Côte d’Ivoire wary of jihadist threat in north 10 years on from major attack | Côte d’Ivoire
TThese days, when Rose Ebirim is not organizing the annual International Reggae Day celebrations in Ivory Coast, she collects garbage scattered along the beach of Grand Bassam, a historic port city 40 kilometers east of Abidjan. Both activities have become a form of therapy since he saw someone die.
“March 13, 2016 was Black Sunday for me,” he said.
That day saw three gunmen opening fire at point-blank range as they stalked three adjacent beachfront hotels on a 45-minute shooting spree. When security forces shot and killed the attackers, they killed 19 people, including nine foreigners, and traumatized the entire country.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for Ivory Coast arresting its men and handing them over to Mali. By December 2022, the Abidjan court had sentenced 11 people to death, seven of them in absentia, for their role in the attack.
“Our forces have strengthened their operational vigilance to ensure that such tragedies never happen again,” defense minister Téné Birahima Ouattara said at a ceremony this March to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the first major terrorist incident on Ivory Coast territory.
Grand Bassam, a Unesco world heritage site and the country’s first capital, once again forms part of the relatively peaceful three-hour journey to the Ghanaian border, where resort towns cater to locals and tourists alike.
But 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 following military interventions in recent years and have instead turned to stronger partnerships with Russia.
Ivory Coast, currently an important Western ally in counterinsurgency operations in the region, serves as a buffer state between the Gulf of Guinea and the center of the Sahel. Violence in its neighbors has driven thousands of refugees to the north of the country.
At the time of the 2016 attack, the insurgency in Burkina Faso had just emerged, a development spreading from Mali. Jihadist-related terrorist incidents have nearly tripled along the West African coast due to the proliferation of armed non-state actors.
Military formations and security personnel in the region have been repeatedly targeted by the al-Qaeda-linked Jamaat Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), which has absorbed 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.
Héni Nsaibia, West Africa senior analyst for conflict monitor Acled, said the groups had begun to employ more sophisticated tactics and had become adept at mounting complex raids in a region that is now “the world’s most active region of Islamist militancy”. “JNIM’s use of armed drones has increased rapidly from less than 10 attacks recorded in 2024 to around 80 in 2025,” he added.
Since the Kafolo attack, the number of police and gendarmerie deployed in northern Ivory Coast has more than doubled. Five years ago, an EU-backed counter-terrorism academy opened in Jacqueville, another coastal town west of Abidjan., where elite units are trained to counter the evolving threat.
A spokesman for the Ivory Coast government did not respond to questions about the alleged U.S. drone base or the status of talks about American troops sharing an existing air base with their Ivorian counterparts.
The state, supported by international development funds, is also working in remote border villages in the north; It is building primary schools, setting up mobile health clinics and financing vocational microloans for young cashew farmers who might otherwise be swayed by financial promises from militant groups.
But its dense forests and porous borders are still a concern for citizens and residents. The Ivory Coast government spokesman also did not respond to questions about regional and international counterinsurgency cooperation.
Three hotels were closed in Grand Bassam. Nearby, Ebirim continues to raise awareness about beach pollution and the reggae bounce, now in its sixth year. “I keep myself busy with these activities,” he said. “After 10 years, I’m starting to pull myself together.”
