Amid the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, the United Nations has given warning that the threat from terror groups such as ISIS and al Qaeda is not only resilient but in many places, it’s expanding.
As per the report, the Security Council of the UN monitoring team is charged with tracking worldwide jihadi threats, as of Thursday, and also warns that these groups pose a growing threat in much of Africa.
Jihadi terror attacks have declined in Europe and North America, but the UN experts have expected that it may have terrorist violence, which has been “artificially suppressed by limitations in travelling, meeting, fundraising and identifying viable targets” during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Edmund Fitton-Brown, coordinator of the UN monitoring team told CNN, that, “One of the things that we highlight in the report that’s just come out is the possibility that the relaxation of lockdowns might mean that some pre-planned attacks can then take place.”
The report makes for sobering reading at a time when the United States and its allies — exhausted by the pandemic and keen to focus on economic recovery and standing up to China and Russia, have all but called an end to the 20-year ‘war on terror.’ As one leading analyst recently put it: “We might be done with jihadis, but they are not done with us.”
Much of West Africa and the Sahel has in recent years been embroiled in jihadi violence. Last month Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged the country was still grappling with a serious insurgency despite setbacks suffered by Boko Haram.
The UN monitors say that while Boko Haram is “significantly weakened,” ISWAP may get stronger in the Lake Chad region and try to extend its operations towards the major Nigerian city of Maiduguri.