Sahel Crisis

The Sahel Crisis refers to the compounded instability gripping the semi-arid belt south of the Sahara, most acutely in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad, with spillover into northern Nigeria, Cameroon, and coastal West African states. The crisis is generally traced to the 2012 collapse of state authority in northern Mali following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, which flooded the region with weapons and fighters and enabled a Tuareg rebellion and jihadist takeover of Timbuktu, Gao, and Kidal.

Several armed groups operate in the region, including affiliates of al-Qaeda (notably Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM, formed in 2017) and the Islamic State Sahel Province. France launched Operation Serval in January 2013 and the broader Operation Barkhane in 2014; both were wound down after relations with junta-led governments collapsed.

Since 2020 the region has experienced a wave of military coups: Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Guinea (September 2021), Burkina Faso (January and September 2022), Niger (July 2023), and Gabon (August 2023). The juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger expelled French forces, downgraded ties with ECOWAS, and in September 2023 formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), formalised as a confederation in 2024. They have increasingly relied on Russian security contractors (Wagner, later Africa Corps) for counter-insurgency support.

Humanitarian indicators are severe. UN OCHA and UNHCR have repeatedly described the central Sahel as one of the world's fastest-growing displacement crises, with millions internally displaced and acute food insecurity exacerbated by drought, desertification, and disrupted trade. The crisis is frequently cited in Security Council debates on peacekeeping (MINUSMA was terminated in 2023 at Mali's request), counter-terrorism financing, climate-security linkages, and migration toward North Africa and Europe.