Too Many Generals, Not Enough Troops or Cash to Catch Terrorists in Sahel

A crisscrossing patchwork of African joint security forces have marshalled in North Africa to stamp out terrorism on the continent, with particular focus on the long and remote borders of the Sahel. But their small size, lack of funds, unclear authorities and competing lines of leadership are more likely to produce confusion than coalesce into an effective blanket of security capable of blocking traffic by vicious and nimble militant groups, and the criminal networks that supply them and profit from the instability they bring.

• Terrorism on the continent of Africa has risen by more than a thousand percent since 2006 – with a sharp rise in 2013 and 2014, according to the OCP Policy Center report this year, Atlantic Currents.
• The number of terror attacks on the continent soared from 271 in 2006 to 3,093 in 2015, with a total of 12,020 attacks recorded between 2006 to 2015, according to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
• The countries with the most deaths from terrorism are Nigeria (from Boko Haram), Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, the OCP Policy center report says.
• In the past year, extremist groups have carred out violence across the Sahel, ranging from Mali into north-east Burkina Faso and western Niger. An August terrorist attack on a cafe in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, resulted in the deaths 18 people as well as 18 injuries.