The threat of militant attack has long been apparent in Nigeria, where militants have caused the country to lose a minimum of 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), costing some $US22 billion in oil revenues since 2006, due to attacks on oil facilities. However, the threat is also increasing in a number of other African countries, as militants in resource-rich Chad, Niger, Mali, Sudan, and the Maghreb continue to threaten increased attacks on foreign installations and personnel. ...more

In September 2008, an Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) message broadcast in jihadist Internet forums threatened France and Spain, warning those involved in "the war against Islam" to "repent" because "punishment is imminent." The message said AQIM will also continue to fight to drive France and the United States from Algeria. The threat was one of a string of Qaida-linked proclamations against the West. Two months earlier, an AQIM leader said the group was planning worldwide attacks targeting American, European, and "Jewish" interests because the group claims the U.S. is building military bases in southern Algeria and is taking Algerian oil. Meanwhile, in November 2007, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaida's second-in-command, issued a renewed call for holy war against North African leaders and their French, Spanish, and U.S. allies, his second such call after the terrorist leader's previous proclamation in September 2007 was followed by an attack on an Algerian police convoy escorting European workers in Bouira that injured two French workers and an Italian national. Zawahiri also announced that the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group had allied itself with AQIM. As this report details, Al-Qaida's recent decrees and increasing terrorist attacks against Western interests in North Africa may indicate the escalating power of a pan-Maghreb terrorist organization that could threaten not only Western interests within the region but could also launch attacks in Europe. ...more

A series of three deadly attacks within a week on the outskirts of Algiers shows that the threat of terrorism is a continuing risk in Algeria's capital city, especially as one of the attacks appeared to specifically target a foreign national and another was staged at a popular seaside café. The consecutive Algiers attacks suggest that Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) may be preparing for a larger operation in the area, as the terrorist group conducted a number of similar attacks in 2007 after not having carried out an attack in the capital city in years. ...more