Yearender: Terror attacks in Africa highlight urgency to tackle root causes

In 2015, terror attacks have continued unabated in sub-Saharan Africa despite limited progress achieved by African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Somalia.

Moreover, regional militant groups are showing a tendency to connect to outside terror groups and change tactics, as evidenced by Boko Haram's swearing of allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The potential threat of a mutating terrorism in Africa is alerting governments to forge an international counter-terrorism alliance and take to addressing the root causes, instead of relying on military solutions.

LIMITED PROGRESS

Over the past year, regional governments, in particular Kenya and Nigeria, scored progress in their efforts to fight militant groups with a hard hand, resulting in recovered territories and relative calm.

After taking office in late May, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the military to end the Boko Haram insurgency by December and to relocate their command center to the theater of violence in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria's Borno State.

"By the end of this month, Boko Haram will no longer be able to hold any Nigerian territory," said Lai Mohammed, the Nigerian minister of information.

Normalcy is returning in parts of the northeast region, where students have returned to school, burned houses are being rebuilt, markets are being reconstructed and hustling and bustling are taking place.

Despite the achievements, however, there are still fears that the defiant terrorists are waxing stronger and bent on holding the country to ransom. Bombings masterminded by Boko Haram, especially suicide blasts, still persist, often causing heavy civilian casualties.

In Kenya, heightened security measures and an ongoing military campaign in neighboring Somalia have also led to signs of progress.

Military offensives by a joint African Union force in Somalia have crippled the Al-Shabaab network and broken their core cells, said Benjamin Muema, a Kenyan security expert and ex-army officer.

But, "the fact that Al-Shabaab has not made any recent attacks in Kenya does not mean it will not happen," said Richard Tutah, a Kenyan homeland security expert. "There is likelihood that it will soon do so considering ongoing competition in the terrorism world."

Prof. Hassan Nandwa, a Kenyan law lecturer on security issues, said this year has been worse with many terror attacks that have been carried out by Al-Shabaab from Somalia.

"The situation may be calm now but it remains unpredictable," noted Nandwa.

CHANGING TACTICS

Following its allegiance to ISIL in March this year, Boko Haram's tactics in carrying out attacks changed and the group launched various social media channels to spread propaganda in its fight against Nigeria's revitalized military, said Adeyinka Arowolo, an international security expert.

According to the U.S-trained security expert, the group became more active after it was referred to as the Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP) by ISIL and had waxed stronger in its attacks, even crossing the borders to launch more attacks in neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

"It was so daring in its attacks that it even threatened the general election in Nigeria," the expert said.

Tutah said terrorist groups are always competing for relevance in order to attract more members.

"Unfortunately, they become more lethal in the subsequent attacks as they seek to show their superiority," said Tutah.

Another issue is the radicalization of youth through religion. "People are ready to do bad things against the citizens for exchange of money and it is not ideal," said Muema.

"Our youth are recruited into Al-Shabab and sneak back in the country and become agents of terrorist," said Muema.

ADDRESSING ROOT CAUSES

African experts have called on governments to come up with preventive measures that address the root causes of terrorism.

"Most of the efforts done were just security and military without very little attention to the root causes," said Prof. Hassan Nandwa, a Kenyan law lecturer on security issues.

"We need to dialogue with the groups and provide a political solution. We need a social education strategy to protect minds from radicalization. We need a dynamic system that is also all inclusive to accommodate radicals," said Nandwa.

Speaking recently to Xinhua, former Malian Prime Minister Moussa Mara, who now leads the Center for Study and Research in Mali (CERM), a local think tank, said the war against terrorism could be effectively won if governments addressed the root causes of the problem.

"Across the world, conflicts as well as inequalities and injustice cause frustrations and create the foundation for violent reactions. Social and economic challenges as well as the ease of access to destructive weapons equally lead to the growth of the terrorist threat," Mara said, insisting on the need for states to craft solutions for such problems.

Burkina Faso's Speaker of Transition Parliament Cherif Sy said that "beyond military and political solutions, the continent should promote youth employment and education to fight the scourge of terrorism."

According to Sy, African youths should be educated on the Koran and it should be taught in schools to fight ignorance.

"Terrorists have benefited from ignorance by using the name of God, yet it is not written anywhere in the Koran, the Bible or anywhere else that these terrorist acts are allowed by God," Sy noted.

As for Ali Daou, an employee of an international organization in Mali who spoke to Xinhua after a recent terrorist attack at Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako that claimed over 20 lives, "to fight terrorism, it is necessary to include in the school curriculum the notion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, create wealth for economic growth and reduce the rate of unemployment among the youth."

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

At the same time, African experts have called for a regional approach in the fight against terrorism which is affecting various countries on the continent.

While addressing a gathering in Dakar of experts on security and drug trafficking, Senegal's Interior and Public Security Minister Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo said "the fight against this scourge requires development of regional solutions in an approach that reconciles demands for opening up of borders and the absolute need for vigilance."

"We should therefore reinforce collaboration between services in terms of information exchange, data collection and surveillance of criminal networks," he insisted.

The desire to fight against terrorism forced five Sahel region countries that include Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad to form a regional framework dubbed G5-Sahel in 2014 to coordinate development and security policies in the region.

African countries should constitute an alliance whose main purpose is to deal with terrorism, said Tutah, adding the alliance could provide a platform for sharing intelligence among countries.

(Edited by Wang Xiangjiang; Xinhua correspondents Deng Yaomin and Wu Baoshu in Nairobi, Wang Meng in Dakar and Yang Yang in Abuja contributed to this report.) Endit