African Islamist groups claiming links to Al-Qaeda spout
the same propaganda and sometimes collaborate in minor ways, but they
are chiefly focused on their own localised goals, experts say.
"Nothing could be more wrong than conflating the
horror of Nairobi with other eruptions of jihadist violence on the
African continent," said political scientist Jean-Pierre Filiu.
Each of these groups -- Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb
(AQIM), Boko Haram of Nigeria and Somalia's Al Shabaab -- "has its own
priorities, which high-profile terrorism allows them to further," he
argued.
"Each is fighting a local enemy (and) there is no
operational coherence or coordinated direction, just the same jihadist
propaganda," he added.
Experts say AQIM and Boko Haram, which are
geographically close, have traded weapons and equipment, and that some
Nigerian militants have been trained in AQIM camps, but this does not
imply a unified movement.
As for the Al Shabaab, who mounted the siege of an
upmarket Nairobi shopping mall at the weekend, killing dozens of
shoppers, they recruit and raise funds in the West, especially from the
Somali diaspora in Europe and the United States.
However, some experts say the leaders of Al-Qaeda
in the Afghan-Pakistan region are tempted to view Africa as a gateway to
expansion, all the more crucial because of their own decline.
While in Afghanistan and Pakistan Al-Qaeda has
been largely reduced to dodging US drone attacks, Africa offers vast
swathes of lawless territory where borders are porous and regular armies
have failed to bring Islamist groups under control.
"As the central leadership of Al-Qaeda is weakened
and challenged, the terrorist movement is looking to partnerships in
Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa to regroup and re-energise itself," said
Valentina Soria of London's Royal United Services Institute.
Alarmist
"Following the alliance with (the) Al-Qaeda core,
regional affiliates such as Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and Al Shebab have
undergone similar patterns of strategic, tactical and propagandistic
evolution," she said in a report titled "Global Jihad in Africa".
Robert Rotberg of the Kennedy School of Government
at Harvard University says that the three groups are bound by money
transfers organised by Al-Qaeda chiefs.
"Clearly they are mostly national and regional
movements, but they have common funding coming through Al-Qaeda central,
so they are forced to know what the other ones are doing and forced to
cooperate to a certain extent.
"And there may have some transfer of expertise in bomb making for example," he said.
"And there may have some transfer of expertise in bomb making for example," he said.
General Carter Ham, Commander of the Untied States
Africa Command, which monitors the region from Germany, was more
alarmist. "Al Shabaab, AQIM, Boko Haram, each of this organisations is
by itself a dangerous and worrisome threat.
"What really concerns me are the indications that
these three organisations are seeking to coordinate and synchronise
their efforts.
"The linkages between AQIM and Boko Haram are the
most worrisome. We have indications that they are trading funds,
training and equipment," he said.
Ham said there was a "real concern" for Libya, as
his organisation saw "worrying indicators that Al-Qaeda is trying to
establish a presence there".
SOURCE: THE AFRICAN REVIEW
SOURCE: THE AFRICAN REVIEW
