Publication

This paper 1) reviews the large-scale violence being perpetrated by Islamist extremists in key African states, particularly Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria and Somalia, and 2) gauges the impact recent events in the Middle East continue to have on these countries. One of the author's key points is that it is necessary to distinguish between the evolution of Islamic extremism in North Africa, where developments are closely related to and influenced by what happens in Arab lands, and its progress in Northeast Nigeria, where the extremism more closely resembles that of a sect. The evolution of al-Shabaab in Somalia, in turn, has characteristics that parallel the extremism in both North Africa and Nigeria.