Côte d’Ivoire wary of jihadist threat in north 10 years on from major attack

These days, when she is not organising the annual International Day of Reggae celebrations in Côte d’Ivoire, Rose Ebirim picks up litter scattered on the beach in the historic port town of Grand Bassam, 25 miles east of Abidjan. Both activities have become a form of therapy since the time she saw someone die.“13 March 2016 was a Black Sunday for me,” she said.On that day, she saw three gunmen open fire at close range as they stalked three adjacent hotels on the beach in a 45-minute shooting spree. By the time security agencies shot the attackers dead, they had killed 19 people including nine foreigners, and traumatised the entire nation.Soldiers stand in guard on the beach in Grand Bassam in 2016. Photograph: Luc Gnago/ReutersAl-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Côte d’Ivoire arresting its men and handing them over to Mali. It was not until December 2022 that an Abidjan court sentenced 11 men – including seven in absentia – to death for their roles in the attack.“Our forces have strengthened their operational vigilance to ensure that such tragedies never happen again,” the defence minister, Téné Birahima Ouattara, said at a ceremony this March to commemorate the 10th anniversary of what was the first major terrorist incident on Ivorian soil.Grand Bassam, a Unesco world heritage site and the country’s first capital, forms part of a relatively peaceful three-hour drive to the border with Ghana lined with resort towns that once again cater to residents and tourists.But up in the north, on the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, the threat of jihadism continues to lurk. Both states have expelled French and American troops in recent years after military takeovers, pivoting to stronger partnerships with Russia instead.Côte d’Ivoire, now a key western ally for counterinsurgency in the region, stands as a buffer state between the Gulf of Guinea and the core of the Sahel. The violence in its neighbours has driven thousands of refugees into the country’s north.At the time of the 2016 attack, the insurgency had just emerged in Burkina Faso as a spillover from Mali. Terrorism incidents linked to jihadists have almost tripled in coastal west Africa as armed non-state actors proliferate.Military formations and security personnel in the region have been repeatedly targeted by Al-Qaida-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which swallowed AQIM. In June 2020, Katiba Macina, another group in the JNIM coalition, killed 14 Ivorian soldiers in the village of Kafolo near the Burkinabé border.The groups are beginning to employ more sophisticated tactics and are adept at carrying out complex raids in a region that is now “the world’s most active zone of Islamist militancy”, said Héni Nsaibia, senior analyst for west Africa at the conflict monitor Acled. “JNIM’s use of armed drones has rapidly proliferated from fewer than 10 recorded strikes in 2024 to around 80 in 2025,” he added.Dozens of loaded trucks parked outside Port-Bouet in Ivory Coast on 15 May, as freight traffic on the vital Abidjan-Bamako corridor continues to stall. The decline in transport is driven by a security crisis in neighbouring Mali, where armed groups imposed a full blockade on the Malian capital Bamako on 28 April. Photograph: Legnan Koula/EPASince the Kafolo attack, the number of policemen and gendarmerie recruited in the Ivorian north has more than doubled. Five years ago, an EU-backed counter-terrorism academy opened in Jacqueville, another beach town west of Abidjan, where elite units are being trained to counter the evolving threat.A spokesperson for the Ivorian government did not respond to questions about the status of talks about a speculated US drone base or American troops sharing an existing airbase with their Ivorian counterparts.Backed by international development funding, the state has also been at work in remote border villages in the north – building primary schools, deploying mobile health clinics and funding vocational micro-loans for young cashew farmers who might otherwise be tempted by the financial promises of militant groups.But its dense forests and porous borders are still cause for concern to citizens and residents. The Ivorian government spokesperson did not also respond to questions about regional and international counterinsurgency collaborations.In Grand Bassam, the three hotels are shuttered. Near them, Ebirim still goes on with awareness about beach pollution and the reggae splash, which is now in its sixth year. “I occupy myself with those activities,” she said. “After 10 years, I’m starting to sort myself out.”