The new/old emergence of the Daesh terrorist organization in the Egyptian province of North Sinai comes as no surprise to those who follow the development of terrorist organizations and the evolution of this phenomenon in modern history.
These organizations have the ability to mutate, to hide and resurge, and to practice ebbs and flows according to calculations based on many factors.
Daesh did not erase completely after the fall of its so-called state in Iraq and Syria. Its military defeat was never an official declaration of its demise or neutralization.
Everyone knows that the fight against terrorism is not traditional. It is not waged against a conventional army that disintegrates or collapses after a military defeat or a declaration of surrender. Terrorist organizations have a different ideology and a whole lot of different motives.
Certainly, however weak Daesh or Al Qaida may be, the factors that contribute to bring back or at least keep these organizations alive still exist in many parts of the world, especially in Syria and Libya. So, this phenomenon is not expected to subside in the short term.
There are areas that suffer from a vacuum of security and lack of state and national sovereignty. Conflicts persist. There are sectarian divisions in some countries. In other countries, governments have failed.
For some time now, we have been following the spread of Daesh in some countries on the African continent. Daesh has advanced into the Sahel region of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. Officials and experts assure that the organization is rapidly growing and spreading its influence in these areas.
Al-Qaeda’s experience is not a model for judging Daesh’s development; the former ended in terms of activity and organization after the murder of Osama bin Laden, its presence still reduced to ideological debates.
The latter, despite its declining influence, has persisted at the movement and ideological levels.
Much of the political literature now argues that Africa has become the new victim of Daesh. This does not negate the threat posed by the group in Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere
The foreign ministers of the 84 member states of the international anti-terrorist alliance in Marrakech, Morocco, discussed the issue. But the international community must be awakened to the danger of losing sight of Daesh
The figures circulating about the presence of Daesh in various countries and areas look alarming. Not just because of the big numbers. But also because of the inordinate brutality of this organization’s elements.
So, it seems crucial to bring the threat of terrorism back to the forefront of international collective action.
