Acts of Terrorism in Africa’s Local Conflicts: the Lake Chad Basin Region in Perspective

The main argument of the paper is that localconflicts are increasingly taking the dimension of terrorismin Africa. Relying on secondary sources of data, the paperdescriptively examined the nature and drivers of localconflicts in the Lake Chad Basin region. It identified theprevalence of ungoverned spaces, easy access to Small Armsand Light Weapons (SAWL) and political exclusion asfactors that encouraged terrorism in
Africa’s local conflicts.
Identity theory was used to explain the dimension ofterrorism in
Africa’s
local conflicts. The paper emphasizedon the need for law enforcement agencies in Africa to arrestand prosecute perpetrators of these local conflicts withterrorism charges which it argued would serve as deterrence.It also suggested for the use of intelligence in order to proactively curbing these conflicts in Africa