Events

The Greater Sahel region has suffered from diverse forms of armed conflict over the past decades. These include, for instance, political rebellions, devastating consequences of climate change, exacerbating conflict and leading to, among others, forced displacement, resource scarcity, violent herder-farmer conflicts, and the spread of organized crime and violent extremism. The AU Peace and Security Council in its 1006th meeting also expressed its deep concern due to the increasing attacks by armed groups designated as terrorist organizations (AGDTO), criminal and armed groups operating in the region, as well as the resulting socio-economic challenges. Political instability, increasing insecurity, and the exploitation of illicit economies, such as illegal gold mining, made the Sahel a breeding ground for non-state armed groups and other criminal actors.

In many regions of the Sahel, the presence of state authority and the delivery of basic services are lacking. Control over large parts of national territory is inexistent, including vast and remote border areas. These border regions are frequently depicted as hubs in the production, trafficking, and consumption of illicit drugs, as well as hot spots in long running conflicts. More information is needed on the dynamics of organised armed violence, including its gendered impacts, in these regional spaces.

Local and regional realities in the Sahel are such that ethnic, tribal, and family ties reach beyond artificially drawn borders. The regional dynamics of cross-border mobility, including the traditional trade and transhumance routes that make up the socio-economic strength of the region, are increasingly hampered by the growing insecurity produced by various armed actors in the region. Local communities, combatants and other armed actors strongly rely on regional ties, ethnic and tribal affiliations, and connections. Hence, also approaches to dealing with armed groups in the Sahel necessitate a regional lens. However, current approaches to dealing with armed groups vary greatly and despite efforts to develop and apply regional approaches to dealing with armed groups, for example in the Lake Chad Basin1 , these still face significant challenges in its implementation and coordination beyond national borders.

Responding to the above-mentioned challenges, the joint project of the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (bicc), the United Nations Department of Peace Operations (DPO) and the African Union (AU) which is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, supports the development of regional approaches to dealing with armed groups by examining, not only, existing approaches, but also collecting new data through field research on regional conflict dynamics by mixed research teams comprised of local and international researchers. It hence aims at generating fresh ideas, and innovative approaches while taking stock of lessons learned and good practices to inform future initiatives.

Geographically the project focuses on various border regions/complexes: Chad-Sudan, Libya, Chad-CAR as well as the Lake Chad Basin (covering Nigeria’s Northeast, Western Chad, and the Far North Region of Cameroon). The project has concluded its first phase of data collection in late 2023 and continues with the research output production2 . In Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad the project was able to conduct more than 78 focus group discussions, more than 300 semi-structured interviews. Through a survey the mixed research teams reached more than 4700 survey respondents in 20 border provinces and more than 40 border localities. In the dissemination phase the project plans to conduct two regional innovation workshops in Nigeria and potentially Chad which aim at critically discussing the findings of the research to not only gather additional perspectives, but also feedback results to parties which were already consulted at various levels (local, regional, international).