GNV News, March 9, 2025

The Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace published a report in March 2025, in which it stated that in 2024 the number of terrorism fatalities in the ten Sahel countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, was 3,885. This amounts to approximately 51% of global terrorism deaths that year. The report also notes that the number of people killed by conflict in the region—not limited to terrorism—surpassed 25,000 for the first time.

Factors behind this sharp increase in violence include weak governance capacity, intercommunal conflict, and environmental degradation. In addition, the Sahel has been destabilized by successive coups, creating an environment in which armed groups can more easily operate, it has also been pointed out. And with the involvement of mineral resources such as gold and uranium that can serve as funding sources for the activities of armed groups, as well as illicit drug trafficking, the violence is intensifying.

The report also mentions links to the Russia–Ukraine conflict. After a series of coups, the Sahel has been distancing itself from the Western countries with which it used to have close relations and is building ties with China and Russia; Ukraine is supporting armed groups that oppose these pro-Russian governments. There are also concerns that the region’s violence will spread beyond the Sahel. In fact, in countries outside the Sahel such as Togo and Benin, organized violence suspected of links to armed groups active in the Sahel has been increasing.

Learn more about the political situation in West Africa → “West Africa: Why are coups happening so frequently?”

Learn more about conflict and climate change → “Is climate change linked to an increase in conflict?: Africa: Central Sahel”

A ceremony in the Mauritanian town of Néma marking one year since a suicide attack (Photo: Magharebia / Flickr [CC BY 2.0])