African countries and regional organizations sustained ongoing counterterrorism (CT) efforts against threats in East Africa, the Sahel, and the Lake Chad region while increasing emphasis on preventing the expansion of terrorist groups, their affiliates, and associated organizations into new operating areas in West, Central, and Southern Africa.
In East Africa, Al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Shabaab (AS) retained access to recruits, the ability to raise and manage substantial resources, and de facto control over large parts of Somalia through which it moved freely and launched external operations attacks in neighboring Kenya, including a January attack that killed three Americans in Manda Bay, Kenya. The group conducts high-profile, sophisticated attacks on Somali civilian and government targets throughout southern Somalia, including in Mogadishu. It frequently targets African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops and ambushes security forces along supply routes. At times, AS also tried to contain the northern Somalia-based group of ISIS-linked fighters responsible for local suicide bombings and other attacks against Somali security forces in greater Mogadishu.
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Source: U.S. Department of State