The Islamist Challenge and Africa explores Islamist militancy in Africa south of the Sahara, one of the most dangerous regions in the world. More people have died from political conflict in Africa than in any other place on earth. Between 1999 and 2008, Africa experienced thirteen major armed conflicts, the highest of any region. Between 1993 and 2014 Africa witnessed no less than 50 per cent of the world's genocides and politicides. The Islamist Challenge examines, (1) al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda ally, (2) al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, (3) Boko Haram, an ISIS ally and (4) other Islamist insurgencies among Africans. Boko Haram alone may have killed as many as 31, 000 mostly African civilians since 2009, a figure that ranks among the highest in the world. Boko Haram's leader has threatened the West, the US and its President, making his challenge both African and international despite the fact that most Americans have never heard of him. But the Paris attacks of 2015 with roots in France's 2005 "riots" by mostly brown and black militants with links to North and West Africa suggests the danger is no less real. Africa has never been a priority among policy makers and is the only world region whose top military command center, AFRICOM is located a continent away in Stuttgart, Germany. But a 6,000-page classified report released in 2018 after the ambush and killing of four US soldiers in Niger in 2017 suggests that this may be about to change. The Islamist Challenge examines Islamist militancy's longstanding presence among Africans, Islamist militancy's distinct ideological features among Africans and ways to minimize if not eliminate its violence. One critic describes the challenge as one that presents a choice not between war and peace but between war and endless war! Whether this is true or not, a change in Africa's status among policy makers is long overdue. The adage: let not the important be the enemy of the urgent may be a warning to policy makers to abandon the error of marginalizing Africa and Africans before it is too late. The Islamist Challenge underscores this warning.
Samory Rashid is professor of political science at Indiana State University.
The book is as much a must-read for those interested in the complexities of African security challenges as it is for those curious or concerned about global terrorism and the notorious WOT. Particularly, its rich and in-depth historical analyses of the Islamist challenge is arguably unmatched, while its audacity to tackle this highly politicized yet timely and important subject is commendable.--African Studies Quarterly "The importance of 21st century Africa as ground for staging terror has been seriously under-estimated by the West, argues Samory Rashid. In this timely and provocative book, he argues that effective intervention demands a deeper appreciation of the interplay of politics, faith, and violence on this routinely marginalized continent. The Islamist Challenge and Africa is an excellent place to begin this task." -Jean and John Comaroff, Harvard University--Jean Comaroff Samory Rashid has provided, for the first time, a study of Islamist challenges, military, social and intellectual, across the African continent. He is weary of the preoccupation with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, which have dominated the attention on contemporary terrorism, alert to the neglect and condescension which scholars and policy makers have long shown to the African continent, and acutely aware of the large and fast-growing population of Africa and its Muslim societies. He explores the multiple challenges in Africa - a vast continent and potential theater of many threats and weaker states, complicated by the fall of the Qaddafi regime in Libya and the lethal weapons which became available. He goes far beyond the better-known examples of Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabab in Somalia to document a whole range of threats which have gained the attention of American and European military forces in the last two decades. His volume will be essential to policy makers, intelligence and military experts, students and faculty in North America and, indeed, the world.--David Robinson, Michigan State University Samory Rashid provides a highly informative and compelling reason for greater US involvement in Africa--clearly not less--just as the Defense Department prepares to close US military posts in Niger, Tunisia, Cameroon, Libya and Kenya and draw down Special Operations units in the North Africa and its southern border states while diminishing alliances across Africa. Clearly, The Islamist Challenge is a must-read' not only for the general public but especially for United States' foreign and military policy makers.--Marilyn E. Lashley, Professor Emerita, Howard University
