On 3 September 2025, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) held a Technical Knowledge Exchange aimed at informing Member States about current trends, issues and developments relating to terrorism and counter-terrorism in West Africa, particularly the Lake Chad basin region and the Gulf of Guinea.
Panellists included staff from CTED and the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team and members of CTED’s Global Research Network, as well as a civil society partner. The Monitoring Team focused on the threat landscape, including current and emerging challenges in West Africa, while CTED examined trends from the past five years of Counter-Terrorism Committee assessment visits in the region The audience included more than 100 representatives from Member States, civil society organizations, and academia.
The central themes were the threat landscape in the region, evolving technology exploited by terrorist groups, the proliferation of propaganda on social media, socioeconomic drivers of instability, potentially increasing radicalization to violence in the region, and the lack of trust between communities and local government authorities.
CTED elaborated on recent engagement with Member States on these issues, including the 11 assessment visits CTED has made to African Member States since 2020. CTED also presented preliminary findings from a two-part round-table series on civil society perspectives on countering terrorism in the region. The Monitoring Team presented on the shifting dynamics of extremist groups in West Africa, with a focus on Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Boko Haram, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. Despite the internal struggles of groups like ISWAP and Boko Haram, including fragmentation and the loss of key leadership, they have continued to spread their influence and carry out numerous lethal attacks. In addition, some terrorist groups have increased the use of improvised explosive devices in their attacks against civilians and military personnel. Concerns were also shared about the use of unmanned aircraft systems, as well as the use of social media to live-stream propaganda and monetize content.
Dr. Olajumoke Ayendele, from CTED’s Global Research Network partner New York University, highlighted her work on violent extremism and post-conflict reconstruction. She spoke about the urgent need to rethink current counter-terrorism approaches. She emphasized that groups like Boko Haram have deeply embedded themselves in local communities, particularly in border regions, and mentioned the impacts of environmental degradation on these communities. These areas are often underserved by governments, lacking timely information and transparency, which fuels mistrust and weakens resilience. She warned of the growing use of social media platforms by extremist groups and flagged the emerging, but underaddressed, threat of terrorist groups leveraging artificial intelligence.
Alan Bobbett and Mirko Hoff, from CTED’s civil society partner the Association Résilience pour la Paix operating in Côte d’Ivoire, presented input from their community-based resilience programme aimed at countering insecurity in the country’s northern regions. They discussed several stressors – such as strained relationships with security forces and bureaucratic hurdles in obtaining identity papers – that can erode trust and weaken local resilience. Their project underscored the importance of inclusive, locally driven strategies to addressing insecurity and fostering long-term stability.
Overall, panellists examined the persistent and escalating nature of terrorist organizations in the region. This highlights the need for Member States and international actors to evolve and remain efficient in the fight against terrorism. Participants further discussed the factors that compound the threat of violent extremism, including the lack of opportunity, education, and resources throughout these regions.