Terrorist activities in Africa have gone up by a shocking 1,000 percent in the past 10 years, according to a report published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and released ahead of its 2017 Ibrahim Forum.
The report titled “Africa at a tipping point” attributes the huge rise to the lack of economic opportunities, added to democratic fatigue and political disenfranchisement.
“The 1‚000% increase in terrorist attacks in Africa over a decade and the rising number of those risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean show where frustration‚ anger and despair can lead.
The report goes on to show statistics of unemployment compiled from various reports‚ showing that Swaziland‚ South Africa and countries such as Libya and Gambia have close to 50% youth unemployment rates compared to the total labour force.
South Africa however, according to the report, is among the countries that have the highest rate of employment.
The report found that between 2013 and 2014 the number of terrorist events in Africa almost doubled‚ with 75% of the total terrorist events in those years occurring in Libya‚ Nigeria and Somalia. The Global Terrorism Database found that between 2006 and 2015‚ 17‚930 people died in Nigeria alone in terrorism-related incidents. The two deadliest terrorist groups in Africa are Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram‚ with an annual turnover of $70-million and $25-million respectively.
Somalia and Nigeria have been hit waves of terror activities carried out by Islamist extremists belonging to Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari and Somalia’s Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo both pledged to crash the militant groups in their countries though the groups still conduct attacks time and again.
