The Sahel Conundrum

By Olivier Guitta

Seven African nations are among the 10 riskiest global locations terrorism-wise. Two of them, the neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali are located in the Sahel, that 5,000 km belt of land below the Sahara Desert stretching from the Atlantic Coast to the Red Sea. In just the past 15 months, more than 6,600 civilians have been killed by jihadist groups in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Local governments are now actively looking to negotiate with these terror groups while the West ...