UN experts emphasize in a new report, in the first half of 2021, with the expansion of the influence of ISIS and extremist groups of al-Qaeda and their affiliates, Africa suffered the most from terrorism.
According to the Associated Press, the panel of experts said in a report to the UN Security Council on Friday that “This is especially true in areas of West and East Africa where affiliates of both groups can have increasing capabilities to raise funds and weapons, including the use of drones.”
They said, many of ISIL’s most successful branches are in Central and West Africa, and many al Qaeda affiliates are based in Somalia and the Sahel region.
UN experts say it is of great concern that these terrorists are expanding their influence and activities, especially across the border from Mali to Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal, as well as from Nigeria to Cameroon, Chad and Niger in West Africa. According to them, the activities of these affiliated groups have spread from the east to Somalia and Mozambique to Tanzania.
The panel said: One of the most troubling developments in early 2021 was the attack by a local ISIS-affiliated group on the strategically important Mozambican gas port near the border with Tanzania and its brief capture and retreat with trophies.
Overall, the experts said that Covid-19 continues to influence terrorist activity, and that both ISIL and al-Qaeda continue to “look at the damage this pandemic has done to their enemies, but they still cannot come up with a more convincing account.” The group said: While ISIL was considering using the virus as a weapon, member states found no definitive plan to implement the idea.
The report states: In Europe and other non-conflict areas, the quarantine and closure of the border following the Covid-19 made it difficult to provoke and rally people, while increasing the risk of online radicalization.
The experts warn that the attacks “may be carried out in many places when restrictions during the pandemic are reduced.” In Iraq and Syria, which are at the heart of the conflict for ISIL, the extremist group’s activities have become “a deep-rooted insurgency, exploiting local security vulnerabilities to find safe havens and targeting forces involved in anti-ISIL operations,” the group said.
Despite strong counter-terrorism pressure from Iraqi forces, the experts said ISIL attacks in Baghdad in January and April “confirmed the group’s resistance.” As for the Syrian province of Idlib, experts say that groups allied with al-Qaeda still control the area, and that “the number of terrorist militants is more than 10,000.”
UN experts also said: Although there has been limited movement of foreign militants from the region to other areas involved, member states are concerned about the possibility of such a move, especially in Afghanistan, especially if the atmosphere there is more conducive to the presence of ISIS or ally with al-Qaeda.
In Central, South and Southeast Asia, experts said, ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliates “continue to operate, despite the fundamental losses of the leadership in some cases and the continuing pressure from security forces.” The experts also said that the condition of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is unknown, and that if he is alive, many member states would consider him ill, which would pose a challenge to al-Qaeda leadership.