Jihadist movements in East Africa

Jihadism is an old word in Africa, part of the African tradition used by different leaders from the 15^th century. For instance Askya Muhammad led the Songhai Empire according to sharia.

Ousmane Dan Fodio (1754-1817), the founder of Sokoto empire in North Nigeria. Cheikhu Amadou (1776-1845) the founder of Mali Empire. El Hadj Oumar Tall (1776-1845) leader of the kingdom of Ségou. All these African leaders relied on the sacred texts of Islam to wage the holy war with the aim not only for imposing the Islamic faith but also for bringing back Muslims on the right way.⁶²⁹

Today new jihadism is spreading across all Africa with bomb attacks, killings, and kidnappings.

In East Africa where Rwanda is located, Islamists “in Kenya and Tanzania are fighting for more autonomy, taking their cue from neighbouring Somalia, the place where jihadism first entered modern Africa‟s body politic.”⁶³⁰

The East Africa region and Horn of Africa are attractive targets for Al Qaida

626 Ibid.

627 Clinton Bennett, The concept of violence, war, and Jihad in Islam,

<http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Kunkel/Kunkel-040000.htm>, 16th May 2014.

628 Ibid, p.200.

629 Francis Simonis, Afrique: le jihad , une vieille histoire, <http://afrique.lepoint.fr/culture/afrique-le-jihad-une-vieille-histoire-30-10-2015-1978075_2256.php>, 20th July 2017.

630 Jihad in Africa, The danger in the desert, <http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21570720-terrorism- algeria-and- war-mali-demonstrate-increasing-reach-islamist-extremism>, 18th May 2016.

- Firstly because they are allied with substantial Muslim populations, economic disadvantage, poverty and corruption; Kenya and Tanzania have “the potential to be fertile recruiting grounds.”⁶³¹

- Secondly “States in the region are generally weak if not outright fragile; policemen and border guards lack weapons and surveillance equipment.”⁶³²

James Forest, Professor at the University of Massachusetts states that; “turning further to the East of Africa, we know that Osama bin Laden and his colleagues lived in Sudan during the early 1990s.”⁶³³ Then after, he sent operatives to Nairobi, Kenya and established an NGO as a cover for them. It was easy for him because for centuries the Swahili Coast has had a significant Muslim presence, even though rarely demonstrating any radical tendencies.⁶³⁴

3.7.1. Al Qaida

Al- Qaida is “a radical Sunni Muslim organization dedicated to the elimination of a Western presence in Arab countries and militantly opposed to Western foreign policy: founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988.”⁶³⁵ According to Hans Krech; from 2009, activity by Al-Qaida‟s influence in Africa was noted in more than 19 African nations and different regions. At least four regional Al-Qaida organizations operate on the continent, which in turn often have several sub-organizations quoted like:⁶³⁶

 Egyptian Islamic Jihad

 Libyan Islamic Fighting Group

 Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (with its sub-organizations Al-Qaida in Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, and Sudan.

 Al-Shabab in Somalia.⁶³⁷

631 William Rosenau, Al Qaida Recruitment Trends in Kenya and Tanzania, <

http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20050101.html >, 18th August 2016.

632 Jihad in Africa, The danger in the desert, Ibid.

633 James J.F. Forest, Al-Qaida’s influence in Sub-Saharan Africa: Myths, realities, and possibilities <http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/156/html>, 26th July 2014.

634 Ibid.

635 Dictionary, <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/al-qaeda>, 24th July 2014.

636 Hans Krech, The Growing Influence of Al-Qaida on the African Continent, <http://journals.sub.uni- hamburg.de/giga/files/journals/1/articles/464/public/464-489-1-PB.pdf>, 26th July 2014.

637 Ibid.

 Currently, there are more than 20.000 people already fighting for Al-Qaida in Africa, and they are becoming increasingly connected. ⁶³⁸

Africa is becoming more and more an attracting region for Al-Qaeda and other jihadist movements because of different interactions with Arab countries. Al-Qaeda has been active in the Sudan for a period of time, where it was involved in military operations against the infidel John Garang.⁶³⁹

Another factor, which helps al-Qaida and global jihad in infiltrating Africa, is the Islamic influence of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States. On the twentieth century and even throughout the nineteenth century, some of those Muslims who went to Saudi Arabia and Egypt were influenced by the radical Islamists, whether Wahhabism or the Muslim brotherhood. When they returned to their places of origin they preached the radical Islamists agenda.⁶⁴⁰

On 7^th August 1998, the United States‟ embassy in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. And

“after September 2001, Al Qaida and its supporters carried out a number of attacks such as in Mombasa, Kenya; Jerba, Tunisia; Casablanca, Morocco; and in Sharm al-Sheikh and Sinai.”⁶⁴¹ The date of the bombings marked the eighth anniversary of the arrival of American forces in Saudi Arabia. Suicide bombers in trucks laden with explosives parked outside the embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. The US State Department released in 2013 a country report on terrorism and highlighted significant levels of terrorist activity Africa experienced in 2013 and emphasized the increased aggressiveness of Al-Qaida affiliates and like-minded groups in Northwest Africa and Somalia.⁶⁴²

638 Ibid.

639 Shaul Shay, Somalia between Jihad and Restoration, Transaction Publishers New Brunswick, USA,2012, p.29 640 Reuven Paz and Moshe Terdman, Africa:the gold mine of Al-Qaeda and global jihad,

<http://www.e-prism.org/images/PRISM_no_2_vol_4_-_AQ_and_Africa.pdf>, 19th May 2014.

641 Shaul Shay, Ibid.,p.29.

642 Charlotte Florence, Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups increasing in Africa,

<http://dailysignal.com/2014/05/06/al-qaeda-terrorist-groups-increasing-africa/>, 26th July 2014.

3.7.2. Al- Shabab

Al-Shabab meaning „the youth‟ in Arabic, “is the largest group among several armed Somali groups and clans that aim to topple Somalia‟s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and impose Islamic law.”⁶⁴³ It has been publicly affiliated with Al Qaeda since 2012 according to US State department. Security analysts say that Al-Shabab has morphed from a regional militant group to a terrorist organization closely aligned with al-Qaida.⁶⁴⁴ This is confirmed by Rob Wise of the US Center for Strategic and International Studies who states that Al-Shabab seeks to propagate terrorist attacks against western targets and to revenge for the presence of Kenyan, Ugandan, and Burundian troops in Somalia.⁶⁴⁵

The starting point of war and antagonism in Somalia was the collapse of Major General Mohammed Siad Barre's regime in 1991.

It created a power struggle between local Somali warlords and Islamic militia leaders. Since the collapse, the rule of law had mainly been maintained by various Islamic courts, instituting „Sharia‟ (Islamic law), much like in Afghanistan prior to the fall of the Taliban in 2001. They banned anything associated with Western culture (i.e. music, movies), and even disallowed people from watching the World Cup. Violators had known to be publicly executed.⁶⁴⁶

Actually the organization did begin as a youth group allied to the Islamic Courts Union Government in 2006 that pledged to bring a fundamentalist Islamic state back to Somalia. Al- Shabab thought that, this would not be hard for any Islamist group to do because 98.6 % of all Somalis are Muslims and most of them Sunni Muslims.⁶⁴⁷ Al-Shabab has been linked to the

643 Aljazeraa, Who are al-Shabab, <http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2009/08/20098432032479714.html>, 24th July 2014.

644 Henry Ridgwell, East Africa: Nairobi attack reveals Al-Quaida’s influence in Horn of Africa, <http://allafrica.com/stories/201309250500.html>, 24th July 2014.

645 Rob Wise, Al-Shabab,

<http://csis.org/files/publication/110715_Wise_AlShabaab_AQAM%20Futures%20Case%20Study_WEB.pdf>, 27th July 2014.

646 The Supreme Islamic Courts Union/ Al-Ittihad Mahakem al-islamiya (ICU), <http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/icu.htm>, 27th July 2014.

647 Kat Nikerson, Islam and Jihad against Christians in East Africa, <

http://katsafrica.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/islams-jihad-against-christians-in-east-africa-why-isnt-this-on-the- nightly-news/>, 19th May 2014.

training of Nigeria‟s Islamist Terrorist group “Boko Haram.”⁶⁴⁸ This means that Boko Haram is not detached from other jihadist groups in Africa.

General Carter Ham, Commander of the US Africa command (AFRICOM) alleged that Al-Shabab and Al-Qaida share trainings and fighters with Boko Haram. Daniel Agbiboa, a researcher from Oxford University, states that these jihadist movements have same ideology embedded in radical salafism which says that “anyone who is not governed by what Allah has revealed is among transgressor.”⁶⁴⁹ This is a reference to some verses in the Qur‟an as 5:47.

People in Africa, including both Christians and Muslims are terrified by the jihadists groups and are combating them. Hans Kresh calls for economic, political and developmental policies that are capable of stabilizing nations situated in East and Horn of Africa. But so far, such a strategy does not exist. ⁶⁵⁰ The forces of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) need to be further reinforced for assuring the security and for protecting political institutions. The majority of the AMISOM troops and personnel come from Kenya, Burundi and Uganda.⁶⁵¹

648 Boko Haram is an islamist group in the North of Nigeria. It wants to impose Islamic law as the only law in Nigeria, it opposes not only western education, but western culture and modern science.(See Challenge of Boko Haram, <http://www.historyofjihad.org/nigeria.html?syf=contact>, 08th April 2016.)

649 Daniel Agbiboa, Al-Shaba, the global jihad, and terrorism without borders,

<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/al-shabab-global-jihad-terroris- 201392484238627603.html>, 27th July 2014.

650 Hans Krech, The Growing Influence of Al-Qaida on the African Continent, <http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/files/journals/1/articles/464/public/464-489-1-PB.pdf>, 26th July 2014.

651 Ibid