Kenya’s decision to launch a military intervention in Somalia to eliminate the threat posed by the Islamist al-Shabaab movement has resulted in battlefield successes but has also led to terrorist attacks and riots in the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa and even the formation of... MORE

The recent arrests of Boko Haram members in the Niger town of Zinder come at a time when the Islamist movement’s fighters are taking advantage of the porosity of the Nigeria-Niger border region to avoid security crackdowns in Yobe, Borno and other states of northeastern... MORE

The Central African nation of Burundi has reached a political crossroads. In the last decade Burundi has managed, with international assistance, to bring an end to a vicious civil war and install a government that reflects demographic and tribal realities in Burundi. However, since the... MORE

TURKISTAN ISLAMIC PARTY’S ABDUL SHAKOOR TURKISTANI KILLED IN FATA AIR STRIKE The amir of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), Abdul Shakoor Turkistani (see Militant Leadership Monitor, December 2011), was killed in an air strike on his training camp in the Shawal Valley of Pakistan on August 24, 2012.... MORE

This year, the anniversary of the al-Qaeda 9/11 attacks on the United States was marred by a series of demonstrations against American diplomatic missions, beginning in Egypt and quickly spreading to Libya, ultimately covering a band of Muslim communities from the United Kingdom to Australia.... MORE

ANGOLA Operation Shows China Testing Overseas Security Role On August 25, officials from the Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS) escorted 37 suspects back to China for violent crimes—including human trafficking, kidnapping, robbery and blackmail—against Chinese émigrés in Angola. The MPS made the arrests in... MORE

Over 22 years of fighting for a variety of rebel-movements and national governments, General Bosco “The Terminator” Ntaganda has established himself as the leading warlord in the little-known Nord-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Nord-Kivu region is at the heart... MORE

IMU ANNOUNCES USMAN GHAZI AS NEW AMIR AFTER MONTHS OF DELIBERATION The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) announced in a statement that Usman Ghazi is the IMU’s new amir (high-ranking Sheikh), taking over the position from the late Abu Usman Adil, who was killed in a drone... MORE

After twenty years of anarchy, Somalia’s Constituent Assembly approved a new draft constitution on August 1, paving the way for the replacement of the transitional government by an elected president with a new cabinet and parliament on August 20, a year after the withdrawal of... MORE

By: Dario Cristiani, Michael W. S. Ryan, Camille Tawil, Jacob Zenn In this Special Report on the Libya Elections we examine the entrance of militant leaders into the political scene as the country recovers from several decades of Gaddafi's rule. This 2012 Quarterly Special Report features five articles and... MORE