Sahel: in search for new strategies?

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the most exposed countries of the G5 Sahel to terrorism, have been facing repeated attacks since this year beginning. It is in this worrying context that the French president announced on 10 June, the “end of Operation Barkhane”, and a strategic partner in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel. The silence surrounding that statement indicates that, on both sides, time has come to seek new avenues to overcome the jihadist scourge.

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Violence in western Cameroun A brief Abstract, see French original:

The auto-proclamation of the Federal State of Ambazonia by Siséku Ayuk on 1 October, 2017 in the North-West and South-West Regions of Cameroon (Noso in French) may give rise to a secessionist terrorist insurgency in this part of the national territory. To face it, Cameroon will avoid entering a total or absolute war against the protagonists. It has chosen to invest in a proactive law and order policy. On that matter, its strategies and tactics were of a specific nature.

This paper attempts to theorize these strategies around the concept of ‘’cowboy security model’’. That concept is established around a systematic reading grid specific to the art of asymmetric wars, that is to say strategic intelligence in anti-terrorism, counterterrorism and secessionist counter-insurgency operations. Its empirical basis rests on the practical operationalization of Cameroon security forces strategies.

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North-eastern Côte d’Ivoire: between uncertainty and armed jihadist engagement

The gradual evolution of security issues in Côte d’Ivoire can be seen around a bundle of representations and myths that Islamist doctrinaire have theorized elsewhere. However, the evaluation of the demonstrations of force of small armed groups in the north shows the capacity of these groups to combine concept, slogan and realities on the ground. In this case, for two years, the Ivorian security doctrine adversity which lays the foundations for its social significance. The repeated assaults on army positions indicate an almost unstoppable will to engage; the insurrectionary zest, enthusiasm and daring are lubricated by a faith in the hereafter, part of the quest for personal salvation after death. This dimension, largely underestimated when designing security policies on the continent, also explains the speed of jihadist dissemination within communities whose ethnic diversity, differences in environment and lifestyles defied the idea. even a standardization of behavior and of the relationship to the Other.

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Sahel: without President Deby.

Very often the danger arises from where it is the least expected! In the Sahel, the violent death of President Deby is a stark confirmation of that. The unexpected disappearance of the warrior president, Idriss Deby, has reshuffled the cards across the region. Today, with two political transitions underway, in Mali and Chad, political and military issues have multiplied while terrorism is strengthening its base and extending its front. More than ever, the Sahel is at a crossroads.

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