Around 2014, the Islamic militant group ISIS, known for murdering and kidnapping thousands of lives, pledged allegiance to another Islamic group, Boko Haram. Boko Haram has decimated many countries in West Africa, killing Christians, kidnapping for a huge ransom, and burning numerous church buildings for over one decade in many countries in West Africa, with most casualties in Nigeria.
The marriage between these two Islamic sects (ISIS and Boko Haram) did not surprise. Dr. Afzal Ashraf, a counter-terrorism expert from the Royal United States Institute, warned a few years earlier that should ISIS and Boko Haram decide to work together, such union should not be taken lightly. Matthew Henman, manager of IHS Janes’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center, saw the declaration by the two groups as an attempt to build linkages.
The Islamic movements are known for its tactics of “seize and hold territory” is threatening West Africa. Current reports of threats are alarming in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Nigeria. Recently, the movements are slowly building influence in southern Mauritania, extreme south of Algeria, extreme north of Cameroun, Central African Republic, central Chad, extreme north and South Sudan, Eritrea, and the extreme north of Ethiopia.
Islamic Movements in West Africa
The threat is also pushing south of the Sahel towards Ivory Coast, Benin, Tog, and Ghana. The New York Times quoted Mohamed Ibn Chambers, envoy to the United Nations for West Africa, who reported that attacks have increased in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger fivefold with more than 4,000 deaths reported in 2019 compared to 770 deaths in the same region three years ago.
The African Center for Strategic Studies reported that militant Islamic groups in Africa set a record in 2019 with 3,471 violent events linked to Islamic groups 2019 alone. The death toll for 2019 rose to 10,460 and there are over 24 actively militant Islamic groups operating in 14 different countries.
Many of our listeners come from the countries we have listed above, and while we encourage them in our correspondences to trust and remain faithful in Jesus Christ, we also promise them that we will continue to pray for them. Africanpathways Radio and web programs were initially produced to cover Saharan Africa, but our listening audience has recently expanded beyond our primary coverage area. The expansion is excellent news, and we thank God. We are receiving mails from many peninsula countries outside of Africa. We ask you to pray for all our listeners.
