By using ECSS site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
ECSS - Egyptian Center for Strategic StudiesECSS - Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies
  • Home
  • International Relations
    International Relations
    Show More
    Top News
    Egyptian-Greek Trade Relations to Prepare for the Next Step
    September 1, 2020
    Iran’s nuclear program: New contexts and possible scenarios
    April 17, 2021
    The Sino-Australian Rising Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific
    October 16, 2021
    Latest News
    Looking West: India’s Strategy and Relations with Egypt
    February 4, 2023
    Messages from the Polisario Front’s 16th Congress
    February 1, 2023
    A Trump Card: Morocco Maximizes Benefit from Phosphate Amid Ukraine War
    January 31, 2023
    Engaging in Brinkmanship: Scenarios for Escalation in the Korean Peninsula
    January 12, 2023
  • Defense & Security
    Defense & Security
    Show More
    Top News
    Israel’s Cyber ​​Dome: Hallmarks and Motives
    Israel’s Cyber ​​Dome: Hallmarks and Motives
    August 15, 2022
    A Multi-dimensional Affair: Women and Terrorism in Africa
    June 14, 2020
    Messages of military drills: Is the region on the brink of a new war?
    April 5, 2021
    Latest News
    Reasons and Ramifications of Al-Shabaab’s Retreat from its Positions
    January 30, 2023
    Task Force 59: The New US Military Deployment Pattern in the Middle East
    November 30, 2022
    The Future of Relations between Al-Qaeda, Taliban and Islamic State After Al-Zawahiri’s Death
    August 27, 2022
    Israel’s Cyber ​​Dome: Hallmarks and Motives
    August 15, 2022
  • Public Policy
    Public Policy
    Show More
    Top News
    Trade between Egypt and Nile Basin Countries
    April 22, 2021
    Volunteering in Egypt: Towards a Paradigm Shift
    March 15, 2022
    The domino effect: Global chip shortage crisis hits the Egyptian market
    June 5, 2021
    Latest News
    How will Forward Exchange Contracts Affect Egypt’s Market Stability?
    January 24, 2023
    Egypt’s Economic Gains from COP27
    December 14, 2022
    Global Crisis: Whither Inflation?
    December 8, 2022
    Climate Finance: Financial Resources and Investments to Address Climate Change
    December 4, 2022
  • Analysis
    • Analysis
    • Analytical article
    • Opinions Articles
  • Activities
    • Conferences
    • ECSS Agenda
    • Panel Discussion
    • Seminar
    • Workshops
  • ECSS Library
    • Books
    • Digital Editions
    • Periodicals
    • Special Editions
  • العربية
  • Advertise
All Rights Reserved to ECSS © 2022,
Reading: Growing Threat: Terrorism in the Sahel Amid Uncoordinated Efforts
Share
Notification Show More
Latest News
Looking West: India’s Strategy and Relations with Egypt
International Relations
Messages from the Polisario Front’s 16th Congress
International Relations
A Trump Card: Morocco Maximizes Benefit from Phosphate Amid Ukraine War
International Relations
Danger and Opportunity
Opinions Articles
Reasons and Ramifications of Al-Shabaab’s Retreat from its Positions
Defense & Security
Aa
ECSS - Egyptian Center for Strategic StudiesECSS - Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies
Aa
  • اللغة العربية
  • International Relations
  • Defense & Security
  • Special Edition
  • Public Policy
  • Analysis
  • Activities & Events
  • Home
  • اللغة العربية
  • Categories
    • International Relations
    • Defense & Security
    • Public Policy
    • Analysis
    • Special Edition
    • Activities & Events
    • Opinions Articles
  • Bookmarks
Follow US
  • Advertise
All Rights Reserved to ECSS © 2022, Powered by EgyptYo Business Services.
International Relations

Growing Threat: Terrorism in the Sahel Amid Uncoordinated Efforts

Salah Khalil
Last updated: 2022/05/15 at 5:32 PM
Salah Khalil
Share
10 Min Read
Growing Threat: Terrorism in the Sahel Amid Uncoordinated Efforts
Growing Threat: Terrorism in the Sahel Amid Uncoordinated Efforts
SHARE

During the workshop held by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the Sahel countries on 21 March 2022, the head of the IOM mission in Mauritania, Boubacar Saibo, declared that terrorism and violent extremism have spilled over beyond Sahel states’ borders, hitting hard many countries in the region. Saibo called for joint work among actors to limit the infiltration of terrorist groups into the region.

Saibo’s statements raised questions about the significance of counter-terrorism efforts of Western actors engaged in West Africa, particularly with terrorism expanding out of the control of Sahel states, posing security threats to several West African countries. There are several indications of the failure and vulnerability of the strategies adopted by Sahel countries and their Western partners in confronting the expansion of extremist groups in West Africa, to the extent that some of these groups are now using drones to attack international government forces, in a qualitative development that speaks volumes of the significant threat they pose to the security and stability of the region and the possibility of their expansion to other geographical areas.   

Coping Mechanisms and Law Enforcement Strategy

The G5 Sahel group, which comprises Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso, is a regional grouping for coordination, cooperation, and confronting security and economic challenges by attracting foreign investments to achieve development, create job opportunities in hinterland areas, and build the infrastructure to ensure prosperity of the people of the region.

At the collective level, the IOM works through a strategy specifically designed to promote a common vision and strategy to counter terrorism in the Sahel, towards addressing cross-border security threats through ongoing dialogue with these countries, international partners, involved actors, and the international community, with the broader objective of promoting dialogue on security, development, the rule of law, and strengthening the security capabilities of the Sahel region.

Additionally, the IOM works with the Sahel countries on law enforcement, combating terrorist threats, organized crime, and radical extremism, and addressing the negative impacts of terrorism on local communities in the Sahel more efficiently, in order to enhance the community’s resilience in the face of terrorism and extremism, by providing basic and economic services to marginalized groups, identifying groups of youth most vulnerable to extremism, and developing concrete activities for all tracks of the process through supporting organizations and non-state actors in developing and implementing strategies and activities aimed at countering terrorism in the Sahel.

At the state level, we find that Mali has developed a national policy to combat insecurity and terrorism. Mauritania implemented a comprehensive national strategy to combat terrorism, in line with the ideological, religious, cultural, and academic constituents of the society and adopted a holistic legal framework to fight against terrorism and extremism in general. Likewise, Niger has implemented a defined strategy to combat insecurity and terrorism, through reforming the justice system and the establishment of a chamber to deal with terrorism, after the establishment of the country’s first Supreme Court to combat terrorism. Burkina Faso, too, has achieved relative success in this respect by focusing on economic development and the fight against poverty, to reduce the polarization of youth by extremist groups.

Challenges of Countering Terrorism and Extremism in the Sahel

Terrorism and extremism has become a characteristic feature of most turbulent regions in Africa and it has begun to take on various dimensions and pose several threats, requiring a quick plan that takes into consideration the impacts arising from this terrorist danger, as has been evident by the targeting of unarmed citizens in these regions. Despite the strenuous counter-terrorism efforts of international actors in the Sahel, all of these efforts proved fruitless, particularly with the withdrawal of France and its European allies from Mali. Since 2012, several terrorist and extremist organizations have carried out attacks targeting foreigners in the Sahel and the military barracks of foreign anti-terrorism forces in West Africa.

Currently, Sahel states are facing many challenges, most notably cooperation and coordination among terrorist groups, which has contributed to the proliferation of extremist groups that have found a breeding ground to grow, capitalizing on the greater cooperation they get from the residents of remote villages.

Therefore, despite the attempts by Sahel states to combat terrorism and extremism within local communities, their efforts proved ineffective so far due to the coordination and cooperation between local communities and terrorist groups on the one hand and vulnerability of the security infrastructure of the vast majority of the Sahel countries and failure of the Sahel governments to take measures to the respond to the crisis and avoid the expansion of extremist groups in West Africa on the other.

Decentralization in most of the Sahel states has played a major role in the polarization of the local population by terrorist groups, along with the unequitable sharing of economic resources in these countries that denied many people education and employment opportunities and made their recruitment by terrorist organizations much easier, giving rise to more tensions. Moreover, the significant rise in internal conflicts and the recurrent insurgencies in the areas affected by insecurity has made the Sahel states and their populations vulnerable to danger and infiltration by organized crime networks and extremist organizations. There is also corruption that impede the effectiveness of anti-terrorism efforts, particularly at the political and economic levels.

The Multiplicity of Actors and Lack of Coordination

The unilateral action by many Western actors in the Sahel, the proliferation of the proposed initiatives, and the uncoordinated action between Sahel states and the international community (including France, the European Union and the United States) caused these efforts to be of limited effectiveness and waning credibility, confined to the political and security aspects of those countries, and distant from economic development.

Furthermore, the Sahel states haven’t availed themselves of the Western actors’ strategic operations in the region, particularly at the police, justice, law enforcement and judiciary, border management, and customs points levels, to control lands, ensuring human security and preventing the various security threats of terrorist and extremist groups, particularly since Western actors adopt dual strategies with the Sahel countries. Not all Sahel countries were provided with modern technologies and methods and equipment of collecting, transferring, and exchanging information. On the other hand, poverty, social exclusion, the economic needs, and radical preaching in remote areas increase the danger of the rapid development of extremism and terrorism in the Sahel.

Overall, in the absence of coordination among all the active forces in the face of terrorism and extremism and with a breeding ground for the spread of extremism and terrorism and the vulnerability of local governments and collective action mechanisms, terrorism in the Sahel is likely to threaten the stability of countries of the region, particularly with the regimes of these countries acting in isolation from the local community, which is a critical factor in the recruitment process by terrorist groups. In many respects, Sahel regimes have become isolated from their people and lacked sufficient legitimacy, particularly following the severe crises that hit these countries due to repercussions of Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Related Posts

Looking West: India’s Strategy and Relations with Egypt

Messages from the Polisario Front’s 16th Congress

A Trump Card: Morocco Maximizes Benefit from Phosphate Amid Ukraine War

Reasons and Ramifications of Al-Shabaab’s Retreat from its Positions

TAGGED: Africa, Featured, sahel, terrorism
Salah Khalil May 15, 2022
Share this Article
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Telegram Email Copy Link Print
Salah Khalil
By Salah Khalil
A researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Social and Historical Studies

Stay Connected

Facebook Like
Twitter Follow
Instagram Follow
Youtube Subscribe

Latest Articles

Misinterpreting Egypt in Congress
Analysis September 10, 2020
The September 11 Shock and Vulnerability of US National Security
International Relations September 25, 2021
Cautious Trepidation: The International and Regional Response to the Ethiopian Crisis
International Relations February 9, 2022
Growing international rejection of the coup in Mali
International Relations July 25, 2021

Latest Tweets

International Relations

  • African Studies
  • American Studies
  • Arab & Regional Studies
  • Asian Studies
  • European Studies
  • Palestinian & Israeli Studies

Defence & Security

  • Armament
  • Cyber Security
  • Extremism
  • Terrorism & Armed Conflict

Public Policies

  • Development & Society
  • Economic & Energy Studies
  • Egypt & World Stats
  • Media Studies
  • Public Opinion
  • Women & Family Studies

The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies is an independent non-profit think tank, providing decisions-makers by Policy alternatives, the center was establised in 2018 and comprises a group of experts and researchers from diffrent generations and scientific desciplines. 

All Rights Reserved to Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies - ECSS © 2022

Removed from reading list

Undo
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?