Terrorism with heavy toll on African Sahel states

Ahmed Adel

The Spanish morning daily El Periódico de Catalunya recently ran a report about the situation in the African Sahel region.

The report is written by Italian journalist Irene L. Savio. Savio says in the report that the presence of militias and the war on resources in the African Sahel region makes it one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

She adds that the terrorist organization Boko Haram is active in the northern parts of Niger, near the border with neighboring Nigeria.

Savio notes that the violence in the region has also affected Lake Chad and brought complete paralysis to it. She also refers to the terrorist threat in Libya.

Increasing violence

So far, 104,000 people had been displaced in the region, according to government figures, Savio says in her report.

These people were displaced in the first months of 2019 when violence increased in the region.

Savio adds that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented the death of 90 people in March.

In April, an attack was staged on government troops in the Lake Chad region. A car was later blown up, killing a Spanish doctor active within the Doctors Without Borders in Niger.

Humanitarian relief workers suffer, meanwhile, a surge in attacks, Savio says.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

The terrorist organization al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is active in the Algerian desert. Terrorist and jihadist attacks have seeped out of the Algerian desert and into Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, Savio says.

She adds that a state of emergency has been effective in parts in Tillaberi and Tahoua in Nigeria where the terrorists had torched down schools and killed civilians brutally.

She adds that Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari complains against the situation in Tillaberi where attacks against army troops have increased dramatically.

He said Nigerian army troops are incapable of entering villages in this area to help their residents.

Strategic region

Savio says Western military presence is concentrated in Niger because Western governments consider this country to be a strategic one.

Niger, she says, has a strategic geographical location which stands in the middle of the route of African immigration waves to Europe.

She adds that Niger is also rich with Uranium, oil and gold.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had recently opened a camp for UN troops in Niger. That was in May this year. The US also maintains presence in the same country for the same reasons, Savio says.