6 Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In sub-Saharan Africa, crime, jihadism, insurgency and communal violence are all facets of the current active conflicts. Transnational trends converge and overlap with grassroots dynamics – linking local violence across different areas; protracting, exacerbating and entrenching pre-existing disputes and causing spillovers across borders and regions. Political exclusion, institutional and governance weakness, poverty, and a lack of access to resources, job opportunities and land all combine to fuel resentment and sustain armed violence locally. Porous borders and limited state capacity facilitate the movement of armed groups and weapons across large swaths of territory; allow international terrorist and criminal networks – such as the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and al-Qaeda – to exploit sub-national grievances and communal disputes; and shield roving bandits from the reach of national and international security forces. Country-specific factors drive armed violence in Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lake Chad Basin, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan, while at the same time initiating, prolonging or exacerbating conflicts in neighbouring countries. Sub-Saharan Africa