The General Director of France’s Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), Nicolas Lerner, commended anti-terrorism cooperation between France and Morocco as exemplary.
In an interview with “Le Figaro”, Lerner called the Moroccan security services “very efficient, precious and essential partners in anti-terrorism.”
The French official considers that the terrorist threat is looming more than ever because it is mutating, explaining that while “between 2013 and 2018, terrorist organizations were structured, hierarchical, and centralized, today, abroad, we are facing fragmented terrorist structures and more isolated project leaders, who are therefore more difficult to detect.”
In this regard, he expressed concern about the situation in the Sahel, where terrorist groups are active in a large part of the subregion, including Lake Chad basin, Nigeria, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa.
He noted that African fighters have taken on greater roles in what remains of al Qaeda and Islamic State leadership structures, long dominated by operatives from the Middle East.
Lerner warned that the Sahel has again become a critical zone after France’s withdrawal, with jihadist groups expanding freedom of movement and threatening regional stability.
He said French intelligence remains engaged with partner states to contain spillover risks toward coastal West Africa.
This situation, he said, directly threatens the stability of the Sahel countries and weighs heavily on the borders of a number of neighboring countries, friends, and partners of France, which are facing an extension of the threat to the south and west.
Lerner also emphasized that the departure of Maghreb jihadists to join terrorist organizations is a source of concern.
