Al Qaeda's bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and subsequent attacks demonstrated the group's reach and ability to recruit from Muslim communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Foreign fighter flows from the continent, primarily from North Africa—first to Afghanistan and the Balkans, then to Iraq, and now to Syria, Iraq, and Libya—have long been of international concern. The pace of high-profile extremist attacks on the continent has intensified in recent years. Assaults on prominent soft targets such as the Westgate Mall in Kenya and hotels and restaurants frequented by foreigners appear to be on the rise, heightening concerns among foreign governments about the security of their citizens traveling or working in Africa. In 2015, U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper reported to Congress that "Sunni violent extremists are gaining momentum and the number of Sunni violent extremist groups, members, and safe havens is greater than at any other point in history." Africa, described by Clapper in 2014 as "a hothouse for the emergence of extremist and rebel groups," has drawn increasing attention as groups in Nigeria and Somalia have expanded their reach and lethality, and as new North African groups have emerged. Some Africa-based extremists have affiliated with Al Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS, aka ISIS or ISIL), but many appear to operate autonomously. Nevertheless, some African groups have attacked Western interests in Africa, and U.S. officials view some groups, like Al Shabaab, as potentially capable of inspiring or carrying out attacks in the United States, despite a primarily regional focus. There has been comparatively greater international focus on violent Islamist extremism occurring in, and emanating from, the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa, but in recent years the death toll from violent Islamist terrorist attacks in Sub-Saharan Africa has rivaled that of other regions. This report seeks to provide some context for current terrorism trends in Sub-Saharan Africa and a discussion of some key issues for Congress. Eleven groups based on the continent are now designated by the State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs); nine have been listed since 2013 (see Appendix A , and see Figure 1 for the areas in which they are active). Al Qaeda affiliates, including Al Shabaab and the Algerian-led Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, may view the Islamic State as a rival for recruits and resources, or may differ with its ideology or tactics. Nigeria's Boko Haram was identified as the world's deadliest terrorist group for civilians in 2014, outpacing the Islamic State, to which it pledged allegiance in 2015. Across the Sahel region, contests over resources and political representation fuel intercommunal conflict, including between herding and farming communities, notably in Nigeria and Sudan, but also in Mali and Côte d'Ivoire. Al Shabaab's ability to recruit abroad and the presence in Somalia of foreign fighters, among them U.S. citizens, have been of significant concern to U.S. policymakers. Its ties with other terrorist groups, most notably Al Qaeda and its Yemen-based affiliate, and its threats against international targets also elevate its profile among extremist groups on the continent and have made it a target of direct counterterrorism operations by the United States and other Western countries. North-West Africa: Group Proliferation and Fragmentation

Armed Islamist groups have proliferated in North and West Africa since 2011, amid political upheaval in the Arab world, governance and security crises in Libya and Mali, and an Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria. Many of these groups appear primarily focused on a domestic or regional agenda, but some have targeted U.S. or other foreign interests in the region and some may aspire to more international aims. The oldest continuously active transnational Islamist terrorist group in the region is AQIM, which grew out of Algeria's 1990s civil conflict and began to carry out attacks in West Africa's Sahel region in the early 2000s (prior to its affiliation with Al Qaeda in 2006-2007). More recently, it has sought ties with extremist groups in Tunisia and Libya. In North Africa, numerous reports suggest that Libya has become a hub for regional terrorist actors, and Tunisia has faced increasingly large-scale attacks by individuals who reportedly trained there. Libya and Algeria are home to groups whose pledges of allegiance to the Islamic State have been publicly accepted by IS leadership. The International Response

In addition to various country-specific responses to terrorist threats on the continent, African countries have established several multinational mechanisms to address certain regional extremist threats, including AMISOM, the Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the Lord's Resistance Army (RCI-LRA), an AU-led military intervention in Mali in late 2012 (subsequently re-hatted as a U.N. operation), a multinational joint operations center in southern Algeria known as the CEMOC, the Lake Chad Basin Commission's Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to counter Boko Haram, and a separate, nascent effort to create a joint military force among five West African countries known as the "G-5 Sahel." Overall, African-led responses to terrorist threats remain constrained by limited resources, institutional weaknesses, conflicting political agendas, corruption, sensitivities over domestic sovereignty, regional rivalries, and uneven engagement among affected states. Consistent with the Administration's National Strategy for Counterterrorism , its Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa (issued in 2012) indicates a goal of "disrupting, dismantling, and eventually defeating Al-Qa'ida and its affiliates and adherents in Africa," in part by strengthening the capacity of "civilian bodies to provide security for their citizens and counter violent extremism through more effective governance, development, and law enforcement efforts." U.S. program officers and policymakers have faced challenges in seeking to implement both State Department and DOD "partner capacity-building" programs in Africa, such as when host-government preferences for certain types of assistance do not match U.S. assessments of what is needed. Military Operations

U.S. Africa Command's Theater Campaign Plan for FY2016-FY2020 identifies five key lines of effort for the U.S. military in Africa: (1) neutralize Al Shabaab and transition the mandate of the AMISOM to the Somali government; (2) degrade violent extremist organizations in the Sahel-Maghreb and contain instability in Libya; (3) contain Boko Haram; (4) interdict illicit activity in the Gulf of Guinea and Central Africa; and (5) build African peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response capacities. The Administration broadened its justification for direct U.S. military action in Somalia in 2015, indicating in a notification to Congress consistent with the War Powers Resolution that its operations in Somalia were carried out not only "to counter Al Qaeda and associated elements of Al Shabaab" (as previously reported), but also "in support of Somali forces, AMISOM forces, and U.S. forces in Somalia." As this report describes, as the level of activity by terrorist groups in Africa has increased in recent years, U.S. security assistance for counterterrorism purposes has grown significantly. With terrorist attacks on soft targets increasing, are African police, investigators, and prosecutors sufficiently trained and equipped to respond? Additionally, some analyses of counterterrorism partnerships in Somalia suggest that while the United States and its partners in AMISOM may share a common foe, the objectives and actions of Somalia's neighbors (all of which are AMISOM troop contributors) may, in some cases, undermine other U.S. aims and create risks for the country's long-term stability. It may also inhibit efforts to examine whether U.S. efforts to counter terrorism and extremism in Africa strike the appropriate balance between support to African militaries and law enforcement or justice sectors, between government-to-government programs and community engagement, or between programs that seek to prevent radicalization versus those that seek to contain its impact. Limited access to funding data may also obscure U.S. policy dilemmas. Further, local militaries reportedly continue to play significant roles in politics and governance in several top U.S. security partner countries, including Ethiopia, Mauritania, and Uganda. Measuring this impact is challenging, however.
The pace of high-profile terrorist attacks in Sub-Saharan Africa has intensified in recent years, and the death toll now rivals that of other regions where violent Islamist extremist groups are active. This report provides context for these trends, including a summary of sub-regional dynamics, factors affecting radicalization, and U.S. responses. It focuses primarily on Sunni Islamist terrorism, given the ideological underpinnings of the African groups currently designated by the U.S. State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Select issues for Congress are also explored. Information on the major Africa-based groups is provided in an Appendix.
Over the past two decades, Congress has appropriated increasing funding to counter terrorism in Africa and has demonstrated interest in the nature of terrorist threats and efforts to counter them. Members have raised questions regarding
the threat violent extremist groups in Africa may pose to U.S. citizens and U.S. interests; the counterterrorism capacities of African countries and the impact of U.S. efforts to bolster them; the role of the U.S. military in countering violent extremist groups in Africa; the level of U.S. funding and personnel dedicated to these efforts; and the extent to which U.S. programs are successful in seeking to prevent or mitigate radicalization, recruitment, and support for violent extremist groups.
Some Africa-based groups have affiliated with Al Qaeda or the self-proclaimed Islamic State, but many seem to operate autonomously. While many extremists on the continent appear to be driven primarily by local political and socioeconomic dynamics, some African groups have sought to attack Western interests in Africa, and some, like Somalia's Al Shabaab, apparently seek to inspire or carry out attacks in the United States and elsewhere. The spillover effects from areas where terrorist groups operate—most notably Libya, Mali, northeast Nigeria, and Somalia—are of increasing concern to neighboring states and the broader region.
Several emerging trends in violent Islamist extremist activity on the continent are impacting how governments in the region, local communities, and international actors respond:
Proliferation of African-Led Groups. Al Qaeda's first avowed African affiliate, Algerian-led Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), was long assumed to have limited appeal among West African Muslims, and its interest in criminal activities often seemed to eclipse its ideological commitment. However, the rise of relatively potent, locally led violent Islamist groups in Somalia, Nigeria, and Mali over the past decade challenges past assumptions about the limited prospects for Islamist terrorism on the continent. Africa also appears to have become an arena for competition between Al Qaeda affiliates and the Islamic State over recruits, affiliates, and perceived legitimacy.
The Push and Pull of North Africa. State collapse in Libya and political transitions in Tunisia and Egypt have provided new opportunities for armed groups to establish safe havens for training, expand their geographic reach, recruit followers, and equip themselves. Protecting and sustaining Tunisia's nascent democratic government has become a focus for U.S. policymakers in light of these trends. Contrary to some hopes, however, increased political openness has not inoculated Tunisia against domestic radicalization and recruitment. Conflict in Libya has spilled over its borders, generating new flows of arms and combatants into Tunisia and West Africa's Sahel region. Instability in North Africa has also drawn African recruits seeking to join groups based in Libya, or seeking to transit through North Africa en route to other global hotspots. Mutual distrust among North and Sub-Saharan African governments has inhibited counterterrorism cooperation, as have bureaucratic divisions within some donor governments.
From Holding Territory to Asymmetric Attacks. Years before the "Islamic State" announced its caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014, Islamist extremist groups in Africa sought to hold, and in some cases govern, territory. Al Shabaab began to assert territorial control in Somalia in the mid-2000s, as did AQIM and two local affiliates in Mali in 2012, followed by Boko Haram in Nigeria and Islamic State-linked groups in Libya in 2014. Military offensives by regional forces (in Somalia, Nigeria, and Libya) and French forces (in Mali) have reversed this trend, but gains are fragile. In response, extremists have reverted to asymmetric tactics and expanded the scope of their targets.
Attacks on Urban "Soft Targets" by a Resurgent AQIM. For much of the past decade, AQIM focused primarily on lucrative kidnap-for-ransom operations, attacks on local military and police posts, and insurgent operations in remote areas. As of 2013, the group appeared to have been weakened by internal divisions and by French military operations in Mali that killed or captured several key figures. However, three recent AQIM-linked attacks on hotels and restaurants popular with Western expatriates—in Mali (November 2015), Burkina Faso (January 2016), and Côte d'Ivoire (March 2016)—were among the group's deadliest ever, killing dozens of Western civilians and placing AQIM back at the center of regional terrorism dynamics. AQIM and its former rival splinter movement Al Murabitoun jointly claimed responsibility, signaling their apparent renewed merger. These attacks also appeared to signal a shift in tactics, piquing concerns about the vulnerability of cosmopolitan cities with large expatriate communities, such as Dakar, Accra, and Abidjan. As a result, local governments and donors, including the United States, are considering new programs to bolster West African urban crisis response capabilities, in addition to ongoing military train-and-equip counterterrorism programs.
Challenges. African-led responses to terrorist threats have been constrained by limited resources and capacity, institutional weaknesses, conflicting political agendas, corruption, sensitivities over domestic sovereignty, regional rivalries, and uneven engagement among affected states. These challenges have also undermined the effectiveness of efforts by concerned international actors and donors—including the United States—to respond. U.S. policymakers face a number of dilemmas, including how to prioritize U.S. counterterrorism activities in Africa (both within the continent and compared to other regions); how to define a threshold for the use of U.S. military force against terrorist groups on the continent; whether and how to balance a large infusion of military aid to affected African countries with investments in law enforcement, development, and governance; and how to measure and assess the impact of U.S. efforts. The question of how and when to partner with authoritarian states for counterterrorism purposes—and what consequences this may have on long-term regional stability and the pursuit of other U.S. policy objectives—is particularly thorny.
Further CRS Reading: CRS In Focus IF10172, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al Murabitoun; CRS In Focus IF10170, Al Shabaab; CRS Report R43558, Nigeria's Boko Haram: Frequently Asked Questions; CRS Report RL33142, Libya: Transition and U.S. Policy; CRS In Focus IF10116, Mali: Transition from Conflict?; CRS In Focus IF10155, Somalia; CRS Report RL33964, Nigeria: Current Issues and U.S. Policy; CRS Report R42967, U.S.-Kenya Relations: Current Political and Security Issues; CRS Report R43612, The Islamic State and U.S. Policy; and CRS Report R44313, What Is "Building Partner Capacity?" Issues for Congress.