The Traces of Terrorism in African Countries

The term ‘terrorism’ is problematic. On many occasions, it is the right description for obscene acts of violence perpetrated against civilians, such as the June 2021 attack in Burkina Faso. But it is also true that, throughout the 20th century, weak, corrupt, and colonial regimes branded opponents ‘terrorists’ as a way to delegitimize their objectives.

In Africa especially, colonial powers labeled independence movements as terrorists to retain power, demonize their adversaries, and justify the use of extreme retaliatory measures. This was true of the French authorities in Algeria, the British in Kenya during the 1950s, the Rhodesian government during the 1970s, and the South African Apartheid regime.

The Causes of Terrorism in Africa

Terrorism may be based on political, religious, social, cultural, economic, or environmental factors, but not all these factors have been behind every terrorist attack in Africa. The three waves of terrorism in Africa emanated from different sources.

For example, nationalist liberation movements were largely driven by the desire for self-determination. In this case, the root cause was Western colonialism and its racial, disempowering, and discriminating policies. The nationalists sought to end the humiliation to which colonialism had subjected them.12 In other words, the first wave of terrorism was underpinned by the need to empower African people politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Kwame Nkrumah described it as the restitution of the African personality.

The second wave of terrorism, which was associated with various civil wars, was driven by a multiplicity of factors, such as failure to deliver the political and economic benefits promised during the liberation struggle, dissatisfaction with colonial boundaries, and differences in ideology. For example, in Ethiopia, the civil war was driven partly by the desire of Eritreans for self-determination, and partly by ideological struggles and power ambitions among other groups, such as the Tigrayans and Oromos. In other countries, such as Angola, Unita was in large part driven by ideological differences and personal ambitions. In other parts of Africa, civil wars have been caused by corruption in high places, the use of public institutions to benefit only one or two ethnic groups, the manipulation of technical services, including intelligence analyses, for selfish ends, and the lack of transparent, accountable and responsible governments.

These problems have bred discontent and, in some cases, compelled people to take up arms to fight for justice and equality. Indeed, political mismanagement and marginalization of some ethnic groups have been one of the causes of civil wars and instability in Africa. At the socioeconomic level, one could point to misguided macro-economic policies, a lack of employment opportunities, corruption in the awarding of government tenders and other economic benefits, worsening poverty, and the economic marginalization of some groups.

The third wave of terrorism in Africa, which was associated with the Israeli-Palestinian problem, was underpinned by the perceived injustices in the Palestinian territories. The lack of self-determination and social justice in the occupied Palestinian territories and the failure of the international community to implement various United Nations Security Council resolutions, including Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967, persuaded African states to embrace the Palestinian cause in the 1970s.