ISLAMIC STATE IN THE SAHEL: AN EVOLVING JIHADIST INSURGENCY

Abstract

Over the past decade Africa has become, according to many analysts, the new epicentre of Islamist-inspired armed transnational insurgencies, with the central Sahel occupying a particularly prominent position. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Mali in 2011– 2012, and even more significantly since 2015–2016, the area encompassing Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has become a base of operations and expansion for groups affiliated with both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Over the past ten years, amid escalating violence and political instability – which, among other consequences, has led to a series of military coups in all three countries – the Sahel has emerged as a central hub for transnational jihadist militancy.