SALY — Two days after al Qaeda gunman shot dead 18 people on a Côte d’Ivoire beach, tourists strolled nonchalantly down a similar stretch of sand in the Senegalese resort of Saly on Tuesday, browsing trinkets on sale and paddling in the Atlantic.Even though the jihadist group’s Saharan wing, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has made clear Senegal is in its sights because of its close ties to France, security was noticeable largely by its absence.No police patrolled the beaches, a favourite weekend retreat 60km south of the capital, Dakar, and the only guards wandering around as hotel guests sat eating breakfast in the shade of palm trees were unarmed.And yet a cloud now hangs over Saly and resorts across West Africa after the Côte d’Ivoire attack, which marked a change in tactics by AQIM, whose militants have in the last four months hit large hotels and restaurants in Bamako and Ouagadougou, the capitals of Mali and Burkina Faso respectively.Côte d’Ivoire, the largest economy...
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