During the night of December 1 to 2, 2021, Benin suffered an attack which, for the first time, targeted the military. Two of them were killed. “To date, only one attack in connection with a jihadist group in Benin has been made public: in May 2019, two French tourists were kidnapped by bandits in the Pendjari park, in the far North, before d ‘to be sold to jihadist groups in neighboring Burkina Faso. Their guide had been assassinated “, wrote AFP. As for the attack, “the attackers would have come from elsewhere”, indicates the New Tribune. According to his sources, “there is no jihadist unit established in Benin and the border with Burkina Faso is under close surveillance”. However, according to the website, the threat is taken very seriously.
It does not take more to increase the pressure and predict that the countries of the Gulf of Guinea coast will soon fall into turmoil. The threat of jihadist contagion regularly returns to the headlines, whether for Benin, Togo, Senegal or Côte d’Ivoire. Already in December 2019, the International Crisis Group study center sounded the alarm, in particular because of the situation in Burkina Faso where bloody abuses by jihadists are increasing.
Thus Senegal, a country which has never known an attack, scrutinizes the slightest sign, and even President Macky Sall shows his concern. “We fear contagion, because their objective is to reach the Atlantic coast. Senegal and the coastal countries are the last ramparts, we must prepare to return to the battle”, he hammered during an interview on February 23.
The Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa, on December 6 and 7, 2021, served as an indicator of the state of mind that reigns in West Africa. “The metastasis has started and probably more than we know, and more than the authorities in these countries will be ready to admit, at least publicly”, a European diplomat told AFP, on condition of anonymity.
For many observers, the repeated clashes in the north of Côte d’Ivoire are proof of the advance of the jihadists. The situation is under control, assures the Chief of Staff. On the one hand, a military base has been set up in the border town of Tengrela. On the other hand, France has largely funded the International Academy for the Fight Against Terrorism (AILCT) based in Abidjan. It wants to be the spearhead of the fight against terrorism.