Al Qaeda seeks to regroup in Africa: think-tank

A weakened al Qaeda is seeking to regroup and re-energise by linking up with established Islamist movements in Africa, a new report from Britain's Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) said Wednesday. Deprived of its base in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden's terror network appears to be seeking influence in Somalia, North Africa and beyond, raising the prospect of a new "arc of regional instability", the study said.
"The focus of anti-jihadist counter-terrorism is shifting to Africa," wrote Valentina Soria, a research analyst at the RUSI defence think-tank. Her report details "disturbing new trends" across the continent which pose fresh challenges for Western countries such as Britain and the United States. Using a tested model from Yemen, the home of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the network has forged alliances with the Shebab movement in Somalia and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in North Africa.