JOHANNESBURG—Terrorist and organized crime groups are “converging” in Africa, at a time when international anti-crime support is waning, and government policies on the continent range from “poor” to “nonexistent,” security analysts, terrorism experts, and current and former intelligence operatives say.
“We’ve got the West pouring money into supporting Ukraine against Russia, and that’s understandable. But at the same time, the world ignores the nexus between terrorism and organized crime in Africa, at its peril,” said Martin Ewi, coordinator of the Organized Crime Observatory at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, South Africa.
“There’s not enough domestic and international support for the fight against terror in Africa. This created a perfect void for Russia’s Wagner Group to step into under the guise of ‘fighting terror,’ but now doing as much of that as they are involved in organized crime themselves, especially illegal mining.”
Jihadists have operated in Africa since the 1990s but increased their activity dramatically after the 9/11 attacks, inspired by the success of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization, Mr. Ewi told The Epoch Times.
“The 9/11 attacks could not have happened without funding and preparation provided through organized crime channels, and to this day, terrorists in Africa use bin Laden’s recipe,” he said.
“To terrorists, the financial gain from organized crime isn’t an end in itself but a means to a bigger political, religious, or ideological goal,“ he added. ”This means organized crime is not the exclusive domain of racketeers, syndicates or consortiums that seek profit, but instead attracts various criminal actors, including terrorists.”
The 9/11 Commission, established by the U.S. government to investigate the 2001 attacks, found the whole operation, including funding, planning, tactics, procurement of materials, and travel routes, relied on organized crime channels.
The commission estimated the attacks cost $400,000 to $500,000, of which $300,000 was deposited into U.S. banks. The funds originated with various dubious individuals and groups, and also came from charities.
The investigation determined that the money was channeled using a variety of financial facilitators, including banks and informal money transfer schemes.
“These transactions were obviously corrupt and suspicious, but institutions either looked away or failed to apply their own rules. This is what’s happening across much of Africa today,” Mr. Ewi said.
“Some countries like South Africa are taking steps to regulate and control, but most are not.”
He added that 9/11 “legitimized” the use of organized crime to pursue jihad objectives.
“Many terrorists followed al-Qaeda’s lead in getting money from trafficking narcotics and counterfeit goods. Before 9/11, Islamic fundamentalists were never involved in drug smuggling because they regarded it as against their beliefs.”
The 9/11 attacks continue to inspire Africa-based terror groups, according to Jeannine Ella Abatan, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies Regional Office for West Africa, the Sahel, and the Lake Chad Basin.
They include al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin in West Africa, the Lord’s Resistance Army and Allied Democratic Forces in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Seleka and Anti-Balaka groups in the Central African Republic.
“These and many other al-Qaeda and ‘Islamic State’ affiliates are heavily involved in organized crime,” she told The Epoch Times.
“They smuggle and sell drugs, weapons and ammunition. They’re getting more and more into human trafficking. They run extortion rackets, syndicates specializing in livestock theft and they own and operate mines illegally.”
While terrorists and crime groups were forming “ever-closer” connections, policy responses from African governments were “weak,” Mr. Ewi said.
“If we want to avert another catastrophic attack in Africa—like we saw in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998—then governments in each region must coordinate and integrate strategies that see organized crime and terrorism as two sides of the same coin, not unrelated acts committed by specific criminal organizations.”
On Aug. 7, 1998, nearly simultaneous bombs exploded in front of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. According to the FBI, 224 people were killed in the blasts, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 others were wounded.
Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Ms. Abatan said most African governments haven’t addressed the root causes of terrorism, including lack of development and poverty, and aren’t responding fast enough, if at all, to imams and others who are “preaching hatred and jihad.”
“Support bases and ecosystems that allow terror to flourish in Africa are growing,” she said.
For example, Ms. Abatan points to the small West African nation of Benin, where smugglers, illegal hunters, and violent extremist groups have formed ties. She said terror attacks in northern Benin have been increasing since 2019, perpetrated by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).
“These groups are benefiting from illicit activities that existed long before terrorist attacks started in Benin. The dealings now happening between terrorists are criminals include fuel smuggling, Indian hemp trafficking, and illicit hunting of rare wild species,” Ms. Abatan said.
“Violent extremist groups have forged alliances with those involved in these criminal activities, to secure their supply of human, operational, and financial resources.
“Extremists exploit people’s resentment against the state and their need to protect and preserve their livelihoods.
“They allow access to certain areas, offering services and security guarantees to those who collaborate with them, and facilitate the marketing of trafficked products.”
She said collaboration between traffickers and extremists in the Kourou-Koualou region of eastern Benin has allowed terror groups to obtain the fuel they need for transport and to launch attacks.
“It’s also allowing terrorists to raise money from the payments made by traffickers in exchange for protection and security in the smuggling zone.
“The extremists are also collaborating with people hunting illegally in forest parks. The extremists buy meat from the hunters, and also recruit many of them into terrorism,” Ms. Abatan said.
In Nigeria, terror organizations are recruiting women for gunrunning, according to security analyst Oluwole Ojewale.
He told The Epoch Times that groups such as Boko Haram have forged strong bonds with Nigeria’s many groups of bandits, who are involved in armed robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape, and the illegal possession of firearms.
“We’re seeing an upsurge in illegal arms movements and sales in north-west Nigeria that involve women traffickers,” Mr. Ojewale said.
He said the security forces are “less suspicious” of women, who are being drawn increasingly into crime to escape poverty.
“The women hide AK-47 rifles under their veils or conceal improvised explosive devices on their backs like they are carrying babies. These women are running guns and ammunition between bandits and terrorists.
“Nigeria’s northwest is a good place to hide because there isn’t a heavy security force presence there. Nigeria’s borders there are also very poorly managed.”
Ninety-five percent of weapons used for terrorism and kidnapping were trafficked through the country’s porous borders, with their origins in Libya and war-torn sub-Saharan African states, former Nigerian information minister Lai Mohammed told The Epoch Times.
