Yet even in this difficult milieu, Côte d’Ivoire, home to Francophone West Africa’s strongest economy, has thus far largely managed to keep jihadists at bay. Though severe, the Grand-Bassam assault turned out to be an isolated incident in Côte d’Ivoire, at least so far. But already, they were using northern Côte d’Ivoire as a place to obtain supplies or retreat during counter-terrorism operations and as a route for moving between hideouts. Insurgents are also believed to be selling stolen cattle from the area in northern Côte d’Ivoire. As a result, between March and July, the number of refugees arriving in northern Côte d’Ivoire more than quadrupled, standing at 32,000 at the time of writing.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 11, 2023 13:52 UTC