Review of the Application of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System in Counter Terrorism in Sub Saharan Africa

Abstract

That Sub Saharan Africa is the threshing floor for human blood is not an overstatement. Terrorists of diverse nomenclature are everywhere, and they seem to be operating with impunity under failed states. This study focuses on the potentials of remote sensing and GIS in counter terrorism in Sub Saharan Africa with the epicentres at Gulf of Guinea and the Horn of Africa (Somali). The paper made use of secondary data to reveal the attribute of remote sensing as a real time data collection tool without physical contact with the object of phenomena of interest and the GIS that is used for environmental analysis and decision making in disaster management as a relevant tool for terrorist management .The paper revealed that Big-Data in GIS environment and sensors bearing Unscrewed Reconnaissance Vehicle (UAV) leveraged on natural abilities of birds and fix sensors in them during operations for the surveillance of enemies and the supply of logistics to troops. The paper therefore recommended that all the African countries should invest more in the security agencies human capacity development, remote sensing and GIS hardware and software for effective territorial security and defence.