WEST AFRICA


the bottom of the Human Development Index. The report also urged the EU and US to do more to coordinate their efforts in the region in the context of the UN Strategy. Counter-terrorism


officials have become increasingly in


drug


Counterterrorism Cooperation also suggested that a wide variety of UN agencies have a role to play in helping to build state capacity in the region, given the capacity shortcomings in many West African states. There is insufficient regional capacity to monitor and protect large swathes of mostly ungoverned territory. Niger is the poorest country in the world, according to the United Nations Development Programme, and Mali and Mauritania rank near


concerned


recent years about cartels joining


forces with al-Qaeda in West Africa. There have


been intelligence reports stating that al-Qaeda guards cocaine shipments that arrive in Guinea- Bissau,


from cartels in South


America, in return for money to fund the network’s terrorist activities. The link between terrorism and narcotics smuggling is not unique to this region.


In Afghanistan


heroin producing gangs fund the Taliban, and in Lebanon, marijuana producing gangs work with Hizbullah. Colombian cocaine


Nigeria and Boko Haram Northern Nigeria is home to the majority of the country’s 90 million Muslims, while the oil-rich south of the country is predominantly Christian. In recent years Boko Haram


(which translates


‘Western Education is Prohibited) is a name that has come to light; an Islamist extremist group dedicated to banning Western education and culture, and one that has allowed al-Qaeda to penetrate the Muslim- majority states of northern Nigeria. The group was founded in 2002 by Mohammed


Yusuf, a radical preacher, who was killed by Nigerian


is flown into West Africa, where corrupt and lax regimes allow its easy import, and then moved north to markets in Europe and the Middle East. al-Qaeda has been detected working with Colombian cartels to oversee the movement of drugs from West African airports to North African ports.


as


10 CounterTerrorGazette CT-GAZETTE.COM


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