8 May 2025
West Africa continues to be among the areas most affected by terrorist activity, with the Central Sahel and Gulf of Guinea regions being increasingly targeted by sustained violence and expanding terrorist operations. The past year has seen a rise in high-impact, mass casualty attacks which have involved improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in addition to rocket and mortar shelling. As a result, the United Nations and the African Union have put a renewed focus on the importance of counter-improvised explosive devices (C-IED) as a strategy to address region-specific challenges stemming from the threat posed by IEDs.
To address the evolving situation in the region, the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group (WAWG) – co-chaired by Algeria and Germany with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as implementing partner – has convened several meetings to foster international cooperation and identify solutions. The Working Group most recently organized a regional meeting on strengthening collaborative efforts to prevent and counter the acquisition and use of IEDs by terrorist groups in the area.
The event in Abuja, Nigeria, brought together senior policymakers and officials from law enforcement, defense, intelligence agencies, and civil society organizations from West Africa. Participants observed demonstrations and shared inputs and updates through moderated and open plenary discussions. The meeting marked another step closer towards the adoption of a comprehensive GCTF Framework Document specific to the region on enhancing national and regional C-IED expertise, breaking the supply chains of IED components, and turning intelligence into evidence.
Under the Algeria-Germany mandate, the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group will continue to coordinate international efforts and support regional efforts in the development of comprehensive C-IED strategies to better enable states to respond to the regional terrorist threat.