Counter Terrorism: Country Reports - Africa (Counter Terrorism - Africa)

Counter Terrorism - Country Reports – AFRICA - U.S. State Department. In the Trans-Sahara region, al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) took advantage of a renewed Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali and a coup d’état in Bamako to overrun northern Mali by joining with violent extremist mercenary fighters returning from Libya in the wake of the revolution there. Alongside regional efforts to contain and marginalize AQIM and its allies in northern Mali, the international community urged Mali’s interim government to restore an elected government to Mali, negotiate with groups in northern Mali that reject terrorism and accept Mali’s territorial integrity, and respond to the humanitarian crisis. Conflict in Nigeria continued throughout the northern part of the country, with hundreds of casualties as indigenous terrorist attacks increased. The Nigerian violent extremist group, Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for some of these attacks. In East Africa, the Somalia-based terrorist group al-Shabaab remained the primary terrorist threat. Along with progress on government formation, Somalia saw significant progress in 2012 on security as Somali National Security Forces and the AU Mission in Somalia along with Ethiopian and allied Somali militia forces battled al-Shabaab and drove them out of many population strongholds in south-central Somalia. Most notably, Kenyan forces gained control of the port city of Kismayo in late September. Al-Shabaab continued to employ indirect assaults and asymmetric tactics in Somalia, as well as claim credit for some attacks in Kenya.