United Nations — UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Islamic State group poses a growing threat amid political instability in West Africa and the Sahel and remains intent on carrying out attacks abroad, the U.N.’s counterterrorism chief said Thursday.
Vladimir Voronkov reiterated UN findings that IS remains a significant threat to international peace and security, especially in conflict zones, despite significant progress by UN member states in addressing the threat. The group has also increased its operations in its former strongholds in Iraq and Syria as well as in Southeast Asia, Voronkov said.
Voronkov told the UN Security Council that in West Africa and the Sahel, a vast region stretching across the continent, the situation has worsened “and is becoming more complicated” as local ethnic and regional disputes intersect with the agenda and operations of the extremist group, which is also known by its Arabic name Daesh, and its affiliates.
“Daesh affiliates have continued to operate with increasing autonomy from the core of Daesh,” he said, warning that if this trend continues there is a risk that “a huge area of instability will emerge from Mali to the Nigerian border.”
Natalia Gherman, executive director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Commission’s Executive Directorate, said: “They are taking advantage of political instability and expanding their reach, operations and territorial control in the Sahel, with growing concerns for coastal West Africa.”
“The African continent is now responsible for almost half of the terrorist acts worldwide, with the central Sahel accounting for around 25% of these attacks,” he told the council.
Voronkov, who heads the UN’s Counter-Terrorism Office, said tackling the threat of terrorism in Africa remains a priority for his office.
German said “enduring challenges remain in the Middle East and Southeast and Central Asia, with signs that Daesh is trying to rekindle in those sub-regions as well.”
The Islamic State group split from al-Qaeda a decade ago and has attracted supporters from around the world. Despite its defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, UN experts said last month that there were still between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters. In Iraq, they are waging “a low-intensity insurgency with hidden terrorist cells,” while in Syria attacks have intensified since November, experts said.
On positive developments, he pointed to the group’s prolonged delay in appointing a new leader after the previous leader’s assassination, saying this was “considered to reflect internal challenges and difficulties in ensuring the safety of the new leader”. In countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and Mozambique, he said, terrorist activity by Islamic State neighbors “has been reduced by effective counter-terrorism efforts by member states.”
Government efforts to tackle IS financing also continue to produce results, Voronkov said. “Daesh’s financial reserves are currently estimated at between $10 million and $25 million, down from hundreds of millions a few years ago,” the UN undersecretary said.
In Afghanistan, Voronkov said, the efforts of the country’s Taliban rulers “allegedly had an impact on the Daesh affiliate’s ability to carry out attacks inside the country.” However, UN experts have described ongoing ties between the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
German said a priority for her committee is working with the 193 UN member states to counter the use of new technology for terrorist purposes, pointing to IS’s growing use of drones for intelligence gathering and attacks as an example.
Interpol Secretary-General Jürgen Stock said the international police agency is working closely with UN counter-terrorism officials on a project to help law enforcement “identify and prevent the exploitation for terrorist purposes of media such as encryption services , video distribution tools and new propaganda platforms. “
He said Interpol also has a project to collect data on the links between organized crime and terrorists, citing as an example the trafficking of cocaine through North and West Africa mainly by sea and along the Sahel route. “Our findings show interactions between terrorist groups and criminal organizations, where their interests and areas of operation converge to the benefit of both sides,” he said.
To fight terrorism, Stock said, Interpol is focusing on biometrics, border security and battlefield intelligence.