On Africa's Terror Landscape, Double Agents Abound
U.S. efforts to combat terrorists based on the African continent are running into a myriad of problems, perhaps none so vexing, or dangerous, as the constantly shifting alliances and aims of the terrorist fighters themselves. No longer beholden to one group or ideology, or even to the highest bidder, these terror operatives are steadily blurring the lines dividing one group from another. The result, according to Western and African defense and intelligence officials, is new type of higher-level terror operative, willing to work for competing, brand-name terror groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State, sometimes simultaneously. "You need a bit of a decoder ring and you really have to keep up on it to figure out what one group of fighters is currently aligned with what other group," Christopher Maier, director of the Defeat ISIS Core Task Force at the U.S. Defense Department, told VOA. "They do mergers and acquisitions basically on a regular basis," he said. &