Mali teaching lesson in African security challenges

French soldiers in armored vehicles operate near Sevare, Mali, on Jan. 23. France intervened in the impoverished North African nation this month to turn back an extremist Islamic movement that had been seizing territory in the country for more than a year. /AP photo


The international community can't afford to ignore Africa.

In an opinion piece for the Concord Monitor this week, Africa security and terrorism expert Kurt Shillinger makes a powerful case for global leaders such as the United States and France to actively help African countries develop their nascent democracies and combat extremist groups. In particular, Shillinger sounds the alarm about the spread of Islamic extremist movements from East Africa into the Sahel and across North Africa.

The Sahel, a barren band of territory between the vast deserts and arid expanses of North Africa and the grasslands that stretch across the southern half of the continent, is one of the harshest environments on Earth. Most soldiers from African nations lack the training and equipment to operate in the Sahel, making it fertile soil for any insurgency to grow.

With fighting raging in Mali for more than a year, last summer's deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and this month's hostage crisis at an Algerian petroleum plant, it's clear that North Africa is becoming one of the hotter battle fronts in the struggle against terrorism and Islamic extremism.

In a view from the Ahmed Baba Institute's conservation lab, a ramp slopes down to the underground exhibition room and archive space, where the Timbuktu, Mali, libary's 20,000-manuscript collection is stored. Islamic extremists retreating from Timbuktu last week set fire to the library, reportedly destroying thousands of the ancient texts. The library holds one of the largest collections of early Islamic scholarship in the world. /Image via archrecord.construction.com

The rugged Sahel region of Africa stretches about 3,000 miles from Senegal in the West to Eritrea in the East. /Image via energeopolitics.com