلمة النضال وحُلم الخلافة. وخاضت هاتان الحركتان معركة صعبة على أرض الساحل المجزأة إلى العديد من الهياكل المؤلفة في البداية من قيادات تنحدر من المغرب العربي والشرق الأوسط. لكن، القطيعة المذهبية مع تنظيم القاعدة – الذي يدعو إلى مهاجمة الساكنة المدنية – وتراجع دا ...
  • Authors
    April 5, 2018
    Sommes-nous en train d’assister à l’émergence d’une troisième génération de jihadisme au Sahel ? Après le phénomène mondialisé des années 90 né sous l’impulsion des jihadistes afghans et porté par Oussama Ben Laden et Al Qaeda, un autre courant a vu le jour ces dernières années avec l’arrivée de Daech, caractérisé par une territorialisation de la lutte et le rêve d’un califat. Ces deux mouvements se sont livrés une rude bataille en terrain sahélien, fragmenté en plusieurs structures ...
  • Authors
    April 5, 2018
    Are we witnessing a third generation of jihadism rearing its head in the Sahel? In the wake of the globalised movement of jihad in the 1990s, spearheaded by Afghan jihadists and propelled forward by Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, another trend has emerged in recent years with the advent of Daesh (also known as ISIS and ISIL) – a trend that is characterised by the territorialisation of the struggle and the revival of the Caliphate dream. These two movements have engaged in fierce conf ...
  • Authors
    Mokhtar Ghailani
    March 30, 2018
    L’OCP Policy Center a eu la primeur de la présentation, par l’historien Jean Pierre Filiu, de son dernier livre « Généraux, gangsters et jihadistes. Histoire de la contre-révolution arabe », la toute première hors de son pays, la France. Une première dont il se réjouira au début du débat-échange autour de son ouvrage, tenue le 28 mars 2018, en partenariat avec l’Institut Français du Maroc. Habitué à faire appel à plusieurs disciplines scientifiques à la fois, telles que la science ...
  • Authors
    October 6, 2017
    Le message essentiel de ce Policy Brief porte sur les profondeurs dans la crise du Sahel. Certains aspects de la crise tels que la violence extrémiste, les migrations, le crime transnational ou encore la précarité ne sont que les symptômes d’une maladie qui ne fera qu’empirer si les causes réelles et profondes ne sont pas traitées. En prenant le cas du G5 Sahel, comme cadre pour des commodités de l’étude et de l’analyse, nous n’insinuons en aucun cas que la crise est limitée aux cin ...
  • Authors
    October 6, 2017
    This Policy Brief highlights the depths of the Sahel crisis. Some aspects of the crisis, such as extremist violence, migration, transnational crime and precariousness, are in fact symptoms of a disease that will only get worse if the real and deep causes are not addressed. Exploring the case of the G5 Sahel as a framework for the convenience of study and analysis does not imply that the crisis is limited to the five countries that are part of the G5 Sahel. Indeed, while specificitie ...
  • Authors
    Christopher S. Chivvis
    June 20, 2017
    The United States and Europe share a common interest in addressing the growing terrorist threats from North Africa. The emergence of ISIL as a force in the region — notably in Libya, but also in Egypt and to a lesser degree in Tunisia, Algeria, and Mali — is cause for genuine concern. The ISIL challenge is compounded by the persistence of older terrorist organizations, both local ones such as the region’s various Ansar al Sharias as well as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al ...
  • Authors
    February 15, 2017
    Au dernier trimestre de l’année 2016, les spécialistes du terrorisme étaient encore occupés par la contreradicalisation, l’endoctrinement et les dangers des départs des jeunes recrues vers les foyers de tension, alors que la question du retour chez eux commençait déjà à se poser, dans leurs pays d’origine, de ceux qui ont expérimenté la guerre et acquis d’importantes capacités de combat. Ils avaient dès les débuts de la deuxième décennie afflué en Syrie et en Irak de partout dans le ...
  • January 5, 2017
    Multiple players that destabilize the countries in the region characterize the terrorist landscape in the Sahel. Despite the fact that each terrorist group has particular areas of action and zones of influence, nevertheless two main ideological tendencies confront each other in the Sahel: on one hand, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and on the other, the Islamic State (IS) organization (also known as Daesh). However, some groups continue to act independently of the allegiances they ...
  • Authors
    Pascal Chaigneau
    Pierre-Marie Faivre
    Jeremy Ghez
    Jacques Gravereau
    Philippe Migaux
    Alain Oudot de Dain-ville
    October 17, 2016
    Cette publication conjointe entre HEC Center for Geopolitics et OCP Policy Center, compile douze Policy Papers qui ont été présentés, discutés et enrichis lors de la première édition des Dialogues Stratégiques, une plateforme d’analyse et de débat stratégique autour des principaux enjeux géopolitiques et sécuritaires internationaux, mais également régionaux revêtant une importance capitale pour les continents européen et africain. Ce premier volume des Dialogues Stratégiques est co ...