north africa and middle east

8/3/2019 North Africa and Middle East

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Beauty Meets Terror

Innocence Meets Terror

Kevin Currie

LIB 323 Revolution And TerrorismCurtis Turney

April 1, 2009

So Different, Yet The Same

Along a dusty dirt road, a group of children make an old dilapidated building whose walls, which are

made of mud, cracking in the massive heat of the African sun. As the children make their way into theonly school in the area, a rumbling sound slowly growing louder. Suddenly the teacher shouted a word

in their native tongue translated as hide, was heard by children. Scattering to avoid detection of the

military trucks, the children carefully hide or become a soldier in a rouge army for a terrorist group.

It is situations such as this, which may not make the nightly evening news in America. Still thesetypes of events are just one method to build an army for terrorist purposes in the regions of Africa and

the Middle East (Muhammad). Still even if Africa and the Middle East are miles apart, these countries

share similar and contrasting points of interest breading ground for terrorist movements.As terrorist groups evolve so do their movements and goals to complete their tasks toward an

aggressor. It is no secret the region of Africa has become a country of corruption, dismay, and the

center of terrorist training camps. (Combs) Most notable comparison between these two regions is theerosion of the community, which creates a nucleus for another way of life. Take for example terrorist

movements in Nigeria of December 2001. A surge of religious and ethnic conflicts in recent years, at

the cost of thousands of lives. Riots, the looting of churches and mosques, and massacres of both

Christians and Muslims at the hands of ethnic militia groups have occurred, as well as bomb explosionsin Lagos. (Somalia)

Meanwhile so-called martyrs wearing bomb vests subjugate similar attacks in areas of the Middle East

including Iraq and Israel, killing dozens, or hundreds. In both regions their movements are similar inthat there is a message to be delivered. Depending on the group responsible the message may be slight

different from one another, yet a common thread remains, someone somewhere wants a drastic change.

Whereas the goals of these groups are the same, massive changes to a policy, including the removal ofa certain group or military presence; their methods between these regions are drastically different.

Within the Middle East, finance for terrorism is usually funded through sympathy government

supporters including Hamas, and Saudi Arabia (Combs) Additionally the growth of the poppy flower inAfghanistan is on the rise, as farmers have little choice to grow anything else, contributing to the drug

trade and placing money in the pockets of terrorists.


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Once the money is in hand, the efforts of organization an attack towards and enemy begins, and

involves tactics including satellite phones, computers, high-level connections, vast amounts of money

recruiting those who have access to materials need to complete a mission (Combs) The methods carried

out by Middle- East terrorists are done so with clock work precision.However, the tactics in Africa, while somewhat similar in accessing high profile persons to move their

goals further, many have seen a more primal approach in many areas. One example is the uprising in

Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana where people were being terrorized not with bombs, with riots using guns,axes, clubs, and knives against a people during political unrest (Schonteich). Further more children are

kidnapped and forced into an army against an enemy they never met for the sake of a leader. Where as

in the Middle East children and other members are recruited under a method of religion and the rewardof being in paradise (Combs)

Regardless of the region of the world places including Africa and the Middle East are terrorist hubs of

the world. Their common link between these areas include poverty, and lack of hope of a better life,

which assist in fueling the on going threats in the world. Evidence suggests there is no quick fix toresolve the problems in these regions and the terrorists they create. Perhaps over time solutions to

smaller problems, will lead to larger more complex issues to be resolved creating a decline is the

number of terrorist activities and allow people to live an peace.

References

Malkhadir M. Muhammad, Kenya Warns of Terror Threat,

Associated Press, March 6, 2007.

Report on the Needs of the Mujahidin in Somalia, AFGP- 2002-800600 (West

Point, NY: Combating Terrorism Center, 2007),

www.ctc.usma.edu/aq/AFGP-2002-800600-Trans-Meta.pdf (accessed March 31, 2007).

M Schonteich and H Boshoff, Volk, faith and fatherland: The security threatposed by the White right, Institute for Security Studies, monograph 81,

March 2003.

Combs, Cindy C. and Martin W. Slann. 1997. International Encyclopedia of

Terrorism. Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.

Ehrlich, Isaac. 1973. Participation in Illegitimate


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