The Boko Haram in Nigeria made headlines recently when it kidnapped 276 school girls in Chibok in April 2014. But even before then, and after, the group carried out an enormous number of other kidnappings, bombings, and attacks on civilian and military targets throughout Nigeria since its introduction in 2002 by founder Mohammed Yusuf. Boko Haram, an Islamic group, carries out its attacks under what they claim to be Islamic ideology – the mass kidnapping, for instance, was said to prevent girls from attending to school, which the group claims violates Islamic law. The name itself is said to figuratively mean “Western education is a sin,” and the group “seeks to establish a ‘pure’ Islamic sate ruled by sharia, putting an end to what it deems Westernization.”
Source: “All Africa”
Founded by Joseph Kony, a self-proclaimed spokesman of God and spirit medium, the Lord’s Resistance Army is a fundamentalist Christian terrorist group that began as a way to install a new theocratic regime in Uganda, based on Kony’s interpretation of the Ten Commandments and the Acholi people’s tradition. Notorious for kidnapping children for the purpose of creating an army of child soldiers, the LRA has also been accused of other widespread human rights abuses, including murder, mutilation, and child-sex slavery. The group spread beyond Uganda’s borders quickly, namely into the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.
Al-Shabab, translating to “the youth” in Arabic, is a Sunni Islamist group operating primarily in Somalia. Its stated mission is to destabilize and potentially overthrow the government of Somalia, as well as retaliate against its regional neighbors for their military interventions in Somalia. The group was responsible for the deadly September 2013 attack in Kenya’s Westgate mall in Nairobi, in which dozens were gunned down by a small group of al-Shabab members. The group formed as the militant youth wing of the now defunct Union of Islamic Courts in 2006, and has established formal ties with al Qaeda as of 2012, creating a more international agenda.
Active across Algeria, Mali, Niger, and other regions in Northwest Africa, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is a formal ally and affiliate core of the international al Qaeda terrorist group. Seeking to establish an Islamic kingdom in northern Africa, AQIM was recently pushed out of Mali by French and West African military forces, but is thought to be regrouping in more ungoverned desert areas and seeks to stage a violent comeback. The group, though it has had several manifestations throughout the decades, has officially been recognized since 2007, and often makes headlines for kidnapping foreigners and holding them for ransom, creating the funding for most of its operations.
Al-Mourabitioun is the name for the new organization that formed when the Masked Men Brigade and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa merged in 2013, and has been carrying out terrorist activities in northern Mali, Algeria, and Tunisia. The group has made headlines for kidnapping dozens of Western hostages, as well as suicide bombings that have resulted in the deaths of both civilians and military members. Though the group’s initial leader, Mokhtar Belmokhtars, was thought to have been killed in a raid by Chadian troops in northern Mali in March 2013, he has since issued statements that prove otherwise, and continues to act as a leader of al-Mourabitoun.
Ansar al-Sharia, operating mostly in ungoverned spaces in Libya, Tunisia, and other areas of North Africa and the Sahel, advocates for the strict implementation of Sharia law in its areas of focus. The group was blamed for the 2012 attack in Benghazi on the U.S. consulate, resulting in the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens. Founded by Abu Ayadh in April 2011, Ansar al-Sharia is a surprisingly media-focused group with its own al-Qairawan Media Foundation that espouses the group’s ideology, often calling for the release of Islamist prisoners and the Islamization of Tunisia.
Operating in the Sinai Peninsula since the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has become increasingly well known as it has increased its activities since former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in July 2013. The militant group has claimed responsibility for a variety of attacks, including bombing gas pipelines that carry gas from Egypt to Israel, assassinations of Egyptian officials, civilian attacks, as frequent attacks on both Israeli and Egyptian military members and equipment. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and the United Kingdom government in April 2014.
Led by Iyad Ag Ghaly – one of the leaders of the Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s – Ansar Dine is an Islamic militant group operating in Mali, and seeks to impose strict Sharia law across the country. The group has maintained control over much of Mali’s northeast regions and has participated in the kidnapping of over 100 civilian and military prisoners, often committing mass executions of the same. Since the military coup in Mali in March 2012, the group has expanded its presence and has since declared Sharia law in Timbuktu – causing nearly all of the city’s Christian population to flee.
Source: ModernGhana.com
Ansaru, otherwise known as the Vanguard for the Protection of Muslims in Black Lands, is an Islamist militant group that operates in northeastern Nigeria, and is thought to be an offshoot of Boko Haram. While Boko Haram focuses primarily in Nigeria, Ansaru has a broader international agenda – its leader, Abu Usmatul al-Ansari released a video in which he claimed the group would not kill innocent non-Muslims except in self-defense, and would defend the interests of Islam not just in Nigeria, but the whole of Africa. The group has claimed responsibility for prison breaks, attacks on Nigerian troops, kidnappings, and more since its establishment in 2012. Ansaru is thought to coordinate with AQIM, as well as the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.
Source: Jamestown Foundation
