The counter-terrorism force in the African Sahel… Dimensions and challenges

Ali Bakr

Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger, have launched a new counter-terrorism force, with a French and international patronage to eradicate terrorist groups in the Sahel region. The emergence of this G5 Sahel force raised important questions about its potential dimensions.

Moreover, there are a lot of questions about the challenges that would face this force, especially as it is the way to eliminate these terrorist organizations.  Many countries, during Paris Summit on December 13, 2017, announced their support to this force. About 250 million euros were pledged by European countries, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE to finance the G5 Sahel force.

First: Terrorism rising in the African coast (Sahel region) and the Great Desert

The formation of this G5 Sahel military force comes during a significant escalation of the activities of the terrorist groups in the region, especially those belonging to al-Qaeda, which believes that the coast and the Great Desert is a vital area for it.

This belief leads them to launch multiple terrorist attacks, mainly focusing on French and UN forces, as well as the regular armies of the region.

There are other factors contributed in the escalation of terrorism in the mentioned area, as follows:

Al-Qaeda alliances:  Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), founded on March 2, 2017, was formed as a result of the alliances of: Sahara Emirate and Al-Mourabitoun, Ansar Dine and Macina Liberation Front.

JNIM, the largest and most powerful organization in the region, launched attacks against UN peacekeeping forces, and Malian army camp in Menaka city, on  November 24, 2017, killing10 soldiers.

The JNIM also targeted the French forces, in the embassy and the army headquarters attack in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on March 2, 2018; killing 8 people. So, the formation of such alliance between al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, has contributed significantly to increase terrorism in this region, especially in the light of its ability to launch qualitative and non-conventional terrorist attacks.

The Daesh return: Daesh declared its re-emergence in the African Sahel and the Great Desert through a statement issued by Abu Al-Walid Al-Sahrawi, on January 12, in which he claims responsibility for the attacks against the French troops in Niger on January 11.

He also claimed responsibility for the attack against the US commandos, on 4 October 2017 in Niger that targeted a joint US-Niger patrol; Killing 4 US soldiers and 5 Nigerian troops.

This makes the re-emergence of Daesh on the map of terrorist organizations in the African Sahel and the Great Desert is a new challenge. Al-Sahrawi used a term in his statement “for fighting the infidels we will cooperate”; in the context of his calling for al-Qaeda-affiliated groups to cooperate with him in the face of the new anti-terror force.

Priority of targeting: French and UN forces, are the common targets for the armed groups in the African Sahel and the Great Desert, whether those groups affiliated to al-Qaeda or Daesh.

French and UN forces are unquestionable targets for those armed groups, because of their cultural and religious ideologies consider them as an occupation forces, and must be resisted and eliminated.

The terrorist organizations adopted the principle of fighting the near enemy; so it targeted the French and UN forces instead of US targets.

“The attacks of extremists against the peacekeepers, the Mali, and the French forces, have increased in recent months” The UN reported in December 2017, where terrorist groups launched 75 attacks, including 44 against the Mali troops, and 21 attacks against the MINUSMA mission and 10 attacks against the French mission Barkhane.

Quality capabilities: The armed groups that target the UN forces are small groups which use light weapons such as guns, explosives and mines, which enable them to carry out their terrorist operations.

The previous points indicate that the activities of terrorist organizations will continue in the coming period. This requires the international and regional forces to formulate a clear strategy to confront the threat of terrorism in this region. The UAE and Saudi Arabia sought to support the new Sahel force to achieve a set of important objectives, which are focused on the elimination of terrorism in the region.

Second: Saudi-UAE support for the Sahel forces:

The escalation of the terrorist organizations activity in the African Sahel region, lead the UAE and Saudi Arabia to support the new force. The two countries are well aware that the intertwining of terrorist organizations and their strong relations network is a great threat to all countries, even if these countries are geographically distant from them.

So providing support for the new force is therefore a preemptive war, since both countries know that they are potential targets for these organizations because of their active role in combating extremism and terrorism.

On the other hand, this participation reveals the awareness of Abu Dhabi and Riyadh of the importance of being in the region not only to reduce the threat of terrorism but also to balance the Qatari presence in the light of Doha relationship with the terrorist organizations. Qatar was previously subject to French accusations of involvement in the financing of terrorist organizations in northern Mali in 2012 under the guise of humanitarian assistance provided by the Qatari Red Crescent Society.

Qatar’s strong relationship with terrorist organizations has emerged after the boycott crisis with the four countries calling for combating the Doha funding for terrorism.

“The boycott is an unjust siege and aggression” Abdul Hakim Belhadj, leader of the Libyan Fighting Group – one of the al-Qaeda arms in Libya, said in an interview with al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Masra magazine, on June 6, 2017.

The presence of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in the new force can weaken the presence and the influence of Qatar in this region and stop its support for terrorist organizations.

The activation of the Sahel forces is in the interest of the Saudi-led Islamic Coalition, which consists of 41 Arab and Islamic countries. One of the objectives of the coalition is to eliminate terrorist organizations in North and West Africa and to strengthen the relationship between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh with the five African Sahel countries, as well as Morocco, which have shown their willingness to support this force in the field of training.

This participation contributes to block the way for those who try to distort the image of Saudi Arabia in the Western world, by accusing it of being a source of extremism; and thus Saudi-UAE move is aimed at achieving a set of goals, most notably:

Reining in terrorism: The growing influence of al-Qaeda is a concern for all the countries in the region, like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, not only for its economic interests but for what can be called “the al-Qaeda prevalence”.

The branches of al-Qaeda are an extension of each other; which means that the strength of one of them is a support for the other branches, whether materially or morally, and in the presence of AQAP; it poses a threat to all the Gulf States.

Khaled Batrefi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen, issued a statement in June 2017, in which he attacked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. He called upon what he called “scholars, preachers, students and various factions of Islamic movements and groups” to what he called “victory and recruitment to jihad”.

Thus, the escalation of al-Qaeda activity in the African Sahel could prompt al-Qaeda to resume its activity outside Yemen; to simulate the operations in Africa, especially in light of the active participation of both states in the face of al-Qaeda in Yemen; to eliminate the organization, and thus the elimination of the influence of al-Qaeda in the Sahel, could indirectly contribute to the security of the Gulf States.

Protection of economic interests: The targeting of economic interests is one of the most important mechanisms of terrorist organizations in directing strikes to what they consider as “hostile” countries, as these interests are an easy target that can be easily achieved.

In the presence of large Saudi and UAE investments in the Sahel region, it can be a target for terrorist organizations, especially since there are forces such as Qatar, which has a good relationship with these groups.

Preventing parallel jihad: The Gulf states are characterized by Salafi prevalence, i.e. renunciation of violence, absolute obedience to the ruler and non-involvement in politics.

However, the recent changes in the Salafi thoughts in the region have raised the concerns of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

These concerns not only because the Salafist groups in the African Sahel have become a backdoor for the terrorist organizations; but because the transformations of Salafism in Libya.

The Salafi groups in Libya hold up the arms and participate in Military operations, along with Marshal Khalifa Haftar and play a role in political life.

These groups became closer to jihadist groups than to Salafism, which may urge some Salafist groups in other areas to emulate them. This could be called ‘parallel jihad’, so reducing the influence of terrorism in this region, will stop transformations within the Salafist currents.

Therefore, the interest of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the security of the African Sahel region stems mainly from their realization that security in this region represents a protection of their economic and security interests.

The two countries begin to confront terrorism through proactive steps and strong cooperation with states that play an active role. However, the elimination of terrorism through the formation of a new force will not be easy.

There are many challenges facing this force, posing a major obstacle to the elimination of terrorist organizations.

Third: Key challenges facing the new force:

Despite the considerable support given to the counter-terrorism force from many international and regional forces, as it will be the spearhead in the face of terrorism prevalent in this region, there are a number of key challenges as follows:

Al-Qaeda influence:  Al-Qaeda has a strong influence in the African Sahel region due to the wide geographical spread in the region. Its activities extend to Tunisia, southern Algeria, Libya, Mali, Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso, due to its numerous branches, as al-Qaeda has a lot of branches which make the region as a hotbed for these groups.

Ethnic terrorism: There are a lot of the terrorism sources in the African Sahel such as Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi group, which seceded from al-Qaeda and joined Daesh in May 2015. It disappeared for a while but resumed their activities.

The region also has ethnic and tribal terrorist organizations, pursuing purely ethnic targets, and practicing violence and terrorism; to achieve these goals.

This organizational diversity will certainly pose a major challenge to the new force. These organizations receive considerable support, and any attempt to eliminate them is a direct clash with ethnicity, which may result in serious repercussions.

Non-traditional coalitions: This region is witnessing a complex network of al-Qaeda alliances: as al-Qaeda is an alliance with organized crime gangs to provide massive financial resources through human trafficking that provide US $ 1 billion annually; al-Qaeda seized about 50%-70% of this money; in addition to the smuggling of drugs and various goods.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of al-Qaeda’s top leaders known as Mr. Marlboro, due to his vast reputation in smuggling tobacco. Therefore, confronting the terrorist organizations means the engagement in a struggle with those gangs.

The diversity of terrorist organizations: The region is witnessing an unprecedented diversity of the terrorist organizations, which allowed the terrorism to expand and spread significantly, especially in the light of cooperation and alliance among them.

The most recent alliance has been between Sahara Emirate, Ansar al-Din group and the Masina Liberation Front, in early March 2017, they chose Iyad Ag Ghali as their leader.

Through this alliance these terrorist groups exchange the support and experience, which would enable them to launch terrorist attacks almost simultaneously, in a wide geographical area, which will create a great difficulty in encircling or eliminating them, or minimizing their danger.

Fragile borders: The geographical nature of the African Sahel has fragile borders between the countries, especially in light of the weakness of the armies; the border between the north of Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania stretches thousands of kilometers; making it difficult to control.

The terrorist groups use these borders in smuggling, based on the experience of their men in navigating in the deserts and their knowledge of the topography of the earth, and their ability to withstand the difficult climatic conditions in those areas. Therefore, the fragile borders can be a major challenge.

Alliance with tribes: The network of alliances held by al-Qaeda, with some tribal and ethnic groups in the region, played a role in increasing the strength of these terrorist organizations and escalating their attacks through support and information, which makes it easier for these groups to target UN forces, such as the attack on the French forces in northern Mali on May 30, 2017. The information provided by some Tuareg children played an important role in that attack.

Combatting al-Qaeda thought: Al-Qaeda spread its ideology widely in the African Sahel region. Since the spread of this ideology provides renewed human resources at a time when these groups require large numbers of young people commensurate with their steady expansion over the past few years.

This has extended al-Qaeda to Burkina Faso, in which a fundamentalist organization, the Ansar al-Islam group, launched some of terrorist attacks on some police stations in March 2017.

Conclusion 

Finally, the success of the new counter-terrorism force in the African Sahel to eliminate terrorist organizations in this region will depend largely on its ability to overcome the challenges it faces. It has become a key influential region of terrorist organizations after Iraq and Syria and will be the destination of returnees in the coming period, which requires all international and regional powers to support that force.

There should be a parallel intellectual war on terrorism by combatting the thought of these organizations effectively, so that the confrontation will be comprehensive in a bid to uproot terrorism altogether.