In the last ten years, Africa, the world’s second largest — and, with nearly 1.2 billion people, the second most populous — continent, has become a major hub of terrorism, especially in the vast, sparsely populated Sahel region, which extends from Somalia in the east to Senegal in the west.

Bad actors have exploited the continent’s problems — old problems such as unsettled ethnic and religious conflicts, and more recent problems such as uneven economic development and governance efficacy, endemic corruption, and education deficit — to launch deadly attacks in Nigeria, Libya, Somalia, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali, Cameroon, Niger, Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco, to name but a few countries.

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Africa Security News Wire offers news, commentary, and in-depth analysis of the major security problems facing Africa — and of the major underlying causes which have contributed to the emergence of these acute security problems.