There is much good news to report from Africa. Over the past generation, poverty rates went down, literacy rates went up, life expectancy increased and childhood malnutrition shrank. The battle against HIV/Aids, particularly acute in Africa, is being won. Many African nations are experiencing rapid growth and are excellent investment prospects. Nevertheless, danger looms on the horizon, as Africa now plays host to the most dynamic battles in the global war between terrorists and civilisation.
The numbers are shocking. In the first three months of 2016, terrorists attacked innocent civilians in 262 separate incidents around the world. Thirty per cent of those attacks occurred in Africa — in 15 different countries. There should be no doubt that terrorism — in the form of Al Qaida or Boko Haram or Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) — is the number one challenge for United States foreign policy on the continent.
Hundreds of Africans have been killed this calendar year. Three of the many attacks were larger than the Daesh attacks in Belgium that killed 32 people in March.
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