PODCAST'S NEW EPISODE - Spotlight on Africa:
Global jihadism's growing grip on Africa
As attacks from jihadist groups allied to Tuaregs continue in Mali, global jihadism threatens Africa like no other region on earth, according to ACLED’s latest report.
With the organisation's expert on West Africa, Spotlight on Africa explores how jihadist groups are expanding across the continent, controlling territory, targeting civilians and disrupting infrastructure
Coordinated attacks by Tuareg separatists and jihadists dealt a major new blow to the junta in power in the capital, Bamako, in the last days of April, securing the capture of Kidal, a northern rebel stronghold.
Several strategic towns and areas around the capital Bamako were also targeted in the offensive by Tuareg rebels of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) coalition and the jihadist Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), which was launched at dawn on Saturday 25 April.
Two days of intense fighting followed between Malian soldiers and the armed groups around Bamako and Kati, a garrison town and junta stronghold about 15 kilometres north of the capital. Mali's junta has now lost control of key northern areas and still faces a growing insurgent campaign that is tightening pressure around Bamako rather than directly attempting to seize the capital.
Analysts say this could be a turning point for the military in power since a 2020 coup.
Mali has been beset by violence from radical Islamists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group since 2012, as well as local criminal gangs and pro-independence fighters. For more than a decade, around 300,000 refugees have fled to eastern Mauritania's desert Hodh Chargui region to escape the violence that has plagued Mali.
Héni Nsaibia is the senior analyst for West Africa at ACLED, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data group. He co-wrote the organisation's latest report, released in mid-May, showing that global jihadism threatens Africa like no other region on earth. It also explores how jihadist groups are expanding across the continent, controlling territory, targeting civilians and disrupting infrastructure. Héni Nsaibia is Spotlight on Africa's guest this week.
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