Togo experienced a deadly terrorist attack on Thursday November 24 in Tiwoli in the Savanes region, on the border with Burkina Faso and Benin. For months, this border region has been subjected to incursions by men from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or JNIM in its Arabic acronym), which is increasingly extending to coastal countries.
The region of the three borders between Togo, Benin and Burkina Faso presents many interests for the GSIM, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda. First, it is a forest area. It offers an interesting fallback base for armed men who take advantage of the borders to outrun their pursuers.
Then, it is historically a region of trade, but also of traffic. “ Fuel, batteries, cigarettes or other goods from the ports of Lomé and Cotonou pass through there », Explains a Burkinabè source close to the authorities.
Capture more resources
By extending its range of action to coastal countries, the GSIM thus diversifies its supply circuits. The group sets up a strategy of occupying the northern regions to tax and serve on commercial transportexplains a security analyst. He seizes forest areas to capture income from gold panning and illicit trafficking “, he continues.
Water and forest agents, civil servants, advanced military posts are therefore prime targets of attacks. A fortnight ago, a clash in the locality of Kpinkankandi, on the border with Burkina Faso, had already left six dead in the ranks of the Togolese armed forces.
►Also read: In Togo, deadly attack in Tiwoli in the northeast of the country