Irene Horejs, Boubacar Haidara & Bart Ouvry: WHAT NEXT IN CENTRAL SAHEL - A deep dive into the Crisis

Irene Horejs in conversation with Boubacar Haidara and Bart Ouvry


WHAT NEXT IN CENTRAL SAHEL


A deep dive into the Crisis


The central Sahel — Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger — has changed
dramatically since the armed insurgencies that emerged in
northern Mali in 2012. Despite the initial success of
counterterrorism operations led by France and the force of five
neighbouring countries (G5 Sahel), despite the UN Peace keeping
mission MINUSMA and the EU military training mission in Mali,
integrated also by the Austrian army – the deterioration in
security has been worse than anything experienced by the region
in recent times. Aggressive extremist organizations,
community-based armed groups, and criminal gangs have
proliferated and serious human rights violations, including by
security services and civilian deaths have reached staggering
levels.


In 2021 and 2022, the army took power in both Mali and Burkina
Faso prompting harsh reactions by the West and the organisation
of West African States ECOWAS. Mali´s new leaders reacted by
requesting the withdrawal of French troops, tightening operating
conditions for MINUSMA and engaging with Russia for military
support through the Wagner group. Since August 2022, France
relocated its military operation to Niger and EU countries
reduced their presence in the EUTM.


How can these developments be explained? What were the short
comings of the peace agreement mediated in 2015 by neighbouring
countries, the African Union, the UN and the EU? What happened to
the EU “comprehensive stabilization strategy for the Sahel”? What
is the way forward for the EU in this new context?


 


Welcome: Georg Lennkh, Former Austrian Special
Ambassador for Africa


Boubacar Haidara, Senior Researcher at the Bonn
International Centre for Conflict Studies
Bart Ouvry, Ambassador and Head of the EU
Delegation to Mali (until April 2023)


Günther Barnet, Department for Regional
Cooperation with Africa and the Middle East, Austrian Ministry of
Defense


Irene Horejs, Former EU Ambassador to Niger and
Mali