West Africa

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A recent report by the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) and the research organization Counter Extremism Project (CEP) entitled "West Africa's Terrorist Challenge" describes West Africa as a global hinge for Hezbollah financing. The system works via money laundering through import-export companies and foreign exchange offices. Added to this are revenues from drug trafficking, smuggling and criminal diamond deals. For example, cash from cocaine sales is collected in West Africa and invested elsewhere in consumer goods or cars, which are then exported to the region. The proceeds are brought to Beirut in cash or forwarded via the informal hawala transfer system. In the USA, this process ran under the code name "Project Cassandra", write the authors of the KAS/CEP report.

Date
October 1, 2025
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"Security officials from around the world are meeting in Luanda, Angola, to address deep concerns about growing terrorism in Africa.

On this week’s episode of 'The Hunt with WTOP national security correspondent JJ Green,' Dr. Hans Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, is warning that what’s brewing inside Africa is trouble for the U.S."

Date
October 4, 2023
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CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler interviewed: "There is ample evidence that the both al-Qaeda as well as the Islamic State affiliates that operate in West Africa are trying to take advantage of this situation. There has been just a couple of hours ago another major attack in the border area between Niger and Mali, admittedly by the coup government, by terrorist organizations. So the instability in Niger is a really important brick out of the regional counterterrorism operations." 

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August 16, 2023
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Thursday, Jun 22, 2023

CEP-KAS Webinar: The Deteriorating Security Situation in West Africa | Dr. Kwesi Aning

"Status of ISWAP and ISGS in West Africa and Sahel"
Dr. Kwesi Aning
Professor and Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Accra, Ghana.

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) hosted a webinar on Thursday, June 22, 2023, focusing on the deteriorating security situation in West Africa and the Sahel region.

The webinar focused on the three most relevant terrorist networks currently operating in the region: JNIM, ISWAP, and ISGS. Understanding the various operational aspects and challenges that these regional terrorist networks pose is a necessary first step to develop sustainable, effective, and regionally based counter strategies.

Remote video URL
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023

CEP-KAS Webinar: The Deteriorating Security Situation in West Africa | Pieter Van Ostaeyen

"Status of ISWAP and ISGS in West Africa and Sahel"
Pieter Van Ostaeyen
CEP Project Analyst, PhD candidate Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) hosted a webinar on Thursday, June 22, 2023, focusing on the deteriorating security situation in West Africa and the Sahel region.

The webinar focused on the three most relevant terrorist networks currently operating in the region: JNIM, ISWAP, and ISGS. Understanding the various operational aspects and challenges that these regional terrorist networks pose is a necessary first step to develop sustainable, effective, and regionally based counter strategies.

Remote video URL
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023

CEP-KAS Webinar: The Deteriorating Security Situation in West Africa | Amb. Edmund Fitton-Brown

"Development of al-Qaeda in the Western Sahel Region and Current Operational Capabilities of JNIM"
Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown
Member of the advisory board of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and former Coordinator of the ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team, United Nations Security Council

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) hosted a webinar on Thursday, June 22, 2023, focusing on the deteriorating security situation in West Africa and the Sahel region.

The webinar focused on the three most relevant terrorist networks currently operating in the region: JNIM, ISWAP, and ISGS. Understanding the various operational aspects and challenges that these regional terrorist networks pose is a necessary first step to develop sustainable, effective, and regionally based counter strategies.

Remote video URL
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023

CEP-KAS Webinar: The Deteriorating Security Situation in West Africa | Bakary Sambe

"Development of al-Qaeda in the Western Sahel Region and Current Operational Capabilities of JNIM"
Bakary Sambe
Director of the Timbuktu Institute-African Center for Peace Studies (Dakar, Niamey), founder of the Observatory of Religious Radicalisms and Conflicts in Africa

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) hosted a webinar on Thursday, June 22, 2023, focusing on the deteriorating security situation in West Africa and the Sahel region.

The webinar focused on the three most relevant terrorist networks currently operating in the region: JNIM, ISWAP, and ISGS. Understanding the various operational aspects and challenges that these regional terrorist networks pose is a necessary first step to develop sustainable, effective, and regionally based counter strategies.

Remote video URL