Security Council Meeting on West Africa and the Sahel – Remarks by the Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, 7 July 2022

Thank you for inviting me to share the Peacebuilding Commission’s perspectives. I would like to express the Commission’s full support for SRSG Annadif’s good offices in West Africa and the Sahel, and the activities of UNOWAS. Drawing on the Commission’s country-specific and regional engagements, I wish to bring following points to the Security Council’s attention:

Hijra And Jihad: What Islamic State’s Call For Migration Means For Terrorism In Africa

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has recently focused on Africa, encouraging its fighters to migrate there in order to establish a new strong base of operations. In a series of propaganda messages, ISIS referred to Africa as a new land of Hijra (Migration) and Jihad, and stated that its fighters would operate in the same manner as in Syria and Iraq until the establishment of a strong caliphate.