FBI Director Christopher A. Wray made an extraordinary trip to sub-Saharan Africa this week to discuss counterterrorism strategies with regional partners as both the Islamic State and al-Qaida gain strength on the continent.
Meeting with Kenyan and Nigerian officials, Ray reiterated his warning that the United States and its allies around the world are “operating in an elevated threat environment” heightened by the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“The main purpose of my visits to both countries was to raise awareness about threats on the African continent that have serious implications for the U.S. homeland but that have not received enough attention,” Ray said in a phone interview from Nigeria on Friday. “Over the last few years, groups like ISIS and al-Qaida have viewed Africa as very fertile ground.”
Indeed, U.S. intelligence estimates that Somalia's al-Shabaab has between 7,000 and 12,000 members and annual revenues, including from taxation and extortion of civilians, of approximately $120 million, making it the world's largest and wealthiest al-Qaeda affiliate.
“Shabaab is in many ways one of the most feared foreign terrorist organizations,” Ray said.
At the same time, West African groups that have declared allegiance to al-Qaida and the Islamic State have been gaining strength. Military coups have ousted civilian-led governments in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger. The new leaders have ordered U.S. and French troops to withdraw, and in some cases have asked Russian mercenaries to replace them.
As a result, U.S. officials are scrambling to work with new countries along the West African coast to fight a violent extremist insurgency that they say is steadily spreading southward.
Wray said talks between U.S. and African officials in Kenya and Nigeria this week focused on overlapping interests and ways to combat common threats.
“Countering the threat posed by groups like Shabaab and ISIS is simply not something that any one agency or government can tackle alone,” he said.
Wray's visit to Kenya, the first by an FBI director in 15 years, which officials said, comes after President Biden hosted Kenyan President William Ruto for a state dinner last month and promised to designate the country as a “major non-NATO ally,” a move that reflects the White House's determination to deepen ties with the East African nation as other countries, including Russia and China, race to do the same.
The FBI has worked closely with Kenya to track al-Qaida operatives since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In 2020, the FBI and State Department helped Kenya establish a joint terrorism task force modeled on the ones the FBI relies on in cities across the U.S. It was the first joint terrorism task force established by the FBI outside the U.S., according to the FBI.
The FBI also has agents stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi investigating terrorism and other crimes.
In West Africa's Sahel region, U.S. officials say they are shifting their approach to fighting insurgencies rooted in local concerns, where disputes over land, political exclusion and other local issues are fueling the rise of militant groups, rather than any particular leanings to extremism.
“If you look at the region, and the West Africa region more broadly, we remain concerned about instability and how that impacts terrorist groups' ability to exploit the situation,” said Wray, the first FBI director to visit Nigeria.
“That's part of the reason why we are working closely with our partners in Nigeria and other countries to remain as vigilant as we can,” he said.
ISIS and al-Qaida affiliates in Africa have focused their attacks in the region, rather than Europe or the U.S. But Wray pointed to the case of Shabaab operatives who were indicted several years ago for plotting to hijack planes and crash them into U.S. buildings in a Sept. 11-style attack.
“More than the threats to our interests in the West or in Africa, we are extremely vigilant that their plans and intentions may change at any time,” Wray said. “So while these are certainly 'foreign' threats, Americans should not think of them as a problem from a faraway world.”
Adam Goldman Contributed report.