Foreign Secretary warns of growing threat of terrorism in Africa

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will announce new UK funding to fight the growing threat of terrorism in West Africa.

• Dominic Raab will highlight the growing threat of Daesh-linked groups in Africa

• New UK funds will support efforts to combat terror in the Lake Chad Basin region

• Foreign Secretary will also voice concern at recent violence in north-east Syria

The Foreign Secretary will announce today (Monday) new UK funding to fight the growing threat of terrorism in West Africa.

At a meeting of the Global Coalition against Daesh in Rome this afternoon, Dominic Raab will commit £12.6m to support efforts to counter the group in the Lake Chad Basin, which covers north-east Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

The funds will be used to support both the regionally-led military fight against Daesh, and projects encouraging its fighters to leave the terrorist group.

Foreign ministers from more than 45 countries are meeting today to discuss deepening cooperation to combat Daesh and its affiliate terrorist groups, including emerging threats across the African continent.

The UK will highlight concern over the fragile security situation in Iraq and violence in displacement camps and detention centres in north-east Syria.

Dominic Raab will urge Coalition partners to come together to tackle this pressing threat and target the longer-term drivers of terrorism, both in the Middle East and in areas of Africa where attacks from Daesh-linked groups have been growing.

The UK is funding a new Conflict, Stability and Security Fund programme for the Lake Chad Basin region of West Africa, where Daesh’s affiliate, known as Islamic State West Africa (ISWA), is responsible for significant violence.

This will support regional military efforts to counter Daesh and other groups, as well as efforts to safely demobilise suspected low-level members of terrorist groups.

Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, said:

“Two years since Daesh’s territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria, the threat of Daesh and its hateful ideology has not gone away. Worryingly it continues to grow in Africa which is why we must work with our Coalition partners to fight its poisonous propaganda on all fronts.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with our African partners to tackle the growing threat from Daesh-linked groups across Africa, particularly in the Lake Chad Basin.”

Daesh recently released a new speech by its spokesman, the first since October 2020.

The spokesman congratulated affiliates for their attacks, including in West Africa. Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) in Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin regularly issues propaganda boasting horrific violence against both civilian and military targets. The funding announced today will help counter such propaganda.

As set out in the Government’s Integrated Review, the UK is committed to burden-sharing with its security allies, and to serving as a “force for good in the world”.

Monday’s meeting in Rome will mark the first time Global Coalition foreign ministers have met in person since November 2019, and will be co-hosted by Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.