SITREP 2020 1ST QTR

Last month, the security situation in the Sahel deteriorated, especially in central Mali, western Niger and northern Burkina Faso, where suspected jihadists inflicted a heavy toll on civilians. In Nigeria, Boko Haram stepped up attacks and jihadist group Ansaru claimed its first attack since 2013. Al-Shabaab intensified deadly raids in Kenya, and violence rose in Cameroon’s Anglophone areas and eastern DR Congo. Political tensions increased in Somalia’s Galmudug state and Guinea-Bissau, and security forces hardened a crackdown in neighboring Guinea. February could see fighting erupt in Somalia’s Gedo region, escalate in the Central African Republic, and resurge in South Sudan where leaders face a new deadline to form a unity government. The U.S.’s killing of Soleimani caused U.S.-Iran tensions to soar, and Iraq felt the brunt of the fallout.

 Fighting intensified in northern Yemen and
across the Yemen-Saudi Arabia border raising the risk that violence spread. Last
month, the United States reportedly killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Qasim al-Raymi, who has led the jihadist group since 2015, was killed in a US operation in Yemen, the White House said. The jihadist leader had been linked to a series of attacks on Western interests in the 2000s. He took over the leadership after his predecessor was killed by a US drone strike. AQAP was formed in 2009 from two regional offshoots of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and
Saudi Arabia, with the goal of ...