Why Europe should broaden its horizons in the Sahel by Rem Korteweg
The Sahel stretches from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, touching on 13 countries from Senegal to Eritrea. Turmoil is spreading across the region, putting European security interests at risk, yet Brussels is scrambling to respond. As the EU prepares for a new military mission to the Central African Republic (CAR), it should review its Sahel policy. The EU needs a more integrated approach to the broader Sahel if it is to deal with the humanitarian and security crises emanating from the region. In 2013, the chaos in Mali revealed to Europeans that the Sahel, in spite of its geographic distance, was connected with the EU’s neighbourhood. France’s robust military intervention was followed by an EU training mission to help Mali’s armed forces, and eight member-states are contributing to a UN mission there. In spite of a successful presidential election, Mali’s problems remain: reconciliation between the northern Tuareg groups and the government in Bamako is moving slowly, and as UN troops replace the French, militant groups threaten to return.
Libya’s self-proclaimed ‘government of Cyrenaica’ is blocking oil exports, starving Libya’s treasury and driving up oil prices. Its ungoverned south forms a refuge for militant Islamist groups. Northern Nigeria faces increasing sectarian tensions, triggered by the terrorist group Boko Haram. In January, they killed 30 people in a bomb-attack in the country’s north-east. Nigeria’s violence regularly spills into Cameroon. Towards the east, the CAR is a new flashpoint. As the crisis in South Sudan remains, it may affect its neighbours.
But Mali’s troubles are part of a broader pattern of volatility afflicting the Sahara and the Sahel. From the Mediterranean to the equator, states in northern and central Africa face lawlessness and conflict. The Sahel acts as the region’s transmission belt for instability, affecting the countries in and around it. Trafficking in arms, drugs, contraband and people is rife. In the north, the collapse of post-Gadhafi Libya has created a de facto division of the country; east
In the wake of Libya’s collapse and the chaos in Mali, Chad is emerging as one of the Sahel’s kingmakers. In 2013, its government gave crucial military support to France in northern Mali. But in the CAR, Chad backed the (Muslim) Seleka rebels who pushed out President François Bozizé, precipitating a conflict that now threatens to spin out of control. The UN has warned of genocide. At the crossroads between the Sahel, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa – and rich