Analysts confirmed the similarity of ideas and roots and the different mechanisms
Statistics of international research centers and assessments of analysts who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat showed that ISIS was able to achieve an organizational predominance in Africa at the expense of Al-Qaeda, in terms of the level of spread among extremist entities in some countries of the continent.
And between the bombing of a “terrorist” in East Africa and another in West Africa, organizations loyal to “ISIS” and “Al-Qaeda” sought to highlight their capabilities and try to prove their leadership in the “African terrorism” scene, during recent operations.
Among the most recent of these operations was an attack by members of the “Allied Democratic Forces”, which have been active in eastern Congo for decades and are loyal to “ISIS”, as they launched an attack using “machetes and axes” on March 9, which resulted in the killing of 44 people. 5 people were killed and 11 others were wounded in the middle of this month, in a suicide attack carried out by the Somali “Al-Shabaab” movement affiliated with “Al-Qaeda”.
According to studies and testimonies by researchers, most of these organizations belong to similar “ideological genes”, while “movement interests” and “leadership conflicts” push them to search for an “ideological justification to justify dissidence”, without there actually being fundamental differences in the organizations’ ideologies. .
The West African region, the Sahel countries, and south of the Sahara appear to be the most active focus for terrorist operations, according to the estimates of the “Global Terrorism Index” for the year 2022, as “four countries among the ten countries that witnessed the largest increases in terrorist deaths are located in sub-Saharan Africa, and they are: (Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Niger).
“ISIS” is tempting extremists and expanding in Africa, and “Al-Qaeda” is retreating
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