Terrorist Networks Project

Russia is reinforcing its positions in Libya and sub-Saharan Africa as it continues to consolidate in and withdraw some of its forces from Syria.

Ethiopia and Somalia agreed on December 11 to work toward securing Ethiopian commercial access to the Red Sea as part of a Turkish-mediated deal that will likely benefit Ethiopia and Turkey and undermine the SFG’s legitimacy. Ethiopia will likely withdraw from or at least pause its controversial naval base agreement with the breakaway Somaliland region because of the new agreement with Somalia, which is known as the Ankara Declaration.

The ongoing election dispute between Jubbaland and the SFG sparked a brief firefight in late November and continues to pose a heightened threat of further internal political violence and a direct or proxy conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia. Ethiopia could take advantage of the escalating dispute between Jubbaland and the Somali Federal Government (SFG) to increase its presence in the region in the context of Ethiopia’s own disputes with the SFG and Egypt.

Russia used the first Russia-Africa Ministerial Summit to continue pushing narratives and securing deals that advance its strategic objective of using Africa to undermine the Western-led international system and highlight its stature as a global power.

Al Qaeda’s Sahelian affiliate JNIM attacked a military checkpoint in the Niamey suburbs, signaling its ability to attack the Nigerien capital roughly one month after it launched its first attack on the Malian capital in a decade. A major attack on Niamey would likely undermine the Nigerien junta’s legitimacy and support base, which could cause the junta to turn to external backers like Iran and Russia for additional military assistance.

JNIM claimed an attack on a border post in northern Niger near the border with Algeria, marking the group’s first attack in far northern Niger. Nigerien Tuareg rebels also gave a competing claim for the attack but failed to provide evidence. The competing claims possibly indicate that the two groups are coordinating their operations, as Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wa al Muslimeen (JNIM) has done with Tuareg rebels in Mali.

The presidents of Egypt, Eritrea, and Somalia formalized and deepened an anti-Ethiopian alliance during a trilateral summit on October 10. The summit is part of a framework that Egypt, Eritrea, and Somalia are developing to counter Ethiopia if it follows through on its port deal with Somaliland.

The FARDC and allied militias launched an offensive operation on September 26 against a Rwandan rebel group in eastern DRC. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may have launched the offensive against the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) to advance ongoing peace talks aiming to end the conflict in the eastern DRC among the DRC, Rwanda, and their proxies. An anti-FDLR offensive has been a key Rwandan demand in peace talks because Rwanda’s Tutsi-dominated government views the FDLR as a threat.

The SAF launched an offensive to relieve several besieged units in Khartoum. Iranian or Turkish drones likely helped set conditions for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) offensive. The end of the rainy season in Sudan will likely increase fighting across the country in the coming months, which will compound the humanitarian crisis and continue to stall peace talks.

Amhara ethno-nationalist militias known as Fano have waged an offensive in northern Ethiopia’s Amhara region since July that has involved militants expanding control over several key roadways and included an attack on Ethiopia’s second-largest city in September. The offensive likely aims to establish control over key lines of communication to degrade the federal government’s access to northern Amhara and disputed territories in Tigray region.