Responding to Security Threats from the Sahel: What Role for External Security Partnerships in Coastal West African States?
Megatrends Policy Brief 25, 14.03.2024, 10 Pagesdoi:10.18449/2024MTA-PB25
In the face of a growing threat of jihadism from the Sahel, this brief investigates how Ghana, Benin, and Togo respond, diversifying security ties beyond traditional allies. Amidst expanding networks and complex regional arrangements, this brief calls for an integrated security cooperation and urges coherence in countering the jihadist threat in the Sahel.
French military instructors in Tanguietan, northern Benin, on March 28, 2022. The region, near the Burkina Faso border, confronts escalating violence, as coastal states face growing challenges from a rising jihadist threat posed by al-Qaida and the Islamic State's expansion
© picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Marco Simoncelli
In northern Ghana, competition over resources has led to the emergence of antagonistic conflicts between ‘autochthonous’ farmers and ‘foreign’ herders. Climate change has acted as an exacerbating factor. New approaches are needed to reverse this worrying trend.
doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB09
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) is one of the most active jihadist movements. Its success is linked to the influence of the Islamic State (IS), which has encouraged the movement to adopt a more streamlined, bureaucratic governance that limits the amount of violence committed against Muslim civilians. This has caused great tension within the Nigerian jihadist movement. The Bakura faction resists this rationalisation and adheres to sectarianism, predation and clientelism. This case study explores the variety of jihadist governance models and their determinants.
doi:10.18449/2022MTA-PB08
