In recent times one of the most significant problems that has come to face the world is that of terrorism. The rise of violent Islamic extremism in many parts of the world has ensured that at every point in time of the last few years, countries have not only had their hands full in their battles against terrorism, but have also had to contend with the frightening possibilities that the virulent and violent brand of terrorism hatched and nursed on their soils would be exported to other countries with frightening repercussions.
Indeed, it has become a frightening spectacle in international relations and diplomacy that some countries have been outrightly accused of seeding terrorism and even supervising its export to other countries with the main goal of disturbing entire countries, regions and continents.
In the case of Africa, it can only be unfortunate that in recent times, the continent has quickly emerged as one where a handful of countries have become laboratories for terrorism and the abundance darkness it exudes and represents.
A nightmare
As Islamic terrorism has infiltrated many African countries, many of them have been forced to contend with what has fast proven to be a formidable challenge. The pattern has mostly been one where foreigners and citizens of African countries who have been indoctrinated and trained in other countries have come back to Africa to establish terrorist cells, recruit local homebased fighters as part of their grand designs to midwife the disintegration of entire countries. The levels of the success so far attained can be seen in just how much trouble they have been able to whip up in more than a handful of countries.
In countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, these terrorists have shown that they can hold their own against governments.
The toll their activities have taken on people has been as nightmarish as it has been heartbreaking. Many have been slaughtered and many others displaced. In this time too, livelihoods have been obliterated with the conditions so compromised that there is no hope in sight that normalcy would return any time soon.
Nigeria`s harrowing experience of terrorism really began at about 2009 when Boko Haram expanded the scale of its operations and began to launch attack after attack on Nigerians. If Nigerians were lured into thinking that the terrorist group was a flash in the pan as the government had been lulled into thinking, they have since been proven wrong.
Attack after attack have since left the Giant of Africa gasping for breath. Perhaps, even more devastating than these attacks is the fact that the activities of Boko Haram have helped to create an enabling environment for other terrorist groups and their activities to thrive in the country.
While Boko Haram and other terrorist groups have since turned the region around the Lake Chad Basin into their playground, coordinating their activities of death between Nigeria, Chad and Benin Republic, Nigeria has recently had to confront the frightening infiltration and expansion of terrorism into neighbouring West African countries.
Burkina Faso and Mali have been hard hit. Togo, Ivory Coast and Benin Republic have also had their own share of attacks. Authorities in Djibouti have recently confirmed an attack on its soldiers by an armed group in the north of the country. According to the authorities the attack which occurred at an army base in Garabtisan left seven soldiers dead, wounded four with about six still missing.
Violent attacks on military personnel around Africa continue to show how vulnerable many African countries are to the activities of armed groups.
It is time Africa as a continent sought a lasting solution to the violent unrest holding it back from realizing its full potentials.
Kene Obiezu,
Twitter: @kenobiezu
