think you’re safe,” says a 57-year-old resident of Doropo in northern Ivory Coast. “But jihadists are like ants, they can come in without being noticed.” On June 11th, just three weeks after Ivory Coast’s army reassuringly declared that its northern frontier with war-torn Burkina Faso was “under control”, a band of armed insurgents proved it wrong. Some 20 men on motorbikes descended on an army-and-police outpost near the border at Kafolo.
This war in the Sahel has been growing rapidly. Ten times more people were killed last year than in 2014 . Two main jihadist groups are behind most of the fighting: the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ; and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin , which is linked to al-Qaeda. These groups have extended their reach, even though thousands of international peacekeepers and local and Western soldiers have been deployed to stop them.
The weakness of governments and the feebleness of their public services are helping the jihadists. In the neglected hinterlands of the Sahel the rebels offer themselves as an alternate state, serving up sharia and medical aid. Some 70% of people in the northern reaches of Ghana are classed as very poor, compared with a national rate of 25%. Ghana and Ivory Coast face divisive elections. So do Burkina Faso and Niger.
Though the jihadists stunned many by the speed of their advance through Mali and Burkina Faso, they face a tougher fight in the coastal states. The security forces of Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal are beefier than those of their neighbours in the Sahel. But Togo and Benin offer the jihadists softer targets. And Ivory Coast’s army, made up of fighters who were on different sides in a vicious civil war, may prove brittle. A recent raid was scuppered after an Ivorian officer leaked the plans.
It is sometimes hard to avoid ruining livelihoods in the name of fighting terrorism. In northern Niger the authorities have banned motorbikes, which are the jihadists’ favourite mode of travel. But locals like to ride them to work. The authorities have annoyed people by closing markets and border crossings, raising youth unemployment.
Do you really know the meaning of Jihad? Your game of mixing terrorism and jihad is over, stop it!!
Who ruined Africa and her ppls. No water no food or no hispitals no schools nothing. But lots of M-16, missile, Ak-47!..whos providing them these guns and ammo
Jihadis? Are they ethnic Arabs? Or indigenous Africans who have been radicalised as jihadhis by Arabs?
😅
Not one mention of the EU training missions or capacity-building programmes, or the €130million provided to help the G5 Sahel Joint Force. This must be intentional and is part of The Economist’s ideological anti-EU stance.
ThanksReligion
France who steals and kills in the Sahel . jihadist are an excuse for its expansion .
I agree. My novel Vodka Caliphate provides some great insights about this part of the world, garnered from time I spent in the region for our government.
West has never given up colonizing Africa and benefiting from its natural resources and mineral wealth. War in Sahel is just a continuation of Colonization and Exploitation of Africa. Africa Sahel colonisation
The religion of peace
Why is this the West's problem? Oh, unless it threatens Western business interests or access to Africa's natural resources.
Here is a look at the events that led to the SrebrenicaGenocide in which more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were massacred in July 1995
SCUM
MalcolmNance Relatable
MalcolmNance So sad. We need to help Africa more. He help Russia.
What did you expect after you killed Thomas Sankara.
80% of your stories about Sub Saharan Africa are always in this tone. Very few positive stories every time I read this publication. I really hate The Economist man
Who are the terrorists then?😂😂
Sad
Sad but true. Drug dealers have signified, for many years, security and opportunities for their hometowns. They rather help and be loved than hated and be caught. Just like Escobar, drug lords many times look for the well-being of their people. It is what it is!!!!!
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