Figure 3. ISGS attack on Inates garrison in Niger 10 December 2021 (in Al Naba)

Islamic State in the Greater Sahara

By Hassane Ousseini

Amidst the turn to great power competition, Africa has been identified as an area where the focus on terrorism will continue. In this struggle, one of the more prominent cases – yet least understood – is that of Niger, where four U.S. special forces personnel were killed, along with an equal number of Nigerien counterparts, four years ago.

Niger’s 24 million people face an insurgency waged by the Islamic State in the Great Sahara (ISGS) in the Tillabéry region borderin...