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(See more recent readings on this topic here.) Responding to the Rise in Violent Extremism in the Sahel By Pauline Le Roux Violent activity involving militant Islamist groups in the Sahel—primarily the Macina Liberation Front, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and Ansaroul Islam—has doubled every year since 2015. Employing asymmetric tactics and close... Continue Reading
Growing collaboration between al Shabaab and the Houthis is enabling both militant groups and contributing to heightened maritime and land-based threats on both sides of the Gulf of Aden.
This three-week, in-person seminar is designed to facilitate participants’ engagement in interdisciplinary peer learning about strategic and adaptive leadership and its implications for the effective management of African security challenges.
As Africa urbanizes at a record pace, national security policies will need to adjust to the changing geographic locus and types of threats in urban versus rural settings.
A revolution in unmanned systems is reshaping the dynamics of Africa’s armed conflicts. Professional militaries must balance the tactical advantages of drones with an understanding of their limitations and risks.
Militant Islamist violence in the Sahel continues to shift southward and westward, putting ever more pressure on population centers in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—as well as on their coastal West African neighbors.
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.
Africa’s persisting conflicts are compounding crises of governance on the continent, straining already fragile regions and opening the door to foreign exploitation through proxy forces, resource trafficking, and information manipulation.
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.