Impact of Terrorism in the Sahel: Challenges for International Security

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Abstract

Terrorist targeting of civilians as an asymmetric warfare tactic can negatively impact a state's domestic politics, political stability, and foreign policy. This paper shows it through an analysis of field research data from Burkina Faso, a country of the Sahel region that has become one of the global terrorism hot spots.
Both the interview and survey data collected in this country suggest that in terrorism-afflicted regions, terrorist attacks against civilians have damaged social cohesion and the population's trust in the government and security forces, giving rise to growing mistrust and tensions between ethnic communities and a deterioration of the relationships between the population, the government, and the security forces. Worse, the persistence of the terrorist threat despite the intervention of French and other international forces, has discredited these forces and triggered a geo-political competition between Western powers and Russia in the Sahel. These research findings have implications on how major powers and the international community need to rethink their strategies for advancing peace and security in conflict zones where insurgent groups resort to terrorist tactics.

Author

• Mathieu Bere, George Mason University