Moroccan Security Chief Warns of Growing Terrorist Threat from Sahel Region

"It is from this region that the terrorist threat weighing on the kingdom and the neighboring countries originates today. This is explained by the political, social and economic turmoil in the area. It is a vast region where security surveillance is not obvious. After their respective falls in Afghanistan and Syria, the two main terrorist organizations, namely Al-Qaeda and ISIS, found fertile ground in the Sahel. Since then, several organizations have been active there: some are affiliated with AQIM [Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb], others with Al-Qaeda," he explained in an interview with Jeune Afrique.

The head of the Moroccan FBI also points out that there is also the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS), led by Adnane Abou Walid al-Sahraoui, a native of Laâyoune and a former active member of the Polisario Front. He recalled that the latter had, from 2016 to 2020, claimed several terrorist operations in the region. "The Sahel region is becoming an epicenter of terrorist organizations," he noted.

"Faced with the dangerousness of these organizations, regional security cooperation is a sine qua non condition to annihilate the threat. However, and we regret it, there is no cooperation with our eastern neighbor, Algeria," lamented Haboub Cherkaoui, noting that it is a danger, but also an obstacle, for all the efforts made by the countries of the region and other world powers to fight this phenomenon.

The Sahel is not the only terrorist threat looming over Morocco. "In addition to the Sahel region, the return of Moroccan terrorist fighters is one of the biggest challenges for the BCIJ and the kingdom," said the BCIJ chief, recalling that 1,654 Moroccans have joined the terrorist organization of the Islamic State since its emergence in 2014.