CTC at West Point: Scoping the threat – Do African Salafi-jihadi groups threaten the West?

July 28th, 2021

From the Sahel to Somalia, Salafi-jihadi groups are strengthening in Africa. The growing threat has placed regional states under pressure to respond. But do these African groups threaten Western interests beyond the continent? AEI’s Critical Threats Project and the US Military Academy at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) are hosting a summer debate series on the Islamic State and al Qaeda in Africa. Yan St-Pierre joined AEI’s Katherine Zimmerman and CTC’s Jason Warner for the second debate, featuring a panel of experts examining the extent to which African Salafi-jihadi groups threaten Western interests.

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The greater instability and insecurity in Africa also created opportunities for countries such as China and Russia to step in, said Yan St-Pierre, of the Modern Security Consulting Group. He highlighted a billion-dollar arms deal between China and Mali and Russia’s avoidance of arms embargos to sell weapons.