Joseph Kelvin Merdiemah

Violent extremism and terrorism in West Africa: Understanding and dealing with the threat (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Since the year 2012, I took an interest in monitoring the emerging threats in Africa, especially the Sahel and West Africa. My interest coincided with events in the Middle East regarding the surge of the Islamic State, the fall of Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi, the march onto Mali by Tuareg rebels, and the upsurge of Islamist extremism/terrorism in Africa. Other occurrences that I followed keenly were the activities of Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the Lake Chad Basin. Another development that drew my attention was the sustained thrust of terrorism southwards into Burkina Faso with spillover into littoral states.

Terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon, thus making all countries vulnerable. This phenomenon attracted my concern because terrorists, just like states, have vested interests. Their interests are always at variance with those of the state and usually result in dire consequences. They pursue these interests irrespective of the location. Examples can be drawn from the 11 September 2001 attack on the United States of America, the 2016 attack in Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire and the January 2016 attack on Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Other examples are the October 2017 ambush along Niger - Mali border, the 2018 attack on French Embassy and Burkina Faso Army Headquarters in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and the 2019 attack in Sri Lanka, to mention but a few. All these examples show varied locations, tactics, techniques and procedures employed as well as the personalities who carried out the respective attacks. As a result of these developments, I also came to the conclusion that terrorism behaves like water - it finds its way to flow even when there seems to be a strong blockade.

The choice of the title Violent Extremism and Terrorism In West Africa: Understanding and Dealing with the Threat was influenced by opportunities to deliver lectures at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College on some strategic context and global trends of terrorism and appraisal of the effectiveness of counter-terrorism efforts at the Senior Command and Staff Course on several occasions.

Aside from the trajectory of events and thought processes, my work at the Department of Defence Intelligence of the Ghana Armed Forces and the opportunity to serve on the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the National Security Council Secretariat influenced me to make an effort to share knowledge. It is hoped that the book would be helpful to, especially students and practitioners engaged in countering terrorism and violent extremism.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Joseph Kelvin Merdiemah
• Erscheinungstermin: 27. Juli 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9798223266396
• Artikelnr.: 68492753

Autorenporträt

Joseph Kelvin Merdiemah is a Colonel serving in the Ghana Armed Forces.

He holds an Executive Master of Business Administration (Human Resource Management) from the University of Ghana. Others are a Master of Arts in Governance and Leadership and a Postgraduate Diploma in Defence and Conflict Studies from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics and Sociology from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

He is a graduate of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College. He also holds certificates in various training areas, including Irregular Warfare and Hybrid Threats from the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and International Framework for Countering Terrorism Financing from École de Maintien de la Paix "Alioune Blondin Beye" (EMP-ABB), Bamako, Mali. Others include Strategic Approaches to Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism from Africa Centre for Strategic Studies (ACSS), Washington DC, USA and Countering and Combating Terrorism from the Joint Special Operations University, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida, USA, Counter-Terrorism in Africa and Strategic Context in Defence Management from Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Ghana.

He is also an experienced peacekeeper serving with ECOMOG in Liberia and on several tours of mission with the UN in South Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, and Sahrawi Arab Republic, Western Sahara.

He has served on committees and in staff, training, and command positions in the Ghana Armed Forces. Prominent among which are Acting Commanding Officer, Directing Staff at Army Combat Training School, and Directing Staff at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College. He also served with the Department of Defence Intelligence, Ghana Armed Forces, and was a Chief Instructor responsible for Military Studies at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (Junior Division).

Since 2021, he has been the Director of the National Centre for Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism (nccrm.gov.gh) where he has been responsible for the establishment of the Centre in Ghana,