(L-R) National Counterterrorism Centre Director Matthew Olsen, FBI
Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper,
CIA Director John Brennan, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen.
Michael Flynn testify during a hearing before Senate (Select)
Intelligence Committee January 29, 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington,
DC. PHOTO | ALEX WONG
AFP
US intelligence chief James Clapper has
warned lawmakers that Sub-Saharan Africa had turned into a "hothouse"
for extremists staging lethal terror attacks.
Presenting
an annual threat assessment, Clapper said America's spy agencies
believed Sub-Saharan Africa would "almost certainly" experience more
security turmoil in 2014. (READ: US intelligence chief warns of new attacks on Kenya)
"The
continent has become a hothouse for the emergence of extremist and
rebel groups, which increasingly launch deadly asymmetric attacks, and
which government forces often cannot effectively counter due to a lack
of capability and sometimes will," said Clapper, according to a prepared
text. (VIDEO: ‘A Terrorists’ Playground’)
He
also said that countries in the Sahel region faced the threat of terror
attacks due to their backing of a French military intervention in Mali
launched a year ago.
"Governments in Africa's Sahel
region - particularly Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania - are at risk of
terrorist attacks, primarily as retribution for these countries' support
to the January 2013 French-led international military intervention in
Mali," he said.
The region also faced pressures from
swelling youth populations and "marginalized" ethnic communities that
are frustrated over a lack of government services and a lack of jobs
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