There is little question that the assaults in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001 and the period of high-octane interventionism that followed continue to cast a long shadow on many parts of the continent. PHOTO | AFP
Paths to militancy are complex and varied, as Crisis Group has long argued, and do not correspond to grievances alone.
But perceptions of marginalisation offered fodder that entrepreneurs as varied as Hamadou Koufa in Mali, Mohammed Yusuf in Nigeria and Aboud Rogo in Kenya could exploit, targeting a tiny yet potent fringe within the Muslim community and guiding them onto the path of militancy.
It would be a mistake, of course, to see the growing web of jihadism in Africa as flowing solely from Washington’s wide-reaching post-9/11 “war on terror”.
