Al-Qaeda eyeing expansion in Africa

Ahmed Adel

Al-Qaeda has been trying to expand its influence, especially after the setbacks it had sustained in the past years.

The terrorist organization follows a strategy of expansion in the African continent, one depending on attacks that destabilize the countries of the continent.

Director of the General Directorate for External Security Bernard Emié has revealed that al-Qaeda in the African Sahel prepares a plan for expanding towards the Gulf of Guinea, especially in the Ivory Coast and Benin.

He unveiled on 1 Feb. photos from a meeting of al-Qaeda commanders in central Mali.

He said during the meeting, the al-Qaeda commanders were discussing major operations against military bases, even without giving additional information.

This was the place where the al-Qaeda leaders had drafted their plan for expansion towards the countries of the Gulf of Guinea, Emié said.

He added that terrorists bankroll some people in the Ivory Coast and Benin to serve the agenda of al-Qaeda in these two countries.

Emié noted that al-Qaeda had sent fighters to the borders of Nigeria, Niger and Chad.

According to the General Directorate for External Security, almost all senior leaders of al-Qaeda an its different branches in Africa and the Arab Maghreb attended the meeting in central Mali.

These leaders, Emié said, are the direct heirs of Osama bin Laden.

They follow his political project which is based on attacks on western countries, and Europe in particular, he said.