Description: Togolese Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, recently stated that terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda have intensified their covert incursion in the northern parts of the country. The Togolese government has imposed the so – called policy of informational lockdown, which disables public broadcasters from publishing information regarding the security situation in the country, following the intensification of terrorist activities and the recent civil protests against the rule of President Gnassingbe. The terrorists are suspected to have infiltrated Togo from Burkinabe province of Kompienga which is considered a stronghold for the Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group, Jama’a Nusrat ul – Islam wa al – Muslimin (JNIM). The impoverished northern parts of Togo suffer from lower presence of its national military and security forces where loose border controls and high levels of corruption empower terrorist organizations to conduct attacks and territorial incursions.
Impact: Following the violent protests in Jun and Jul, Togo faces renewed challenge of tackling terrorist threats which follow a negative trend of expansion across larger parts of western and central Africa. Countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria have been beleaguered by enhanced activities from terrorist organizations and militant groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, which further destabilize the conflict ridden western and central African regions. Togo’s domestic situation is also negatively impacting the country’s capacities to combat threats from outside of its borders such as terrorist organizations and increases the risk of a widespread regional instability. With the absence of a comprehensive framework between strategically divided countries in the central and western African regions, terrorist attacks would significantly increase in the upcoming period, intensified by broader inner state conflicts such as the civil war in Sudan.