The sahelo-saharan belt has officially become the global epicentre of jihadism. From western Mali to the edges of the Lake Chad basin, millions of Sahelian civilians now live under the grip of groups linked to Al-Qaida or the Islamic State. Farming is banned, ultra-violent social rules are enforced, and the constant fear of the next raid dominates daily life. But the most tragic aspect of this descent into hell is not just the strength of the attackers—it is the stark realisation that no real security policy exists to contain the fire in the Sahel.
The reign of reaction and piecemeal responses
Faced with an interconnected threat that crosses the Sahel’s porous borders with disconcerting agility, state responses remain desperately fragmented, vague, and improvised. We witness a succession of knee-jerk reactions after each massacre rather than the application of a thoughtful, shared military doctrine.
A genuine security policy is not limited to purchasing military equipment or making grand statements on social media. It requires:
- Real, lasting strategic coordination among frontline Sahelian states.
- A permanent plan to secure roads and farming zones to protect the Sahel’s rural economy.
- Territorial coverage and shared intelligence capable of anticipating enemy movements instead of merely counting the damage.
Instead, the current strategic vacuum leaves armed groups free to settle, levy taxes, and establish themselves as the sole administrators of entire swaths of Sahelian territory.
The trap of all-military solutions without a comprehensive vision
Another symptom of this absence of security policy in the Sahel is the illusion that the crisis can be solved by weapons alone. By neglecting the ‘human security’ component—which includes restoring public services, schools, clinics, and impartial justice in fragile areas—governments create a vacuum that jihadist recruiters eagerly fill.
Because there is no long-term vision to sustainably re-establish the state where it has failed, military operations, even when successful in the short term, become like water off a duck’s back. As soon as the army withdraws or shifts focus, terrorist groups return, stronger and more entrenched within local communities than before.
An urgent wake-up call or collapse
The assessment from Mali to Lake Chad is a severe warning for the region’s future. You cannot fight a global, structured insurgency with improvisation and broken strategic alliances. As long as Sahelian leaders refuse to design a comprehensive, scientific, and truly coordinated security policy, political speeches will continue while the ground inexorably slips into the hands of armed groups.