Commenting on Sky News Arabia, experts and researchers appreciated this international move, explaining that there are conditions that must be met first. May these efforts bring what the people of the Sahel and West Africa are hoping for, who are under attack from the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda affiliated group “Nasrat al-Islam and Muslimsâ€.
At the coalition’s ministerial meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Thursday, the think tank concerned with African affairs expanded to address the dangers of ISIS, Saudi Arabia joining the group, as well as the United States, Morocco, Italy and Niger.
While attending the meeting, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the fight against ISIS was not over yet, stressing the need to help West African countries in this regard .
The differences between the two tests
The Chadian political analyst, Abou Bakr Abdel Salam, presents the differences between Syria and Iraq on the one hand, and the countries of the Sahel and West Africa on the other, of which the international coalition must take account :
• The situation in West Africa is completely different from the situation in Syria and Iraq; Because in these two countries, terrorism was geographically confined to impregnable walls and barriers, within which were the interests and the allies of the West.
• As for terrorism in Africa, it is spreading to the center and to the west, in a demographic composition full of differences, and this is one of the reasons for the failure of the alliances led by France, and in which America intervened to defeat terrorism on the borders of Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Mali.
• The international coalition led by Riyadh and Washington, if it does not develop real strategic plans, and if it does not involve the police of the region (Paris), its efforts will also fail.
Success conditions
Political analyst specializing in African affairs, Muhammad Madi Gabakti, welcomes the US-Saudi move, saying that “any regional and international effort against terrorism is a great support for the governments of the region”.
Gabakti hopes this move will result in similar success to the international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but he stressed that there are conditions for repeating this success in Africa:
• That the actors of the Sahel and West Africa understand its geographical nature and the alliances of its countries with other countries.
• Understand the nature of ethnic and clan components, the nature of the local population and the struggles of pastoralists and farmers.
• Provide economic support to countries in the region that suffer from droughts, in addition to poverty, conditions that terrorist groups exploit.
• Provide security and intelligence support to these countries and provide them with security tools and means, including technology, surveillance and border control.
Gabakti points out that terrorist groups exploit ethnic and tribal conflicts and their old vendettas, as well as the disputes of pastoralists and farmers over land and livestock, in order to convince some of them to take power over their opponents or over the government.
These groups are also keen to create strategic focal points at the borders, to facilitate the evasion of government prosecution on the one hand, and to facilitate the smuggling of weapons, mercenaries, terrorists, drugs, money and goods across borders to finance their operations on the other hand.
The attacks are on the rise
The activities of terrorist groups in West African countries have grown in an unprecedented way in recent months. This has led to the murder of over 100 people since the start of 2023 and the displacement of tens of thousands from their areas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, using new tactics and alliances.
According to the estimates of the Terrorism Index for 2022, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (a global institution based in Australia), regional and international efforts have so far failed to stop the continued increase levels of terrorism; Due to civil conflict, displacement, climate change and food insecurity.
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