As U.S. Aid Dries Up, West Africa Fights Expanding Jihadist Threat
At a market in Tougbo, a small town in northern Ivory Coast, the smell of dried fish and fried dough filled the air. Children ran around the bustling stalls where women sold the corn and cassava they had carried on their heads for miles in the countryside. Muslim elders watched the crowds on the sandy main street, while Christian worshipers poured out of church after Sunday mass.
Yet the bustle belied an insidious threat.
About half of terrorism deaths worldwide in 2023 were recorded in the Sahel, the arid region in West Africa known for its seminomadic tribes and ancient trade routes. Emboldened by their success in the landlocked nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are moving south toward the Atlantic and into coastal nations such as Ivory Coast.
Jihadist attacks
2019-2021
Both periods
2022-2025
MALI
Jihadist activity
has moved south.
100
Miles
NIGER
Bamako
BURKINA
FASO
BENIN
GHANA
IVORY COAST
TOGO
Detail
AFRICA
Atlantic Ocean
Jihadist attacks:
2019-2021
Both periods
2022-2025
MALI
Jihadist activity
has moved
south.
100 Miles
NIGER
Bamako
BURKINA
FASO
BENIN
IVORY COAST
GHANA
TOGO
AFRICA
Detail
Abidjan
Atlantic Ocean
Source: Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project
By Samuel Granados
African and Western officials fear the advance will further destabilize West Africa at a time when the United States and European allies have drawn down their presence here, and the Trump administration has turned its attention to a chaotic deportation policy and travel ban that does not include any nations in the Sahel.
As the insurgents push toward the Atlantic, fears are growing that an area with one of the world's youngest populations and high levels of poverty will soon fall under jihadist rule.
'One of the terrorists' new objectives is gaining access to West Africa coasts. If they secure access to the coastline, they can finance their operations through smuggling, human trafficking and arms trading,' Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley, the head of U.S. Africa Command, said last month. 'This puts not just African nations at risk, but also increases the chance of threats reaching the U.S. shores.'
MALI
BURKINA
FASO
Ouangolodougou
Tougbo
Doropo
Korhogo
Bolè
Kafolo
COMOÉ
NATIONAL
PARK
IVORY COAST
GHANA
Abidjan
Gulf of Guinea
100 mileS
By The New York Times
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