London (EFE) (GTI, in English) published this Tuesday.
In 2022, 6,701 people were victims of attacks, 38% less compared to the maximum peak that terrorism reached in 2015, and 3,955 attacks were registered, 28% less than in 2021, according to the report prepared by the Institute for the Economy and Peace (IEP).
However, the document warns that if the figures for Afghanistan are omitted, the situation has worsened in the whole world, with the Sahel as the most affected area.
“If we stop taking Afghanistan into account, basically in the rest of the world we have seen a 4% increase in the impact of terrorism,” Serge Stroobants, director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa of the IEP, told EFE.
Although the change of regime in Kabul has plummeted by 58% the deaths considered as victims of attacks in Afghanistan, the country remains for the fourth consecutive year as the country most affected by terrorism, with 633 deaths and 225 incidents.
The “dramatic degradation” of the Sahel
Worldwide, the Islamic State (IS) is the group with the most attacks (410) and deaths (1,045) behind it, followed by the jihadist militia Al Shabab, which operates in East Africa and caused 784 in 315 attacks. .
By region, the Sahel was once again the hardest hit by violence, with a 9% increase in deaths, which now represents 43% of the world’s victims of terrorism.
In that area of sub-Saharan Africa are four of the ten most affected countries, with a “particularly worrying” situation in Burkina Faso and Mali, which accumulate 73% of the victims in the Sahel.
“We are seeing an interconnection between ecological degradation, governance difficulties and political instability. All these factors coincide in countries like Burkina Faso and Mali, creating the perfect environment for terrorist organizations,” Stroobants said.
The Global Terrorism Index underlines that the degradation of the region has been “dramatic”, with an increase of more than 2,000% in the incidence of terrorism in the last 15 years.
Since 2021, there have been six coup attempts in the region, of which four were successful, stresses the IEP.
“Poor use of water, lack of food, ethnic polarization, sharp population growth, external interventions and geopolitical competition” are among the “complex and systemic” factors that have destabilized the Sahel, according to the report.
ideological terrorism
In contrast, the Middle East and North Africa region recorded a 32% drop in deaths from terrorism in 2022, to 791 victims, the lowest number of deaths in the area since 2013, indicates the report, which highlights the drop ” substantial” of suicide bombings in the region.
In the West, the number of attacks continued the downward trend that began in 2017, although the number of victims increased this year.
Last year there were 40 terrorist attacks, 27% less than in 2021, which, however, were more deadly: the number of fatalities went from nine in 2021 to 19 in 2022.
Europe suffered two attacks described as Islamists and the United Kingdom registered four attacks, without victims for the first time since 2014.
“Ideologically motivated terrorism continues to be the most common in the West,” highlights the report, which details that religiously inspired attacks have fallen by 95% since 2016.