In a follow up to his remarks in December, Mohamed Iban, Chambas, the UN special representative sand head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) sounded the alarm on growing militant and jihadi violence. In his January 8 briefing to the UN Security Council, he said the “devastating surge” in terrorism has “shaken public confidence.” He focused on Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, where casualties from terrorism have increased fivefold since 2016, with 4,000 deaths in 2019 compared to 770 in 2016.

This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from August 1 to 7, 2020.

Since the last defense review more than a year ago, there has been a shift in U.S. defense priorities from countering terrorism to great power competition. Since then, the Department of Defense has been considering a drawdown of U.S. military assets in Africa, especially West Africa, presumably for redeployment to arenas of great power competition. That would be a mistake.

This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from September 26 to October 2, 2020.

This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger from August 22 to 28, 2020.