Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa

Al-Qaeda has operated in Africa since the early 1990s. It has carried out operations and conducted recruitment across the continent in Sudan, Kenya, Algeria, Somalia, Libya and other countries.

From 1991 to 1996, Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders were based in Sudan before moving to Taliban ruled Afghanistan.

The major al-Qaeda branches currently operating across Africa are al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin.