Perspective on the Impact of the Islamic Province of West Africa (ISWAP) on Global Terrorism and International Security Within the Sub-Region, 2015-2025

This paper examined the impact of the terror Islamic fundamentalist group Islamic Province of West Africa (ISWAP), an off-shoot of Al-Qaeda on international security within the West African sub-region and analyzed the effectiveness of international response to terrorism in this region within the decade-2015-2025, the high point of asymmetrical warfare in West Africa. The research methodology adopted a qualitative historical descriptive analysis approach that relied majorly on secondary data. Findings showed that the overall impact of global terrorism on national security among West African states is severe, destabilizing inter-state cooperation and collaboration. Furthermore, the study revealed that international counter-terrorism efforts have had limited success due to lack of coordination among affected states and the international system. The paper therefore recommends that governments in West Africa should enhance cooperation with international partners to counter all insurgent and terror groups particularly, the international scope of the threat posed by ISWAP due to its global terror network. Also, counter-terrorism strategies should focus on addressing the root causes of radicalization and extremism. In addition, the paper also recommended that counterinsurgency military operations against ISWAP should be accompanied by non-kinetic policies and programmes aimed at winning the hearts and minds of local communities to cut-off local support and sympathies for terror groups that enables them to have enclaves and launching pads for terrorism campaigns in several countries.

Insecurity, terrorism, counter-terrorism, Islamic Province of West Africa, radicalization extremism

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