Sahel: the war in Sudan

Since 2012, the central Sahel region has been continuously subjected to multiple intimately linked political, security and humanitarian crises. Economic catastrophes were bound to follow and with them, famines and environmental degradation. In that already harsh context, the civil war in Sudan and its multiple consequences could only be harmful to the region. Revitalized at the level of its member states and supported by its external partners, the G 5 Sahel, as well as the institutions linked to it, may prove to be more useful than we think.

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Sahel: growing uncertainties and insecurity

‘’Today what happens everywhere can be seen and heard everywhere’’.

More widespread, more violent and now openly assumed as at its beginnings in 2012, terrorism in the Sahel continues unabated across the region. Inexorably transformed into an increasingly ethnic war, it is now anchored beyond the center of the Sahel, its earliest base. It is expanding and now enjoys easier access to the shores of the Red Sea and therefore safer supplies of military equipment and of its gold exports.

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Sahel: Sudan a new pervasive insecurity

Here we are!  To the international community, the Sahel is now providing large dividends resulting from a long lasting political indifference and a military neglect or passivity. For over a decade, most terrorism financing in the Sahel has been generated from or has transited through western and north west Sudan. That was carried out in a total silence if not irresponsibility or even complicity. Furthermore, most traffic and trafficking in migrants, combatants as well as in arms, were prosperous in Sudan western borders especially those with chaotic Libya and insecure Central Africa.

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Sahel: gold mining and terrorism

For a decade, gold exploitation, legal or illegal and official or informal, has known a speedy expansion throughout the Sahel. Its actors are numerous and range from Canadian and Russian multinationals to small informal local operators. Financial incomes and especially jobs creations, even dangerous ones, are considerable for all: private companies, governments and small operators as well as their equipment suppliers often from Middle East.

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Terrorist attacks against Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger continue unabated. Over the last year, violence in the three countries has increased by 36% with 2 737 serious incidents. The first two countries now trust their cooperation with the Russian Federation to overcome the scourge. They granted mining concessions to Moscow as a part of payment for its military assistance. The rapprochement between Ouagadougou and Bamako suits the two juntas, but complicates the fight against terrorism in the sub-region, already undermined following the departure of Mali from the G5 Sahel. However, Niger continues its cooperation with France, in this difficult fight. The organization scheduled next week summit in Ndjamena, indeed for time being without Mali, should indeed be a good indicator of that organization future and its large possibilities.

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