In the early 1990s, the Islamic movement spreading throughout the Islamic world developed momentously from the east to the west, formed rapidly new centers and brought the movement into a regional grouping in North Africa, demonstrating an unprecedentedly forceful posture and a trend of internationalization, especially in Sudan and Algeria where new upsurges have appeared. In June 1989, under the engineering of the National Islamic Front led by the Sudanese religious leader Hassan el Turabi, General Bashir staged a military coup d’état and successfully established an Islamic regime in the Sudan; and in 1990, legal steps were taken to elaborate and further establish the state form of integration of politics with religion, thereby following the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sudan became the second center and gathering place for Islamic activities in North Africa. Since then, the Islamic forces in the region have tremendously grown in courage and strength.1 Liu Yueqin
As a result of the above, as Liu Yueqin rightly observes a domino effect of the Islamic drive has been taking place in Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Besides, terrorist activities have become widespread in the North African countries in recent years and have tended to increase in intensity, and are especially fierce in Egypt and Algeria. At the same time, Islamic extremists in other countries of the region have become very active.2 They have also drawn the attention of the international community and become impedimental to the security, stability and political and economic development of the North African countries themselves. Besides, these Islamic forces have become a source of great strain and stress to the governments in the region.3 Among the North African countries, Egypt is the most vulnerable. Here, terrorist activities are rampant, very serious and acute. This has been the case for many years with political assassinations occurring in succession. One such event which shocked the world was the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. Another one which shook the world equally was the assassination attempt on the life of President Mubarek in Addis Ababa in June 1995. Besides, a number of important government officials and social celebrities including Egypt’s cabinet prime minister, parliament speaker, publicity minister and interior minister were successively attacked by terrorist groups in recent years. Some were killed and others wounded escaping the attempted assassinations. Moreover, the Egyptian tourism sector has been successfully targeted by terrorist groups on several occasions. The latest example of such incidents was the attack that took place at the tourist resort city of Sharmashek in which 88 domestic and international tourists were killed and 200 wounded. This attack coincided with the series of terrorist incidents that took place in the city of London in the month of July 2005 in which 56 people were killed and more than 700 wounded. Tourists have also been targeted in many locations like Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and other places and one of the most recent ones took place in Cairo in April 2005. Most acts of terrorism were perpetrated by homegrown Egyptian terrorists who have caused a lot of destruction and pose a trade to the survival of the state and its polity.4 Terrorist acts have tended to focus on the overthrow of the government of President Mubarek, particularly after 1992. They have also attacked western interests like that of the Unites States in Egypt and resulted in the assassination of innocent tourists and other nationals. A climax was reached in the number of terrorist attacks between January and November of 1997 when more than 30 terrorist incidents took place. This happened in many parts of the country and caused at least 180 fatalities and several hundreds injuries. One of the most notable of the above acts of terror was the assassination carried out by six terrorists at a temple in Luxor on November 17, 1997. This resulted in the killings of 58 foreign tourists and Egyptians. The act severely affected the tourism industry leading to the loss of several billion dollars in revenue from the sector. It also severely hampered the economic growth of the country.5 Another country which faces serious challenges from terrorism is Algeria. It has been for some time seriously preoccupied with Islamic terrorism. These began in the early 1990s and escalated over the decade causing serious havoc to the political stability and economic development of the country until it slackened significantly in early 2000. Events of the 1990s in Algeria were revealing. One of the reasons which led to the intensification of terrorism was the fact that the Islamic Salvation Front (ISF) had grown in strength. It even participated in a western-style democratic election and was able to defeat the ruling party in late 1991. It then became very aggressive when the outcome of the election was annulled by the incumbent government which sent the military forcing it to go underground. Then the anti-government struggle started with the FIS creating many terrorist incidents.6 The Islamic extremists then turned against the west because it supported the incumbent government. Thus, they created disturbances both at home and abroad. They engineered dozens of vicious explosions in Paris and at the US military base in Saudi Arabia and other places, causing great panic in the Western world. Hence, Algeria was very closely identified with terrorism. Since the beginning of the Islamic Ramadan of 1997, a series of terrorist activities were committed in Algeria. Over a dozen bloody terrorist incidents and explosions took place involving the loss of more than thousand lives and destruction of property during this period. It is also estimated that up to 50,000 people were killed and property worth USD 2 billion was lost since 1992.7 The above destruction has had an adverse effect on the political and economic life of Algerians. Besides, such activities have evolved into acts of international terrorism beyond the borders of Algeria. It is also reported that some of these terrorist organizations have presence in the west from where they export arms and ammunitions to Algeria. In response to the above, the Algerian government has had to adopt several measures of counter-terrorism. For instance, it was forced to purchase advanced equipment and weapons form abroad. The General Bureau of National Gendarmerie and State Security have also set up some additional 357-branch contingents in the 46 provinces of the country. Since 1995, the government has also created 5000 local self-protection organizations, including 150 thousand militias to combat terrorism. Hence, at present Algeria has a nation-wide anti-terrorist network in place. The main bodies of this include the army, police, Gendarmerie and the militias which perform a supportive role.8 There has also been talk about an assassination attempt on the life of Libyan leader colonel Gadafi. But, the Libyan government has denied this. Nevertheless, two most well known Islamic opposition groups in Libya - the “Armed Islamic Group” and “Martyr Movement” have claimed responsibility for it and some 300 suspects were allegedly arrested. Besides, analysts are more inclined to believe that the assassination attempt took place as Colonel Gadafi had to cancel his visit of Egypt which was scheduled to take place in June. It is also plausible that the assassination attempt took place in view of the fact that islamist extremist groups are said to operate in the east part of the country. The Libyan air force has also been used to attack fundamentalist groups that operate in the mountainous parts of the country.9 It is also worthy of note that Libya itself has been regarded as a terrorist or terrorist friendly country hostile to US interests for many years until it complied to destroy its nuclear weapons in 2004. In fact, the US had bombed Libya because of the air crash of 1988 with which it was implicated and for which it had to pay substantial amounts of money as compensation. Before that, it was put under comprehensive sanctions including air embargo by the UN Security Council on the insistence of the UK and US. Besides, because of the UN sanctions Libya has incurred great economic losses in different sectors including oil, metallurgy, agriculture, livestock product, trade, transport and communication and other fields since 1994. The total economic loss which it has incurred is estimated at USD 38 billion.10 Sudan was implicated with the two terrorist explosions that hit US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 2001. As a result, on August 20, the US bomb targets in the Sudan and Afghanistan using cruise missiles and aircrafts. The US unilateral action was taken in retaliation to the suspected involvement of the two countries in the terrorist attacks of Bin Laden. The US attacks resulted in great economic losses and human casualties. Naturally, the response of the two countries to the US attacks was one of condemnation for its violation of international law and the charter of the UN. For instance on August 22, the Sudanese Foreign Minister had written to the Chairman of the UN Security Council requesting the UN to prevail on the US to put an end to its acts of aggression. It was also reported that anti-US demonstrations took place in Khartoum during which angry Sudanese youth broke into the already evacuated US Embassy in the capital, burning the US national flag and destroying US Embassy facilities.11 Events in Sudan and Afghanistan were also followed by a chain of very dangerous acts of retaliation and counter-retaliation. According to the US, the anti-US activities followed the order of Bin Laden that American personnel and facilities across the world be attacked. In response to this and because of fear of retaliation the US had closed down three American Centers in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, withdrawn a large part of its embassy staff from such places. The US department of state had also issued warnings to American agencies stationed in various countries of the world, requesting them to adopt a high sense of security consciousness. One reason why the US heightened its alarm to its citizens was the fact that it recognized Bin Laden as a dangerous adversary to its interests. The US also recognized that Bin Laden had both financial strength and strong international support among islamists in the east and west. The US also appreciated the fact that Bin Laden had combat-ready capabilities because of his experience of fighting the USSR in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989.12 Morocco is another victim of terrorism in North Africa. For instance, the “Islamic Organization of Justice and Charity” had boycotted the national election. The said organization has strong support among university students and its leader, Abedssalam Yassine, has been under house arrest for more than 8 years. Besides, the number two leader, Fathallah Arslan, although a moderate who has refrained from criticizing the king, has openly espoused the Iranian model of Islamic state.13 Although the Islamic movements in Morocco are not as radical as similar organizations in Algeria and elsewhere, they have strongly advocated reform and accused the government of creating an artificial parliament. They have also began to exert pressure on the government through their proposals and actions. Economic issues including employment are also frequently raised, but this applies not only to Morocco but also many of the other North African countries and Arab states like Saudi Arabia.14 Economic development in North Africa has generally failed to keep abreast with global trends. As a result, many of them are busy introducing reforms, creating free-trade zones, expanding economic cooperation and opening up their markets to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Nevertheless, such efforts must be backed up by an environment of peace and political stability. Political stability is crucial because the image of the North African countries and Arab states has been badly bruised by various acts of violence perpetrated by Islamist organizations. Investors who are anxious about their profit margin have thus been wary about putting their money where risks are very high. Therefore, it is especially important that the North African countries put an end to the terrorist activities carried out in the name of Islam, which have constituted a major problem affecting the successful development of these countries. Addressing the issue of terrorism is, therefore, a critical priority for improving the business environment. In fact, this probably is why Moroccan king Mohammed VI introduced a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to deal with several thousands of Islamist and other decedent groups in the country in May 2005.15 The Islamists have been flaunting the banner of Islam with apparent political growth. Failing to deal with them promptly could have dire consequences by way of upsetting the political order, undermining the social environment and bringing about great socio-economic losses to the state and society. Heretofore, the North African countries have made great progress in combating religious terrorist activities. The terrorist groups have also been weakened and forced to resort to guerilla tactics. Besides, the Islamist organizations have their own internal problems and contradictions. Some of them include the following:
Given the current efforts, therefore, the North African countries are well poised to weaken the terrorists further and improve the political and business environment. Nevertheless, their future success hinges on how persistently they pursue their current policies of combating terrorism while simultaneously strengthening the results they have achieved so far. FOOTNOTES 1Liu Yueqin, Cited in the African Economist Yearbook, HADAD, 2005, p. 272. 2-3Ibid, pp. 262-63. 4-5Ibid, pp. 264-66. 6-8Ibid, pp. 266-68. 9-10Ibid, pp. 269-71. 11-12Ibid, pp. 273-75. 13-14Ibid, pp. 278-80. 15-16Ibid, pp. 285-90. |
