- Joined
- Mar 11, 2013
- Messages
- 14,655
- Points
- 113
The JNIM was founded in Mali in 2017 as an umbrella organisation assembling four extremist groups
The writer is a former caretaker finance minister and served as vice-president at the World Bank
Islamic extremists and their organisations have now turned their attention towards the parts of Africa where there are large Muslim populations but weak governments. The Islamists are now working through a new set of organisations. Asia is no longer their focus. After several years spent building its strength, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is now the strongest military force in West Africa and among the most powerful in the world. It has overtaken al-Qaeda.
The JNIM was founded in Mali in 2017 as an umbrella organisation assembling four extremist groups. It is headed by Iyad Ag Gali and Ahmad Koufa, leaders of the 2012 uprising that came to be known as the "Arab Spring". Their organisation took over much of Mali's north. JNIM is "creating a state that stretches like a belt from western Mali all the way to the borderlands of Benin. It is substantial — even exponential expansion," said Heni Nsaibia, senior analyst for the Armed Conflict Location & Event or Data or ACLED, a non-profit research organisation that keeps of track of the militant organisations.
Ag Gali belongs to the mostly Muslim Tuareg which has fought for decades to establish an independent Muslim state in northern Mali. Koufa is a Fulani preacher based in northern Mali. The differences between the two men have caused considerable uncertainty about the way Mali is likely to evolve.
According to ACLED, in most African countries the security situation has deteriorated. In 2024, Burkina Faso ranked as the nation most affected by terrorist violence for a second straight year, and Niger saw the largest increase in terrorism-related deaths in the world. Increasingly, experts see JNIM's informant and supply chains stretching into stable nations such as Ghana, Senegal and Guinea.
Several people who spoke to the journalists who were gathering material for an analysis for The Washington Post recounted how gun-toting JNIM members burst into mosques in Burkina Faso in recent years, announcing that strict Islamic laws would be implemented, schools would be closed and state institutions would be targeted. Violating the rules would carry a heavy price, probably public execution.
According to ACLED, nearly 6,000 civilians have been killed, mostly for not following the rules being imposed by JNIM. There are real-time contacts between the Islamic groups operating in various parts of the world. The JNIM programme echoes the one being followed by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Somalia, a highly disturbed county in the horn of Africa, has also suffered because of the changing global approach by the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump. Because of the pullout of America from the area, al-Shabab, one of the affiliates of al-Qaeda, has taken control of important towns from Somali forces since the beginning of 2025.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2550974/the-rise-of-islamic-extremism-across-the-world
The writer is a former caretaker finance minister and served as vice-president at the World Bank
Islamic extremists and their organisations have now turned their attention towards the parts of Africa where there are large Muslim populations but weak governments. The Islamists are now working through a new set of organisations. Asia is no longer their focus. After several years spent building its strength, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is now the strongest military force in West Africa and among the most powerful in the world. It has overtaken al-Qaeda.
The JNIM was founded in Mali in 2017 as an umbrella organisation assembling four extremist groups. It is headed by Iyad Ag Gali and Ahmad Koufa, leaders of the 2012 uprising that came to be known as the "Arab Spring". Their organisation took over much of Mali's north. JNIM is "creating a state that stretches like a belt from western Mali all the way to the borderlands of Benin. It is substantial — even exponential expansion," said Heni Nsaibia, senior analyst for the Armed Conflict Location & Event or Data or ACLED, a non-profit research organisation that keeps of track of the militant organisations.
Ag Gali belongs to the mostly Muslim Tuareg which has fought for decades to establish an independent Muslim state in northern Mali. Koufa is a Fulani preacher based in northern Mali. The differences between the two men have caused considerable uncertainty about the way Mali is likely to evolve.
According to ACLED, in most African countries the security situation has deteriorated. In 2024, Burkina Faso ranked as the nation most affected by terrorist violence for a second straight year, and Niger saw the largest increase in terrorism-related deaths in the world. Increasingly, experts see JNIM's informant and supply chains stretching into stable nations such as Ghana, Senegal and Guinea.
Several people who spoke to the journalists who were gathering material for an analysis for The Washington Post recounted how gun-toting JNIM members burst into mosques in Burkina Faso in recent years, announcing that strict Islamic laws would be implemented, schools would be closed and state institutions would be targeted. Violating the rules would carry a heavy price, probably public execution.
According to ACLED, nearly 6,000 civilians have been killed, mostly for not following the rules being imposed by JNIM. There are real-time contacts between the Islamic groups operating in various parts of the world. The JNIM programme echoes the one being followed by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Somalia, a highly disturbed county in the horn of Africa, has also suffered because of the changing global approach by the United States under the leadership of President Donald Trump. Because of the pullout of America from the area, al-Shabab, one of the affiliates of al-Qaeda, has taken control of important towns from Somali forces since the beginning of 2025.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2550974/the-rise-of-islamic-extremism-across-the-world
