Sahel

Fuel access has become a strategic pressure point across Mali and its neighbors. In 2025, Jama’t Nusrat al Islam wal- Muslimeen (JNIM) shifted from sporadic interdictions to a deliberate fuel-blockade strategy intended to pressure Bamako without holding territory. By selectively constraining movement along the Sikasso–Kayes–Bamako corridor, the group turned fuel scarcity into a tool of coercion, governance, and narrative control—shaping behavior in the capital while remaining largel ...

The member countries of the Alliance of Sahel States, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, remain dependent on a limited number of maritime access corridors, a configuration that constrains their adjustment capacity in the event of disruption and heightens the vulnerability of their supply chains. The Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) blockade of the Kayes-Nioro area revealed how critical the Dakar-Bamako corridor is for the political and economic stability of Mali. Its interr ...

Les pays membres de l’Alliance des États du Sahel (le Mali, le Burkina Faso et le Niger) demeurent dépendants d’un nombre restreint de corridors d’accès à la mer, une configuration qui limite leur capacité d’ajustement en cas de perturbation et accroît la sensibilité de leurs chaînes d’approvisionnement. Le blocus du tronçon Kayes-Nioro a illustré la forte criticité du corridor Dakar-Bamako : l’interruption d’un segment unique a entraîné une contraction rapide des flux, révélant la ...

Although the crises affecting the Sahel have been widely analysed through the lenses of armed groups, state fragility and geopolitics, much less is known about how women experience insurgent governance in their everyday lives. This is particularly pertinent to members of the pastoralist Peuhl ethnic group, which has been strategically targeted for recruitment by the Central Sahel’s dominant Islamist armed group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), as a means of facilitating ...

تعيش منطقة الساحل مرحلة غير مسبوقة من تصاعد العنف السياسي والإرهاب، إذ أصبحت منذ 2025 مسؤولة عن أكثر من نصف الوفيات المرتبطة بالإرهاب عالميًا. هذا التحول يعكس فشل الدول في استعادة ثقة المواطنين، وانهيار المؤسسات الأمنية، وتراجع الوجود الدولي، ما أفسح المجال لتوسع الجماعات المسلحة مثل “نصرة الإسلام والمسلمين” و”تنظيم الدولة في الصحراء الكبرى”. جاءت الانقلابات المتتالية في مالي وبوركينا فاسو والنيجر كنتيجة لأزمات داخلية بنيوية عمّقت هشاشة الحكمتشهد المنطقة تفاوتًا في أنماط العنف؛ فبور ...

Il y a presque deux ans, le Burkina Faso, le Mali et le Niger ont quitté la CEDEAO (Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest) - Organisation régionale regroupant quinze pays- pour créer un nouveau groupement d’intégration: l’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES).  Les motivations des trois pays ne sont pas conjoncturelles. Elles reflètent les difficultés de l’Organisation régionale à accompagner les pays en question dans leur quête de sécurité et de développemen ...

Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), alongside the Front de Libération de l’Azawad (FLA), has pioneered drone warfare in the Sahel–evolving from its first armed strike in September 2023 to over a dozen coordinated operations by June 2025. JNIM’s drone-enabled attacks–spanning kamikaze strikes, ISR- guided assaults, and visual propaganda–now target Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo. It is the only known armed group in Africa–and one of the few globally–to conduct sustained, opera ...