The Israel-Iran Proxy War in Nairobi: Dr. Emmanuel Navon
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Dr. Emmanuel Navon heads the Political Science and Communication Department at the Jerusalem Orthodox College, and teaches International Relations at Tel-Aviv University and at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center. He is a Senior Fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum.
The horrific attack perpetuated by Al-Shabab in Nairobi is a painful reminder of the Islamist threat in Africa. It is also an opportunity for Israel to leverage its counter-terrorism expertise among African countries targeted by Islamist terror.
Al-Shabab (which means “youth” in Arabic) is an Islamist organization that was founded in 2005 in Somalia. Since the fall of Siad Barre’s military rule in 1991, Somalia was left without an official government and central authority. The country sank into chaos with gangs and militias competing for power. By 2009, al-Shabab had about 5,000 fighters and had gained control over the southern half of the country (including the capital Mogadishu). It thus became the first al-Qaida ally to partially rule over a Muslim country. In 2011, al-Shabab lost Mogadishu to the troops of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Since then, al-Shabab has lost about two-thirds of the territory it used to control in southern Somalia, but it is lethally active in other parts of Africa – as tragically shown by the Nairobi terrorist attack.
Al-Shabab collaborates with AQIM (al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb) in the Sahel and with Boko Haram in Nigeria. AQIM operates from Mali and aims to overthrow the Algerian government and to replace it with an Islamic state. Boko Haram (whose meaning is “Western education is sinful”) aims to establish Sharia law in Nigeria, as well as in Cameroon and Niger. The former chief of the US Africa Command, General Carter F. Ham, has repeatedly warned that al-Shabab, AQIM and Boko Haram collaborate throughout Africa in coordination with al-Qaida. Geographically, therefore, the three terrorist organizations span from East to West Africa via the Maghreb. This “Islamist Arc” goes through three countries that are of strategic importance to both Africa and the world economy: Mali is Africa’s third gold producer (after South Africa and Ghana); Nigeria is Africa’s top oil producer and has Africa’s largest proven natural gas reserves; Somalia borders a major sea passage for international trade.
Africa’s “Islamic Arc” involves Iran. In February 2013, UN monitors for the arms embargo in Somalia reported that al-Shabab was receiving arms from Iran and from Yemen. Iran is also an active supporter of its ally Hezbollah in Africa. The Nigerian government, in cooperation with Israel, recently uncovered a Hezbollah cell and arms cache in the city of Kano in northern Nigeria. The cooperation between Israel and Nigeria is part of a wider Israeli activity aimed at countering Hezbollah’s presence in Western Africa. Israel has been offering security training and equipment to West African governments who oppose Hezbollah’s activities on their territory.
But Nigeria’s “Islamic problem” goes beyond Hezbollah and Boko Haram. It includes the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), an organization founded in the early 1980s with the financial and logistical support of Iran. In fact, IMN was started by Nigerian students from the Muslim Student Society who were trained by the Islamic Republic of Iran after 1979 in order to produce an Iranian-style Islamic revolution in Nigeria. The founding leader of IMN was Ibrahim Zakzaky, who converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Today, Zakzaky is the undisputed leader of the Shiites in Nigeria. When addressing his supporters, he typically sits under a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini. His speeches are violently anti-Semitic. According to Abel Assadina, a former senior Iranian diplomat who defected in 2003, Iran is establishing local power bases in Africa with the purpose of influencing local governments and inducing them to act against Western interests. In November 2010, Iran’s Foreign Minister openly declared that Iran’s “African outreach” was a top priority.
The consequences of the Islamic infiltration in Africa have been lethal, starting with the 1997 al-Qaida terrorist attack against the US Embassy in Nairobi. Then came the 2002 al-Qaida terrorist attack against Israeli tourists in Mombasa. More recently, in May 2013, a Kenyan court convicted two Iranians for planning terrorist attacks against Western targets in Kenya. Israel had been involved in Kenya’s counter-terrorist activities before the latest attack in Nairobi. The Iranian defendants convicted in May 2013 had been interrogated in a Kenyan prison by Israeli investigators.
Israel actively assisted the Kenyan Government against al-Shabab terrorists during the recent attack in Nairobi. This assistance is likely to increase, and not only in Kenya. In a way, a by-proxy war is being waged between Iran and Israel in Africa. Throughout the African continent, more and more countries are the victims of Islamic terrorism, but not all of them are ready to entirely forego the economic benefits of doing business with Iran. The US should actively compensate African states for abandoning their economic ties with Iran, and Israel should proactively assist African governments threatened by Islamic terrorism.
Israel and pro-Western African governments have a common interest in defeating Iran’s “outreach” diplomacy, and the tragedy in Nairobi is a reminder of how urgent this task is.
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