ABSTRACT

Bioterrorism – the manipulation of disease crises by terrorist groups to achieve political aims – is an under-researched threat to Africa. The increasing frequency of epidemics and pandemics such as Ebola and Covid-19, concurrent with the regional increase in terrorism, increases the potential for disease crises to be exploited as political weapons by terrorist groups, either directly or indirectly. This paper produces insights about the intersection of terrorism and disease in Africa through the exploration of terrorism’s interaction with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), with reference to targeted violence, anti-vaccination rhetoric and anti-West suspicions in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Terrorism is shown to be significantly hindering polio eradication in these states, and it is argued that these actions should be incorporated into an expanded conceptualisation of bioterrorism. Lessons are drawn from the GPEI to augment current understandings of terrorism, counter-terrorism and disease in Africa, with recommendations for future action.

摘要

生物恐怖主义——恐怖组织操纵疾病危机以实现政治目标——是对非洲的一种研究不足的威胁。埃博拉和 Covid-19 等流行病和大流行病的频率越来越高，同时恐怖主义在区域内增加，这增加了疾病危机被恐怖组织直接或间接用作政治武器的可能性。本文参考尼日利亚、巴基斯坦和阿富汗的针对性暴力、反疫苗言论和反西方怀疑，通过探索恐怖主义与全球根除脊髓灰质炎倡议 (GPEI) 的互动，对非洲恐怖主义与疾病的交叉点提出见解. 恐怖主义已被证明在这些国家严重阻碍了消灭脊髓灰质炎，有人认为，这些行动应该被纳入生物恐怖主义的扩展概念中。从 GPEI 中汲取了经验教训，以增强当前对非洲恐怖主义、反恐和疾病的理解，并为未来的行动提出建议。