Will African institutions intervene in the Sahel?

The crisis in the Central Sahel is the fastest growing in the world, with 14 million people in need of urgent assistance in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. In 2020, more civilians were killed by soldiers supposed to protect them than by non-state armed groups. Yet no Burkinabè, Malian, Nigerien soldier or militia leader implicated in human rights violations has yet been brought to justice.  

As an independent expert on the situation of human rights in the Sahel, I have followed news of suffering and instability and noticed how they have been of such an enormous scale that one would think this conflict made world headlines or was the priority of global attention. However, this has not been the case, as reflected by the fact that of the 2020 humanitarian response plans, only 48% were funded in Mali, 60% in Burkina Faso and 61% in Niger.  

Despite all the available information on the conflict, Sahelian governments and their international partners have responded to the crisis primarily through a counterterrorism lens which does not sufficiently address the root causes of the crisis, nor does it put the protection of civilians at its heart. In essence, governance failures at the level of strategy and in the forms of corruption and impunity have remained unresolved, allowing the crisis to continue to spiral.  

A recent report by “The People’s Coalition for the Sahel” titled “Sahel: what needs to change” makes the case that the continuous attacks by jihadist groups -doubling each year since 2016- and the dramatic increase of civilian deaths at the hands of state security forces starkly assert that the predominant focus on a counterterrorist approach in the Central Sahel is not working. 

France and other members of the international community have an undeniable contribution to make towards making the response work and resolving the conflicts in the region on the longer term – especially in the context of colonialism.  

It is no secret that at the core of the much-acclaimed governance crisis in the Central Sahel is the failure to build the nation state; more precisely, the failure to break the model inherited from colonial policies under which each colony was governed separately based on its individual perceived utility.  

Colonialism has had a direct contribution to the lack of integration at national and sub-regional levels, challenging national cohesion in the three central Sahelian states and predisposing them to the repeating cycle of polarisation, radicalization and conflict. Nevertheless, these historic linkages do not absolve African states of their responsibility and leadership role.  

Sahelian governments, with the support of the African Union, have the obligation to hear and act on the aspirations of their citizens. Our policy direction can no longer be informed by summits hastily convened by external powers – this runs counter to the whole notion of self-determination and of ‘African solutions for African problems’.  

Sahelian states must ultimately respond to the crisis in ways which prioritise the protection of their citizens, especially civilians. Principles of good governance require improved management of diversity; ethno-cultural, territorial dynamics as well as the management of natural resources including farmers-herders dynamics. Principles of good governance have implications for the extent of citizen representation in the political process. Good and accountable governance requires central governments and their local governing authorities to provide essential services effectively and efficiently to all citizens, and without discrimination.   

Change is now urgent. Inequalities reflected in persisting imbalances in public investment between urban and rural areas cannot continue, neither can corruption in the management of defence sector budgets and impunity by armed forces who perpetrate acts of violence against the civilians they are tasked to protect.  

“The People’s Coalition for the Sahel” -this relatively young Coalition of organisations from the Sahelian region, African continent and with partners from across the world- has successfully used the power of a united voice to audaciously propose new measurable solutions and successfully lay bare the disconnect between the governance failures, their contribution to the escalating conflict and the cost of a misplaced over-emphasis on a militarized response resulting in more civilian deaths, not fewer.  

Reactions I heard from representatives of the African Union, France and Germany showed be viewed. Their explicit endorsement of the new envisioned approach is a recognition that military efforts alone can neither solve the Sahel’s deeply rooted crises nor protect civilians, signaling that change in the Sahel could indeed be in sight. However, concrete action is still required to make promising statements a reality.  

The people of the Sahel must now take up the charge to hold Sahelian leaders, the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and international partners to account for placing people at the centre of the response and ending their suffering by addressing, first and foremost, the root causes of the conflict.  

I believe that the tenacity, activism and creativity which reside in the Sahelian people will no longer allow leaders, in the region and beyond, to rest before they put people first. 

By Mr. Alioune Tine, independent expert and founder of the African think tank Afrikajom. 
This op-ed was edited and published in French by Jeune Afrique on April 28, 2021.