Time for new strategy to fight extremism in the Sahel
Military attacks against jihadists, to prevent them from raiding communities, have failed
ALL the efforts to neutralise jihadist groups in the Sahel over the past eight years have had little effect in ridding the region of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked groups.
Ironically, the situation has got worse, and escalating levels of violence have raised alarms both in North Africa and in European capitals. The failure to effectively stem the growth of Jama’at Nasr al Islam wal Muslimin – al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Sahel, and the Islamic State in Greater Sahara, is evidence of a flawed counterterrorism strategy.
The time has come to shift from a reliance on a heavy-handed military approach to dealing with jihadist groups to one that prioritises the need for good governance in the region as an antidote to the scourge of extremism.
Years of military attacks against jihadists, in an attempt to prevent them from overrunning towns and holding territory, have come to nought as they have succeeded in moving from Northern Mali to the centre of the country, and across borders to south-west Niger and the north and east of Burkina Faso.
According to the International Crisis Group, armed attacks by jihadists have increased fivefold since 2016 and ethnic violence has ballooned. This is despite the counterterrorism military operations carried out by the G5 Sahel Joint Force, France's Operation Barkhane, and the EU's Takuba Task Force which have tried to co-ordinate their efforts.
A year ago, France was promising an increase in troop levels but, in a meeting last month of G5 Foreign Ministers from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Mauritania, France seemed to want to reduce its military footprint in the region. This is possibly due to the fact that the strategy is
not producing results, and anti-French sentiments on the ground have been escalating.
As protests emerged in Mali in late January against the French military presence, it spurred renewed talk by regional governments to hold dialogue with jihadist groups. Last year, Malian President Boubacar Keita had indicated that he was prepared to negotiate with militants.
The prime minister of the transition in Mali, Moctar Ouane, has made it clear that they intend to go forward with the discussions begun by former President Keita before his ouster.
On February 4, Burkina Faso’s prime minister said his country was looking to start negotiations for peace with armed groups in the north and east. This suggests that national governments are taking back the initiative in bringing stability to their countries.
But their success also very much depends on their ability to curb excesses by their security forces against the civilian populations. Human Rights Watch has released a statement that Sahel nations need to address allegations of atrocities by their security forces.
A priority should be for national governments to look introspectively at their governance records – the failure to provide services, high levels of official corruption, and the urgent need for financial reform.
These are the root causes of popular frustration across the region, which have led to the extensive unrest and the subsequent military coup in Mali in August last year.
Without addressing underdevelopment, frustration will continue to provide fertile ground for extremists to attract new recruits. As tension increases within and between communities, jihadists take advantage of the discord and fill the power vacuum. National governments should also prioritise resolving local disputes and facilitating dialogue between communities in conflict.
French Foreign Minister JeanYves Le Drian is calling for increased diplomacy and political engagement across the region. Bottom-up efforts by NGOs are emerging to facilitate dialogue and reduce communal violence. Organisations such as the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Search for Common Ground, Geneva Call, and Promediation have attempted to facilitate dialogue and fill the gaps left by state-led diplomatic efforts.
As southern Africa, we can learn lessons from the failure to effectively stem the growth of Jihadist groups in the Sahel. There is an opportunity for the region to adopt an approach in Mozambique that is not solely focussed on a military strategy against jihadist groups, but one that also addresses governance issues, and the need to tackle underdevelopment, local frustration and marginalisation.
Rather than solely prioritising a military strategy in northern Mozambique, we could encourage a shift in focus to addressing the lack of human security and the need to improve service delivery. Access to decent health care and education are all issues that are of great concern to locals in Cabo Delgado and the surrounding communities.
The frustration and poverty of locals are capitalised on by jihadist groups, who then promise them a better life. Just as national governments in the Sahel need to address abuses by their security forces against civilians, so should governments in our own region.
As the SADC region devises a concrete strategy to deal with the insurgency in northern Mozambique, we should look northwards to see what we can learn from their struggle against extremism.