Recent attacks by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara—local affiliates of al-Qaeda and ISIS—against one another is punctuating a security breakdown in West Africa, a region already challenged by...
A new report from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) assesses Burkina Faso’s status as the deadliest country in the world for terrorist violence—and outlines how the state’s response is making matters worse. The failure to contain these terror...
Riza Kumar
Research Analyst, Counter Extremism Project (CEP)
On February 28, 2024, CEP hosted a webinar to highlight the decade-long insurgency across the Sahel and the factors that have contributed to the resiliency of violent extremism across the region. Experts outlined and analyzed the factors that contribute to instability across the Sahel and the long-term impact of counterterrorism practices across the region.
Anna Wasserfall
Policy Advisor for West Africa at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)
On February 28, 2024, CEP hosted a webinar to highlight the decade-long insurgency across the Sahel and the factors that have contributed to the resiliency of violent extremism across the region. Experts outlined and analyzed the factors that contribute to instability across the Sahel and the long-term impact of counterterrorism practices across the region.
Delina Goxho
Associate Fellow at EGMONT - Royal Institute for International Relations
On February 28, 2024, CEP hosted a webinar to highlight the decade-long insurgency across the Sahel and the factors that have contributed to the resiliency of violent extremism across the region. Experts outlined and analyzed the factors that contribute to instability across the Sahel and the long-term impact of counterterrorism practices across the region.
"The Counter Extremism Project’s Riza Kumar warned: 'Wagner’s violent activities are increasing ammunition for violent extremist groups in their recruiting efforts across the Sahel. Whether or not Wagner establishes formal ties with Burkina Faso and Niger, the PMC’s impact is being felt across the region.
'As violent extremist groups expand their geographical scope, they have the potential to influence the communities on the border areas and potentially persuade them to see Wagner as predatorial rather than protective.'"
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) released a new report today, The Wagner Group In Central Sahel: Decolonization or Destabilization? The report analyzes the implications of the Kremlin-based Wagner Group’s involvement in countering insurgencies in...
The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) released a new report today, Civilian Counterterrorism Forces and the Fight Against Extremism – A Review of Nigeria, Somalia, and Burkina Faso. Local terrorist affiliates of al-Qaeda and ISIS have subjected sub...
French influence in its one-time colony of Burkina Faso has deteriorated since armed soldiers deposed the government in a coup last September and coup supporters attacked the French embassy, believing it was harboring the deposed president. Given...
CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "Unfortunately, this is just the latest incident in a region that is really now a belt of insecurity stretching from the West African coast all the way to the East African coast. And Burkina Faso is unfortunately by now one of the hotspots of this region, which large-scale networks both of al-Qaeda as well as the Islamic operate. Now in Burkina Faso, the main operating network and very likely candidate responsible for this attack is JNIM, the coalition that al-Qaeda built of regional affiliates in 2017, which now controls large parts of the country."
The Counter Extremism Project Presents
Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Counter Extremism Project's ARCHER at House 88 presents a landmark concert of music composed in ghettos and death camps, performed in defiance of resurgent antisemitism. Curated with world renowned composer, conductor, and musicologist Francesco Lotoro, the program restores classical, folk, and popular works, many written on scraps of paper or recalled from memory, to public consciousness. Featuring world and U.S. premieres from Lotoro's archive, this concert honors a repertoire that endured against unimaginable evil.