Abject poverty and official corruption make parts of Africa a very attractive destination for terrorist organizations. Opportunities have developed during the pre- and post-9/11 periods in Africa for the recruitment of terrorists, attainment of bases of operations and sources of funding for Al Qaeda or its affiliated terror groups. This comprehensive volume provides an extensive examination of major terrorist events in Africa. It highlights internal and external indices to illustrate why Africa is so ripe for terrorism, ostensibly in terms of recruitment as well as attainment and sources of funding due to the continent's continuing poverty and corruption. The volume will prove indispensable reading for anyone researching security issues, political sociology and African studies.

Abject poverty and official corruption make parts of Africa a very attractive destination for terrorist organizations. Opportunities have developed during the pre- and post-9/11 periods in Africa for the recruitment of terrorists, attainment of bases of operations and sources of funding for Al Qaeda or its affiliated terror groups. This comprehensive volume provides an extensive examination of major terrorist events in Africa. It highlights internal and external indices to illustrate why Africa is so ripe for terrorism, ostensibly in terms of recruitment as well as attainment and sources of funding due to the continent's continuing poverty and corruption. The volume will prove indispensable reading for anyone researching security issues, political sociology and African studies.

The study, Terrorism in Africa: The Evolving Front in the War on Terrorism, represents a research endeavor aimed at increasing scholarly discourse on the ever-expanding threat of terrorism and terrorist-related violence in the region. It offers the most wide-ranging analysis of the sub-national and transnational terrorists groups that have made Africa the second most violent region in the world. Additionally, the study expands the coverage of the multiple dynamics that indicate why terrorist-related violence continues to increase in the region and closes with regional solutions to the threat of terrorism. This collection of essays offers a comprehensive analysis of the states, terrorist groups, and critical issues that have increased the specter of terrorism in Africa. The study is divided into three themes: (1) the diversity of the terrorist threat among states in the region, (2) the regional dynamics and the local response to terrorism, and (3) regional solutions to the threat of terrorism in Africa.

Since the terrorist attacks on the American homeland on September 11, 2001, fighting the menace has become the frontier issue on the U.S.’ national security agenda. In the case of the African Continent, the United States has, and continues to accord major attention to the West African sub-region. This book : Evaluates where we can place West Africa within the broader crucible of the U.S. war on terrorism Establishes the key elements of the U.S.’ counter-terrorism policy in West Africa? Examines the U.S. counter-terrorism strategies in West Africa, and evaluates if they are being pursued both at the bilateral and multilateral levels in the region Interrogates the relationship between stability in the sub-region and the waging of the U.S.’ war on terrorism. Specifically, the book examines the crises of underdevelopment—cultural, economic, environmental, political, security and social—in the sub-region, especially their impact on shaping the conditions that provide the taproots of terrorism. Clearly, addressing these multidimensional crises of underdevelopment is pivotal to the success of the U.S. war on terrorism in the sub-region. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of terrorism, homeland security, African Studies, conflict management, and political violence.

This meticulously researched, forcibly argued and accessibly written collection explores the many and complex ways in which Africa has been implicated in the discourses and politics of September 11, 2001. Written by key scholars based in leading institutions in Canada, the United States, the Middle East and Africa, the volume interrogates the impact of post-9/11 politics on Africa from many disciplinary perspectives, including political science, sociology, history, anthropology, religious studies and cultural studies. The essays analyze the impact of 9/11 and the 'war on terror' on political dissent and academic freedom; the contentious vocabulary of crusades, clash of civilizations, barbarism and 'Islamofascism'; alternative genealogies of local and global terrorism; extraordinary renditions to black sites and torture; human rights and insecurities; collapsed states and the development-security merger; and anti-terrorism policies from George W. Bush to Barack Obama. This is a much-needed meditation on historical and contemporary discourses on terrorism.

"Examines the state of governance in the countries of the greater Horn of Africa region--Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, the Sudan, and Yemen--and discusses strategies to combat the transnational threat of terrorism, including suggestions for more effective U.S. engagement in the region"--Provided by publisher.

Clara Usiskin has spent eight years investigating the 'War on Terror' and its effects in the East and Horn of Africa, documenting hundreds of cases of rendition, secret detention and targeted killings. Her book sets out the historical background to today's covert war, including the early Somali jihads and British repression in colonial Kenya, through to the 1998 US Embassy Bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, and President Clinton's early rendition programme. America's Covert War in East Africa then looks at the US Military's new Africa Command, with its emphasis on counterterrorism, alongside increasing use of targeted killings by security forces in the region, and continued renditions and secret detention. Finally, Usiskin investigates the shorter and longer term consequences of such intensive militarisation, and the proliferation of surveillance and other technologies of control in East Africa and its surrounding waters, focussing in particular on their impact on vulnerable ethnic and religious groups in a highly volatile region.

This book chronicles foreign political and military interventions in Africa from 1956 to 2010, helping readers understand the historical roots of Africa's problems.

Africa is a continent of growing economic, social, political, and geostrategic importance. The establishment of a new Combatant Command for Africa -- AFRICOM -- marks an important milestone in the evolution of relations between the United States and the governments of Africa. Through AFRICOM, the U.S. Department of Defense will consolidate the efforts of three existing command headquarters as it seeks a more stable environment for political and economic growth in Africa. In line with this goal, AFRICOM is pioneering a bold new method of military engagement focused on war prevention, interagency cooperation, and development rather than on traditional war fighting. The author contends that to achieve its goals vis-à-vis the African security landscape, AFRICOM must depart from the model of U.S. military operations on the continent since September 11, 2001. Using case studies from North and East Africa, the author argues that by amalgamating threats, overemphasizing "hard" counterterrorism initiatives, and intertwining military operations with humanitarianism, AFRICOM's predecessors have harmed U.S. strategic interests. In line with this conclusion, he offers policy recommendations to maximize AFRICOM's potential for future success.

Traditional counter-terrorism approaches, with their emphasis on the military, are failing. This is seen in the fact that there is an average of three terrorist attacks per day in Africa. This study calls for more holistic solutions, with an emphasis on development and better governance to curb the scourge of terrorism.