Militant Islamist Groups in Africa Sustain High Pace of Lethality
Fatalities and violent events linked to militant Islamist groups in Africa sustained near record pace, with the Sahel and Somalia accounting for 79 percent of related deaths.
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Fatalities and violent events linked to militant Islamist groups in Africa sustained near record pace, with the Sahel and Somalia accounting for 79 percent of related deaths.
Extensive flooding in more than two dozen African countries due to higher-than-average rainfall has resulted in thousands of fatalities, millions of people displaced, and devastated infrastructure.
Eighty percent of the record 163 million Africans facing acute food insecurity are in conflict-affected countries, including potentially 840,000 people confronting famine in Sudan, South Sudan, and Mali.
The number of African refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers grew by 14 percent over the past year—to more than 45 million people.
Fatalities linked to militant Islamist violence in Africa have surged by nearly 60 percent since 2021, though this is marked by widely varying regional threat trajectories, actors, and objectives.
Coastal West African countries can strengthen resiliency to the threat of violent extremism by enhancing a multilayered response addressing local, national, and regional priorities.
After noteworthy gains in the previous decade under democratically elected governments, the derailing of Niger’s constitutional order by the military coup in July 2023 has resulted in a deterioration in security, economic wellbeing, and agency for Nigerien citizens.
Since its arrival in CAR in 2018, the Wagner Group has supported the Touadera’s government’s violent campaign against anti-government armed groups.
Fatalities linked to militant Islamist violence jumped by 20 percent in 2023, claiming more than 23,000 lives—a new record. Over 80 percent of these deaths were in the Sahel and Somalia.
An estimated 82 percent of the record 149 million Africans facing acute food insecurity are in conflict-affected countries underscoring that conflict continues to be the primary driver of Africa’s food crisis.
A 50-percent spike in fatalities tied to militant Islamist groups in the Sahel and Somalia over the past year has eclipsed the previous high in 2015 when Boko Haram was at its most lethal phase.
To reverse Nigeria’s deteriorating security environment, experts urge the Tinubu administration to surge security forces in identified hotspots while prioritizing civilian harm reduction, improving accountability of the security sector, and rebuilding trust.