Sahel Region: The Epicenter of Terror

The Sahel, a belt of land located at the north of Sahara Desert and the south of Savanah region. The belt extends from the state of Senegal to the shoreline of Red Sea near state of Sudan and Eritrea. Mainly referred as “land of opportunities” with large proportion of resources like Gold and Uranium. The primary states, which encompasses the Sahel region such as Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, and Mauritania. These states face crises like humanitarian, food, water, and top of the list is terrorism.
The region serves as hotspot for the expansion of terrorism incorporating multifaceted factors like weak governance system, political instability, and feebling economy.

The terrorist activates executed by extremist groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria, Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) in Burkina Faso and Ansar al-Dine in Mali further intensified terrorism in this region. Australian Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), which published Global Terrorism Index, report yearly for 163 distinctive states. The recent reports reveal that the trerrorist activities are exacerbating with every passy day. Sahel region have faced 43 per cent of worlds total terrorism deaths. Burkina Faso declared as the state where terrorism activity was practiced with significant proportion.

The world’s fifth deadliest terrorist attack took place in February 2023, in this region, causing the death of 71 soldiers in the result of an ambush. Security forces killed nearly 160 attackers during fight. The responsibility of attack was claimed by IS extremist group.

Burkina Faso experienced 68 per cent increase in the death rate from 1135 in 2022 to 1097 in 2023.This ratio shows how much terrorism is concentrated and lethal in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso after getting independence from France colonialism on 4th August 1960 came into state officially. The first terrorist attack took place in April 2015 when a militant group attacked a gendarmerie station and a hotel in its capital, Ouagadougou. After then the state faced series of terrorist attacks which serves as plague for interlinked border countries like Mali and Niger. The world’s fifth deadliest terrorist attack took place in February 2023, in this region, causing the death of 71 soldiers in the result of an ambush. Security forces killed nearly 160 attackers during fight. The responsibility of attack was claimed by IS extremist group.

The active terrorist group in Burkina Faso is ISIL (ISIS). In previous years onwards from 2015 attack conducted by following terrorist group results in slaughtering of thousand civilians and pushed millions of citizens to the brink of starvation. There are many other reasons that lead the state on the top of Global Terrorism Index (GTI) List. Among these, poverty is one of the influential factor that ignites terrorism. According to the report of the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) 2021-2022 Burkina Faso ranks on 184th out of 191 states. About 40 per cent of population of state lives below poverty line. The increase in the percentage of poverty provides ground for the conduction of terrorist activities. Population percentage of Burkina Faso is exponentially increasing, day by day. As the increase in population maximizes the lethality of terrorism. The population growth rate of Burkina Faso is double as the average global rate.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, interim president of Burkina Faso decided immediate withdrawal of state from the ECOWAS including other two military led government states Mali and Niger. Nicholas Westcott, an expert in international relations presented his view on this decision by claiming a threatening situation for this country including Mali and Niger.

The two – fifth of its population is mainly under the age of 15. This age group could easily trapped and engage in the terrorist activities. Another influential factor, which intensifies the terrorist activity, is the illiteracy. People of Burkina Faso did not get educational opportunities due to socioeconomic factors. The distance from education increases the chance of illegal activities. The literacy rate of the state for the year of 2022 was 34.5 percent. It shows that how much attention the state gives towards its educational system. Thus lack of education smoothen up the path for the terrorism in the state. Weak governance system since the establishment of Burkina Faso followed by the military coup created a vacuum for the extremist groups to perform their terrorist activities.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional intergovernmental organization responsible to promote stability, peace, and economic growth in the community of West African States. In addition, this regional organization provides security in condition of uncertainty and chaos among the member states. Captain Ibrahim Traore, interim president of Burkina Faso decided immediate withdrawal of state from the ECOWAS including other two military led government states Mali and Niger. Nicholas Westcott, an expert in international relations presented his view on this decision by claiming a threatening situation for this country including Mali and Niger. while explaining his view he further describes that Sahel region is encompass by Jihadist and political instability if these tri-border countries including Burkina Faso withdraw from ECOWAS the practice of activities like terrorism increases.

Captain Ibrahim Traore added 90000 more soldiers in the military brat for the security and defense of the state but this was fruitless because Burkina Faso is still at the top of list according to GTI report. Following year Burkina Faso in collaboration with neighboring state Niger and Mali form a confederation alliance named as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). AES is created to decrease the pressure of withdrawal from ECOWAS and to combat the terrorist activates by providing security and defense to their respective states. Further Measures are being taken to control terrorism by figuring out terrorist groups. The Brigade Special des Investigations Antiterrorists (or BSIAT) is counter terrorism cell in Burkina Faso, which handled terrorism cases and performs investigation before prosecution of court. In 2022, nearly 21 fixed border posts had installed and immigration police perform verification of each traveler to detect terrorist nationwide.

France conducted its operation in Sahel region keeping as a part of France Barkhane deployed its security forces in large number in Burkina Faso. This operation performed with induration of seven years due to the clash between armed groups led by ISIS and western portion of Sahel because of the activities of terrorists and extremists. Most of the critics argue, the involvement of France in Burkina Faso was not to counter terrorism but for the exploration of natural resources. International organization like he United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) by acting upon the Sustainable development Goals (SDG16) which refers to peace making, raising awareness in Burkina Faso.

The African Union is also collaborating with the states for counterterrorism and peace building. But Terrorism in Burkina Faso deepen its roots so strongly that all the activities of counterterrorism become fruitless till the mitigation of the extremist and militant groups along with the rectification of domestic concerns on earnest basis.