Christopher A. Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, made a rare visit to sub-Saharan Africa this week to discuss counterterrorism strategies with regional partners at a time when both the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are gaining momentum on the continent.
Mr Wray, who met with officials in Kenya and Nigeria, repeated his warning that the United States and its allies worldwide were “operating in an environment of heightened threat” that has been activated by the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“The main reason for my visit to both countries was to raise awareness about threats on the continent that have serious implications for the US homeland but do not get the attention they deserve,” Mr. Wray said in a telephone interview from Nigeria on Friday. “For several years now, groups like ISIS, like al-Qaeda, have seen Africa as very fertile ground.”
Indeed, U.S. intelligence officials estimate that al-Shabaab in Somalia has about 7,000 to 12,000 members and annual income — including taxation or extortion of civilians — of about $120 million, making it the largest and wealthiest al-Qaeda affiliate in the world.
“Shabab is in many ways one of the most threatening foreign terrorist organizations out there,” Mr Wray said.
At the same time, groups in West Africa that have pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are on the march. Military coups toppled civilian-led governments in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger. The new leaders ordered American and French troops out and in some cases called in Russian mercenaries to take their place.
As a result, US officials are trying to work with a new set of countries in coastal West Africa to fight a violent extremist insurgency they say is steadily spreading south.
Discussions in Kenya and Nigeria between American and African officials this week, Mr. Wray said, focused on overlapping interests and ways to combat common threats.
“Dealing with threats from groups like Shabaab and Islamic State is certainly more than any one agency or even a government can handle alone,” he said.
Mr. Wray’s visit to Kenya — the first by an FBI director in 15 years, officials said — comes after President Biden hosted Kenyan President William Ruto for a state dinner last month and pledged to set the country as a “major non-NATO ally”. The move reflects the White House’s determination to deepen relations with the East African nation, even as other countries – including Russia and China – struggle to do the same.
The FBI has worked closely with Kenyans since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to track down Qaeda operatives. In 2020, the FBI and the State Department helped Kenya create a terrorism task force based on those based on the office in cities in the United States. It was the bureau’s first joint terrorism task force outside the United States, according to the FBI
The FBI also has agents stationed at the US Embassy in Nairobi investigating terrorism and other crimes.
In West Africa’s Sahel region, US officials say they are changing their approach to fighting an insurgency rooted in local concerns. Competition for land, exclusion from politics and other local issues have swelled the militant ranks more than any particular commitment to extremist ideology.
“When you look at the region, the West African region more broadly, we’re still concerned about the instability and how that could impact the ability of terrorist groups to exploit that situation,” said Mr. Wray, the FBI’s first director who visited Nigeria. .
“That’s part of why we’re very focused on working so closely with our partners in Nigeria and some of the other countries to try to stay as cautious as we can,” he said.
ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates in Africa have focused their attacks on the region rather than Europe or the United States. Mr Wray noted, however, the case of a Shabab operative who was accused a few years ago of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into a building in the United States in a 9/11-style attack.
“Apart from the threat to Westerners and our interests here in Africa, we are very wary of the possibility that their plans and intentions could change at any moment,” Mr Wray said. “So while yes, these are ‘foreign’ threats, people in the US shouldn’t think of them as issues a world away.”
Adam Goldman contributed to the report.