“Research on radical Islamist activities and strife over natural resources in theSahara region– from the perspective of Middle Eastern states vis-à-vis global actors”

For the purpose of this project, the North African region and the Sahel region – lying
on opposite sides of the Sahara Desert – are categorized as one “Sahara Region.”In the former region are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt while in thelatter region lie Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad. Although the two regions aredivided by the Sahara Desert, they share historical and cultural ties. In addition, they
face the common challenges of natural resource development and the growing
influence of radical Islamist movements. This project (using the broad geographic
categorization of the “Sahara Region”) seeks not only to analyze the current state ofnatural resource development and the presence of radical Islamists, but also
examine their pertinence to the region’s security, as well as to the foreign policy
strategies of the US and Europe.

In January 2013, an extremist group called “Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb(AQIM)” attacked a natural gas plant in In-Aménas (in the southeastern part of theSahara Desert) and, after a firefight with the Algerian army, took the lives of 39
foreign nationals (including 10 Japanese). Two trends illuminate the backdrop
against which this incident known as the “In-Aménas Hostage Crisis” took place.
First, the Sahara Region containing southern Algeria has drawn much attention as
an area rich in such resources as petroleum, natural gas, uranium, and rare metals,and foreign enterprises from Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and China
have begun to rapidly venture into the region.

Second, many of the countries in theregion have struggled to unify as states, leading to repeated civil wars that haveadded to the instability of the region. Amidst such instability, the presence of radical
Islamists seeking to abolish “heretical rule” is growing in various parts of the region.
The armed Islamist group noted above, too, operates from a base in Mali, and isbelieved to have carried out the attack against an Algerian plant with French vested
rights to protest the French intervention in Mali.

The In-Aménas hostage crisis highlights the Sahara Region’s position as aresource-rich region with much potential, while on the flipside it is an area thatstruggles with the risk posed by sociopolitical instability and the activities of radical
Islamist groups.

It must also be noted that the issues facing the Sahara Region are

becoming a global challenge relevant also to nearby Europe as well as to the Middle
East.

With the above issues in mind, this research, though the analysis of radical Islamist
activities and competition over natural resources in the “Sahara Region” (consistingof both the North African region and the Sahel region), seeks to make policy
recommendations with an emphasis on Japan’s national interest in stabilizing theregion and securing energy resources.

[Research Project Members]
Project Leader
KISAICHI Masatoshi (Professor, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Sophia University)
Research Member
SAKAI Shinzo (Professor, Nanzan University)
YOKOTA Takayukui (Associate Professor, College of International Relations, NihonUniversity)
YOSHIDA Atsushi (Assistant Professor, School of Commerce, Meiji University)
WAKAKUWA Ryo (Ph.D. Candidate in Area Studies, Graduate School of Global Studies,Sophia University)
Group Members and Secretaries
IIJIMA Toshiro (Deputy Director-General and Senior Research Fellow, The Japan
Institute of International Affairs)NUKII Mari (Research Fellow, The Japan Institute of International Affairs)