3 September 2026
West Africa continues to witness the presence and influence of multiple terrorist groups whose operations increasingly extend across borders in the region. An evolving transnational threat that impacts state stability and exploits inter-communal tensions, institutional, and infrastructure gaps, terrorist attacks in the region have grown both in intensity and sophistication. Adding to the complexity of the threat is terrorist use of digital tools, emerging financial technologies, and artificial intelligence to further propagandize, fundraise, and recruit.
Such circumstances warrant increased capacity-building efforts of West African states to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism (CVE). Co-chaired by Algeria and Germany and supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group (WAWG) has continued to support this work around a structure that: A) brings together representatives and subject matter experts from government, civil society, and academia to discuss and formulate good practices, and B) trains counterterrorism and CVE practitioners in the region based on the recommendations identified by such stakeholders.
The Working Group organized its sixth annual plenary in Dakar, Senegal to reflect on progress achieved and discuss recent developments and upcoming priorities. Bringing together West African senior counterterrorism experts from the security, judicial, and policymaking sectors along with GCTF Members and relevant international and regional organizations, the plenary reviewed the implementation of a structured and needs based set of regional and national activities to reinforce and expand the Group’s support to West African partners in three core areas – Border Security Management, C-IEDS, and CFT – whilst upholding the cross cutting principals of inter-agency coordination, regional cooperation, and community engagement. These efforts have contributed to the development of tools and processes aimed at supporting more coordinated and targeted responses, including mapping exercises on C-IED along with Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism (PVE/CVE) initiatives. The plenary identified – inter alia – the development and adoption of the Lomé Recommendations on Countering the Acquisition and Use of Improvised Explosive Devices by Terrorist Groups in West Africa as a key achievement under the 2024-2026 Work Plan.
Moving forward, participants agreed that Working Group activities should be consolidated and strengthened, laying the foundation for activities to be implemented under the 2026-2028 cycle. This includes a focus on identifying practical methods to enhance the effectiveness of capacity-building efforts. In particular, technological developments were noted as a key topic area that can be integrated into ongoing programming.
Under the Algeria-Germany mandate, WAWG aims to more effectively leverage its structure and network of experts to deliver high-quality regional meetings and training exercises to enhance capacity-building in the region.