Since
African countries gained independence, most African countries have failed to
establish effective government institutions to provide better services of their
citizens. Many African countries have faced a number of serious challenges,
including poverty, mismanagement, underdevelopment, conflicts and corruption.
Structural problems of Africa such as wars and conflicts have damaged political
and economic growth in Africa. After 2000, a new social and political
transformation has emerged in African societies. The new radical organizations
have began to play more active role in shaping political, economic and foreign
policies of the African governments. The emergence of the new radical
organizations has also posed new threats for the African countries and the
strategic interests of the West. Particularly, the Boko Haram in Nigeria and
al-Shabaab in Somalia have become growing organizations since 2000.
Nigeria
and Somalia are the two important countries in the region of the Sub-Saharan
Africa. While Nigeria is a strategic country producing oil, Somalia is a
gateway for the Red Sea and the Arabic Peninsula. Both countries are of high
importance of the strategic interests of the West. Since African countries
gained independence, the international actors have not lost their interest in
the strategic countries of Africa, such as Nigeria and Somalia. Though Nigeria
and Somalia have significant natural resources, they have faced significant
challenges, such as poverty, mismanagement, military coups, and the activities
of the radical organizations. The attacks and policies of Boko Haram in Nigeria
and al-Shabaab in Somalia not only threaten peace and security in these
countries, but also posed new threats and challenges for the West.
The
first and the most important threat for the West emerged by Boko Haram and
al-Shabaab is that they have threatened economic interests of the Western
companies in African countries. The second threat is that the radical
organizations have rejected the legitimacy of the governments and attacked the
official buildings of the government. However, the West has provided economic,
political and military support for the governments of Somalia and Nigeria to
keep the friendly regimes in power. The collapse of the friendly regimes in
power would create a number of significant new threats and challenges for the
Western powers. The third threat is that radical organizations also damage
strategic collaboration between the neighboring countries. It is necessary to
increase economic relations among the neighboring countries to eliminate
poverty and underdevelopment. The structural problems of Africa, including
poverty, corruption, mismanagement, and underdevelopment have led to the
emergence of social divisions and the marginalization of the society. Changing
new security dynamics in Africa after the 9/11 attacks have also contributed to
the increasing power of the radical organizations in Nigeria and Somalia.
There
have been internal, regional and international dynamics forcing the group of
al-Shabaab. More significantly, internal divisions, long-standing war and
conflicts, clan conflicts and poverty are the most important reason for the
increasing power of the Al-Shabaab in Somalia. In addition, the intervention of
outside actors in the internal affairs of Somalia and neo-colonial policies of
the Western powers towards Somalia are making contribution to the growing of
the al-Shabaab in the region. The failure of an effective central government
has become one of the most important factors behind the emergence of
al-Shabaab.
It
can be argued that internal dynamics are the most important factors forcing the
activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria. Economic development, creation of job
opportunities and development of infrastructure in Nigeria and Somalia can be a
strategic solution to eliminate the radical organizations. Without solving
internal challenges in Africa, the violent attacks of the radical organizations
in Nigeria and Somalia would not have been stopped and they would continue to
gain their legitimacy in the society. It can be said that poverty, corruption,
underdevelopment are the most important factors creating and strengthening the
radical organizations in Africa. Furthermore, the oppressive policies of the
former colonial powers in Africa paved the way for the destabilization of
political and economic stability in most African countries. The legacy of
colonialism is still fresh and being a huge dynamics on the birth of radical
organizations. For instance, Britain, Italy and France were actively involved
in political affairs of Somalia and established their own political and
economic systems in the country and created a complicated political system in
Somalia. The complexity of the colonial administration in African countries
created in the 19th and the 20th centuries has also continued
to destroy relations between the African countries.
The
both radical organizations have shaped their identity according to the social,
economic, political and religious structure of their countries. The main aim of
the Boko Haram and al-Shabaab is not to support Islam or to spread over the
religions. The aims are especially political not religious motivation. The
radical organizations have a strong intention to exploit the religions to
recruit the supporters and to gain legitimacy through the exploitation of the
religions. Therefore, the both groups do not have Islamic identity. The both
groups fight against the governments and aim to topple the existing governments
and establish a new state. There has been a struggle for power among the
different powers or tribes in Nigeria and Somalia to gain control over the
state and benefit more from the strategic resources of the states.
There
have been questions in analyzing the activities of these radical groups in the
West. Biased analyzes and comments on the radical organizations in Africa made
mostly by the Western thin tanks and scholars have reduced the credibility of
the academic analyses in the West. The West needs to understand the origins of
the radical groups and the internal dynamics of these countries. The
definitions of the West on the radical organizations include prejudices. For
instance, the most Western think tanks and scholars have used the definitions
of “militant Islam”, “Islamic Terror”, and Islamic Terrorist Organizations” to
depict the groups of Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. Especially, the 9/11 attacks on
the US have brought significant changes in African politics. After the attacks,
many African countries have adopted security-oriented foreign and security
policies as a result of the pressure of the US and the UN and the number of the
academic publications including the biased comments and analyses regarding the
religion of Islam has begun to increase. These prejudiced approaches have weakened the
credibility of the Western scholarship in the world. It should be noted that
terrorist organizations do not have any religious identity and they only carry
out their missions through violence to reach their aims.
