Intelligence Insight: The Rise of Jihadist Private Military Contractors in Africa
Ujasusi Blog’s Terrorism Monitor Desk | 27 August 2025 | 0150 BST
📌 Introduction
In recent years, a new threat has emerged in Africa's conflict zones: jihadist private military contractors (PMCs). These are not traditional corporate mercenaries like the Wagner Group, but ideologically-driven Islamist fighters offering professionalised combat services across borders. Fusing Salafi-jihadist ideology with mercenary enterprise, they are turning African insurgencies into battlefields of transnational Islamist warfare.