Strategic Thinking on East Africa

  Editors Jennifer G. Cooke and Richard Downie A Report of the CSIS Africa Program Introduction: The Intersection of Religion and Politics in Africa Jennifer G. Cooke Overview In the last decade, U.S. policymakers have been increasingly open to exploring religious issues at a broad policy level. There has been stronger emphasis on the role […]

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From African Arguments by Nathalie Arnold Koenings The ruling CCM party has a record of dismissing opposition in Zanzibar as “Islamist”. With tight elections on the horizon, this divisive rhetoric has been turned up. For over 20 years, Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has attempted to maintain control of the islands of Zanzibar by linking […]

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From The International Crisis Group By Rashid Abdi Many paths have been tried to counter the appeal of violent religious extremism in East Africa. In the Muslim community, traditional Sufism is being increasingly viewed as an important new way. But it should be followed with caution, since official embrace of just one religious custom can never […]

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AUTHOR: David Shinn, Adjunct Professor, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University Whatever the outcome of Turkey’s political deadlock, business and cultural connections are too deeply embedded to allow interest in Turkey’s Africa strategy to cease, writes David Shinn. The maiden commercial flight for Turkish Airlines into Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, 6 March 2012. Photo: Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images. […]

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From the Brookings Institution Shadi Hamid and William McCants | After decades speculating on what Islamists would do when they came to power, academics and Islamists themselves finally have their answer. And it is confusing. In the Sunni hinterland between Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State established a government by brute force and implemented an […]

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August 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese authorities on Saturday have re-arrested the Salafist Jihadist preacher and supporter of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Masa’ad al-Sidairah along with several of his disciples. ISIS fighter Abu al-Fida al-Sudani reported killed in Syria in June 2015 (Photo from a YouTube vedio released by ISIS) […]

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  By William R. Patterson In September 2013, an attack carried out by the al Qaeda–affiliated terror- ist group al-Shabaab on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, drew renewed attention to the extremist threat facing that country. At least four attackers left more than 65 people dead after a multiday rampage. All four of […]

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Kenya detains alleged Islamic State recruiters from Uganda 4:55 AM Friday Jul 3, 2015 NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ” Kenyan authorities are holding two Ugandan men who are accused of recruiting for the Islamic State group in East Africa. The Kenya Anti-Terrorism Police Unit on Thursday sought a magistrate’s permission to continue holding the Ugandans it […]

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by Mathilde SiMon Mathilde SiMon The article analyses the recent attack conducted by al Shabaab in Garissa, Kenya, by tying the current conflict back to the emergence of violence in Kenya’s Northern Province under colonial rule. The author argues that the long-standing violation of the Somali community’s basic needs has developed into a cycle of […]

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LAMU, Kenya, June 15 (Xinhua) — Kenyan police on Monday confirmed that a British Muslim convert has been killed in a foiled raid by Al-Shabaab fighters on a military camp in the country’s coastal region of Lamu. The British citizen in his twenties, Thomas Evans, alias Abdul Hakim, and Al-Shabaab’s regional commander, Lukeman Osman, alias […]

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