Terrorism in the Sahel region of Africa
Terrorism in the Sahel region of Africa
How a forgotten region became a global terrorism hotspot Terrorism is an issue that has had an integral part of the media agenda since 9/11. It only became more ingrained in the media agenda after the United States decided to enter Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Even now, terrorism has been in the spotlight of the media due to the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas, a Palestinian political and military organization, which many around the world consider to be an act of terror. However, much of the discourse about terrorism is centered around terrorist groups in the Middle East and North Africa. One region that is suffering the devastating effects of terrorism that often gets ignored in terrorism discourse is the Sahel region of Africa. Extremist groups came to power by exploiting the lack of resources in the Sahel region, and there is little the international community has done and is currently doing to prevent these groups from terrorizing the region.
Recent History
The Sahel region stretches from Senegal on the Atlantic coast to Eritrea on the Red Sea coast, including countries like Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan. Since gaining their independence in the 1960s, the countries in the Sahel region have struggled with political instability, armed rebellions, especially in Mali and Niger, and poor governance. Historically, two hotspots for violence in the Sahel region are in Liptako-Gourma and Lake Chad Basin. Liptako-Gourma is in central Sahel, in the borderlands of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The collapse of the Libyan state in 2011 led to widespread proliferation of weapons and the accumulation of armed fighters into different factions. The dormant Tuareg rebellion in Northern Mali was reignited in 2012 due to the increased number of extremists in the country. The rebellion had previously been active in 1963, 1990 and 2006. The Tuarag people organized under the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) wanted an autonomous state and aligned with multiple Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and Ansar Dine. A coup by the Mali army in the same year deposed former president Amadou Toumani Touré because of his inability to suppress the Tuareg rebellion. The political instability that was created and the power vacuum that opened following the coup enabled the MNLA to capture Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, three regional capitals in Mali. By April of 2012, the Tuareg people declared Azawad as an independent state in Northern Mali.
Violence reemerged in Lake Chad Basin, which exists in the intersection of Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, after the resurgence of Boko Haram in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram was founded in 2002 but was forced into hiding in 2009 after Nigerian police forces killed over 700 members, including the founder. The remaining members dispersed into Afghanistan, Algeria, Chad, northern Mali, Nigeria and Somalia. In 2011, the group resurged because of its new aggressive strategy of suicide attacks on police and the UN headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. In 2015, the group was revamped again after it pledged its allegiance to ISIS and rebranded itself as the Islamic State in the West African Province (ISWAP). ISWAP has established control of northeastern Nigeria and parts of Niger.
Current Violence
According to the Global Terrorism Index, an estimated 43% of global terrorism deaths come from the Sahel region, which is more than the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia combined. In fact, from January 1st to June 30th, 2023, the region has recorded 1,814 incidents of terrorist attacks, which has resulted in 4,593 deaths. Outside of the countries’ histories as colonial states, there are two major reasons why the region is particularly susceptible to terrorism. First, the new governments that took power after the countries gained their independence extracted valuable resources and tax revenue from the region without promoting economic growth. Because resources were centralized within the capitals, resources among the local populations became scarce. As a result, herding, farming and fishing communities began fighting for resources, and extremist organizations were able to recruit members by taking advantage of the insecure conditions. Climate change is only exacerbating the resource problems. Temperatures in the Sahel region are rising 1.5 faster than the global average, which directly impacts those that depend on natural resources for survival.
Political instability is another reason for the rise of terrorism in the region. There have been 18 successful coups since 1960, an average of one every 3.5 years. These coups have a plethora of impacts, including fracturing economic progress, decreasing social unity and creating power vacuums for terrorist groups to take advantage of. Another often ignored impact is that newly-formed governments adopt “coup-proofing” measures, such as directing resources towards military and defense, which comes at the cost of public infrastructure and welfare. The humanitarian crisis and the terrorism threat has created a refugee problem, with hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring into neighboring countries. In just the last decade, 2.6 million people and 2.8 million people have been displaced in Liptako-Gourma and in the Lake Chad Basin, respectively.
The West and Russia’s Involvement
The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was established in 2013 to support the implementation of a peace and reconciliation agreement in Mali and to provide security for UN officials working in the country. However, partly because of this narrow mandate, MINUSMA has failed to prevent instability from spreading in the region. To make matters worse, MINUSMA is readying to depart from the country in the near future.
In 2013, France, the Sahel’s former colonial power, launched Operation Serval, which was a traditional anti-terror approach. It was originally seen as a success, which prompted France to launch Operation Barkhane in 2014, a more ambitious project. The project deployed approximately 5,100 troops, but it was not nearly enough to prevent the spread of jihadist control throughout the entire region. In Mali and Burkina Faso, essential services, including healthcare and education, collapsed and because of the lackluster effort to prevent instability, some of the bloodiest fighting in recent years occurred in 2022. Back-to-back coups in Burkina Faso and Mali deteriorated their relationship with France. Anti-French sentiment is deeply entrenched in both countries, and protests against Paris are common in Ouagadougou, where the new military leadership is calling for the withdrawal of the French ambassador. In August 2022, France withdrew its forces from Mali.
The Sahel region’s relationship with the United States is not much better. Following the coups in Burkina Faso and Mali, the Biden administration suspended free trade with the countries. The United States has not provided substantial assistance to the countries and instead, opted to express concerns over the lack of transparency in election processes, such as the one in Sierra Leone.
Russia has invested minimal time and effort in Africa, but is slowly gaining ground in the region, especially in the Sahel. The Wagner Group has been the Kremlin’s most important proxy in the Central African Region (CAR) and the Sahel region as a whole. Following France’s departure, the Wagner Group stepped into the CAR providing weapons and military trainers and furthering Russia’s political and diplomatic influence. A similar story is apparent in Burkina Faso and Mali, where Russia and the Wagner Group have embraced the military regimes, providing them with security assistance, diplomatic backing, and information operations support. Following the second coup in Mali, the Wagner Group sent arms shipments and military advisors to the country. Russia is capitalizing on the anti-West sentiment in the region in hopes of furthering their own geopolitical influence. The Wagner Group has recently expanded into Chad, an area that is strategic because it is located in the middle of the Sahel region.
