(New York, N.Y. / Berlin, Germany) – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) invite you to a webinar on Thursday, June 22, 2023, focusing on deteriorating security situation in West Africa and the Sahel region.
This webinar is the second in a series of virtual events in which CEP and KAS present the results of a joint project focusing on the region. The project analyzes the various aspects of the complex security environment and develops policy options to mitigate these challenges for regional as well as international policymakers, including at the European Union level.
West Africa and the Sahel region have experienced a steady decline in stability in parallel with a growth in terrorism threats for several years. The key regional terrorist networks—the al-Qaeda affiliated coalition Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin' (JNIM) and the two affiliates of the Islamic State (IS), IS West Africa Province (ISWAP) and IS in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)—have grown significantly since the destruction of the so-called califate of IS in Iraq and Syria and the significant reduction of territorial control of the terrorist group in both countries. In West Africa and the Sahel, terrorist groups and networks exploit ethnic differences, exacerbating intercommunal violence, and are intertwined with transnational organized crime complicating an already fragile situation.
This second webinar will focus on the three most relevant terrorist networks currently operating in the region: JNIM, ISWAP, and ISGS. Understanding the various operational aspects and challenges that these regional terrorist networks pose is a necessary first step to develop sustainable, effective, and regionally based counter strategies.
The webinar will be conducted in English via Zoom.
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023
Time: 8:00 a.m. ET / 14:00 CET to 9:30 am ET / 15:30 CET
EVENT PROGRAM:
Opening Remarks:
David Ibsen
Executive Director, Counter Extremism Project (CEP)
Dr. Stefan Friedrich
Head of the Department Sub-Saharan Africa, Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS)
Presentations:
Development of al-Qaeda in the Western Sahel Region and Current Operational Capabilities of JNIM
Bakary Sambe
Director of the Timbuktu Institute-African Center for Peace Studies (Dakar, Niamey), founder of the Observatory of Religious Radicalisms and Conflicts in Africa
Ambassador Edmund Fitton-Brown
Member of the advisory board of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and former Coordinator of the ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Taliban Monitoring Team, United Nations Security Council
Status of ISWAP and ISGS in West Africa and Sahel
Kwesi Aning
Professor and Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Accra, Ghana
Pieter Van Ostaeyen
CEP Project Analyst, PhD candidate Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Moderator:
Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler
Senior Director, Counter Extremism Project (CEP)
The presentations will be followed by a Q&A-session open to all participants.
REGISTRATION:
To participate in this webinar please register via this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5ulP0qKlTm6pBeL76rsm2A
Please register up to one hour before the webinar start so that your registration can be approved in time.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to colleagues with an interest in the subject.