African Islamists may be emboldened by the Islamic State's gains in the Middle East, and local security services need to cooperate to counter the continent's militants, African intelligence officials heard on Thursday.
African Islamist rebels like Nigeria's Boko Haram have not made as dramatic an advance as Islamic State, which controls a swathe of Syria and Iraq. But they have launched attacks across Africa, from Niger, Mali and Nigeria in the west to Somalia and Kenya in the east.
The success of Islamic State could shape the thinking of African Islamists, said Andrew Muzonzini, Zimbabwe's head of external intelligence and a member of the African Union's Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA).