Conflict and Instability in the Sahara and Sahel: Local Dilemmas, Global Implications

North Africa and the intertwined Sahel, from Egypt to Mauritania, is a region that has undergone profound and destabilizing political and social change in the last several years, especially since the “Arab Spring” of 2011. Nascent political systems, newly empowered non-state actors, and underlying structural problems in the region contribute to an increasingly volatile mix, the implications of which—especially terrorism—are global in scope.

This statement explores the areas and sources of security and instability in the Sahara and Sahel, emphasizing several geographic focal points and specific threats. Terrorist networks associated with al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) will receive a great deal of attention in this discussion, as will the patterns of radicalization and the illicit economies that support them. Left unaddressed, these patterns and nefarious actors will increasingly threaten the interests of the United States and her allies, both within and without Continental Africa.

I will conclude with several recommendations to the Congress, the primary one being to take the necessary legislative steps to empower and direct the Administration to work with the international community to synchronize critical USAID assistance to at-risk populations in places like Northern Mali with the efforts of Special Operations Forces (SOF) to deny safe haven to terrorist actors, diminish their standing within at-risk populations and prevent them from using the area to continue to threaten US and allied interests.