Throughout the Sahel region, local governments, nomadic ethnic groups, and youth have been directly affected by a complex battle for control, engulfing the western half of the African continent.
The Sahel region ranges from the west in Senegal to the east of Eritrea. In particular, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso have been the victims of brutal violence by those inhabiting the Lower Sahara, most notably the Tuareg.
The Tuareg have survived for thousands of years by adopting a nomadic lifestyle, where they move across lands by season with a disregard for state boundaries.
Independence movements of African countries and their efforts to establish borders have greatly conflicted with existing practices, leading to extreme tension that has persisted for decades.
In recent years, however, climate change has pushed the harsh conditions unique to the Sahara further south, making the traditional grazing lands of these groups vulnerable.
Globally, dust storms have doubled in size, with negative impacts on public health for those native to the Sahara. According to the UN Environmental Programme, these storms carry tiny particles called aerosols that can cause pneumonia, asthma and even death if trapped in the nose.
Hundreds of thousands of deaths have since been linked to the effect of these growing dust storms, and have negatively impacted stabilization efforts among major parties in the region.
For decades, local governments in the region refused to address requests for settlement within their borders and have violently persecuted any such group that attempts to do so. The continued refusal to provide infrastructure for these settlements has pushed the region into a state of ongoing conflict.
This is highlighted by the fact that the land nomads seek to settle sits on the mining sites rich in mineral resources that are key to economic development.
Dr. Mohamed Camara, an African studies professor at Howard University with a focus on West African political history, said that the violence can be attributed to conflict over resources.
“[It’s] a problem for land and water; and when their issues are ignored by the leaders they are supposed to seek guidance in, all these things can create the conditions for legitimate grievance,” he said.
When these grievances were ignored, the Tuareg most notably rebelled in 2012 with aid from a resurgent Al-Qaeda and a rising Islamic State, with the deteriorating security situation further complicating attempts by local states to grow their economies.
Until recently, the local governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have sought the assistance of Western military power from the U.S. and France.
This clashed with the continent’s rising anti-neocolonialism, especially against France, a nation that had colonized many countries in Africa before. The youth have used social media to vocalize their push for change, advocating for a complete move from the West toward China and Russia.
Since 2020, this manifested into a series of coup d’états across the Sahel, which saw military officers overthrow their pro-Western leaders. After these coups, leaders invited Russia and China while distancing themselves from France and the U.S., which gained them much popularity among their people.
By the end of this year, the U.S. will have moved all its forces from the last of these countries where coups have taken place.
Nonetheless, the shift entangles them into the trap of Great Power competition, as the presence of Russian troops and Chinese investments into the region doesn’t necessarily serve their interests.
According to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, an independent non-profit organization that tracks global violence and protests, civilian deaths are at an all-time high.
In the four years since the first of the Sahelian coups, extremist-linked deaths in the region have tripled, increasing from hundreds to thousands of people dying per year. The involvement of Russia and China has not resolved the problem.
In this year’s High-Level African Counter-Terrorism Meeting, Amina J. Mohammed, the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations, called attention to the situation in Sahel.
“The epicenter of terrorism has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa into sub-Saharan Africa, concentrated largely in the Sahel region,” she said. “The situation in Africa, particularly in the Sahel, is dire with some of the most violent terrorist groups operating in the Sahel; the region now accounting for almost half of all deaths from terrorism globally.”
According to the United Nations and the United States Institute of Peace, today, groups like the Islamic State of Greater Sahara operate with relative impunity in Southern Niger and Burkina Faso. The violence spread to the coastal countries of Togo, Guinea, Ghana and more, raising the status of this insurgency to the brink of regional war.
The sheer scale can’t be ignored, but the answer is not as simple as sending military aid to one side because that hasn’t worked.
According to the Security Council Report, half of Burkina Faso’s territory is not under the direct control of the government. Last year, 8,000 people died and over two million were displaced as a result of the violence. Everybody is aware that this isn’t going away.
There is only one way to resolve the issue. Nations like France, the U.S. and Russia must show restraint, collaborate and participate in the peace process. The only alternative is a continued growth of violence and death, which if left unaddressed, will inevitably spread beyond the region toward the borders of those very countries that seek to contain it.
When asked if the problem has grown too large to be solved locally, Dr. Camara said the issue has grown past what local powers can handle.
“Maybe it started on a local level, but it has grown and matured on a global level. I don’t think by themselves they can handle that. Especially because we see how they have sought to handle it, by countering one militaristic foreign presence with another,” he said. “Somebody has to be the grown-up here and that grown-up must be the international community.”
Dr. Phiwokuhle Mnyandu, a professor in Howard’s African studies department, specializes in the growing relationship between China and Africa. He provided an example of a resolution in East Africa.
In Djibouti, an East African country that sits along the key Red Sea shipping route, China and the U.S. have set a precedent by building military bases just a few miles apart. After global shipping threats prompted their collaboration, they have maintained peace and cooperation, focusing on their shared goal of combating piracy.
Dr. Mnyandu recommended the international community use Djibouti as an example, stating that, “Everybody must work together.”
Mnyandu also said West Africans can’t resolve the issue without help from other communities, “the power [West Africa] has in traditional news media or traditional policy-making spaces is just not that big yet.”
Compared to the speeches and hashtags about Ukraine on other college campuses, those about Congo or Sudan didn’t gain nearly as much traction. Dr. Mnyandu said, “there is a lot that can be done with allies that may not be part of the diaspora.”
Dr. Mnyandu encouraged the Howard community to voice issues important to them in the international sphere and speak to those that will listen, especially as the upcoming presidential election approaches.
Very rarely in international politics does it serve to think with your heart. Thinking with your head can be the difference between victory and defeat for your country, so the choice is always clear. However, that isn’t the case here.
As we select our political leaders, we must branch out and pressure both Republican and Democratic nominees and ask, “What is your plan for ending the conflict in the Sahel?” Because right now we, the international community, are getting this wrong and now it’s all our problem.
Copy edited by Anijah Franklin
