An exploration of how Jihadist forces are responsible for instigating and escalating conflicts in countries across Africa. Africa currently faces more wars, insurgencies, army mutinies, coups d'état and rebellions than at any time since World War II. Conflict in all forms has become endemic, now accentuated by a relative newcomer: Jihadism, increasingly linked to either Islamic State or al-Qaeda. The year 2020 saw a record high in state-based conflicts on the African continent: around 22,000 incidents of armed conflict recorded. There were two dozen country-based military struggles recorded, three or four more than in 2018. Of these, 13 battled over territory, the highest number ever. Incidents of conflict have risen each year since, and the broader canvas since Russia's invasion of the Ukraine suggests things will continue to worsen. Islamic Jihadist forces are responsible for much of this, involved in a succession of conflicts in Africa. These range all the way across the Sub-Sahara swathe, Mauretania, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad, the Sudans as well as Somalia. A more recent entrant to the fray is Tanzania, whose Dar es Salaam government in late 2021 appealed to the European Union for military help to counter an escalating Jihadist insurgency in its southern province. The upward trend is sobering. And there are long-term security implications both within and beyond Africa if conditions do deteriorate, Europe will ultimately be threatened. Veteran war correspondent Al Venter brings his decades of experience to illuminate what Islamic Jihadist forces are effecting in Africa, and why, and what the future may hold. AUTHOR: Al Venter is the author more than 50 titles, many linked to the modern wars of today. These include the war against al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Shabaab in Somalia, historical wars like Biafra, El Salvador, the Lebanese civil war and others, but most notably how both South Africa and Portugal fought their guerrilla struggles in Africa. He is a specialist in weapons of mass destruction: his latest title in this field is Nuclear Terror, to be followed by a book in conjunction with an internationally renowned Israeli scientist on chemical and biological warfare. Al Venter has published nine titles on the realm of the underwater, including free-diving with sharks and uncovering shipwrecks and their treasures.
Author Biography:
Al J. Venter is a specialist military writer and has had 50 books published. He started his career with Geneva’s Interavia Group, then owners of International Defence Review, to cover military developments in the Middle East and Africa. Venter has been writing on these and related issues such as guerrilla warfare, insurgency, the Middle East and conflict in general for half a century. He was involved with Jane’s Information Group for more than 30 years and was a stringer for the BBC, NBC News (New York) as well as London’s Daily Express and Sunday Express.
He branched into television work in the early 1980s and produced more than 100 documentaries, many of which were internationally flighted. His one-hour film, 'Africa’s Killing Fields' (on the Ugandan civil war), was shown nationwide in the United States on the PBS network. Other films include an hour-long program on the fifth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, as well as 'AIDS: The African Connection', nominated for China’s Pink Magnolia Award. His many books include Africa: In the Line of Fire (2023) and Portugal's Bush War in Mozambique (2022), both by Casemate Publishers.
