Conflicts in Maghreb and Sahel have become entwined

Europe is scaling up its military engagement in the instable Sahel region, but are we sufficiently aware of the conflict dynamics in the region?

In this new policy brief, three DIIS researchers and an international expert examine the new threats that have emerged in the Maghreb and the Sahel in the wake of the collapse of Libya and the conflict in Mali. The authors describe an increasing security interdependence between the two regions, especially after Tuaregs who had been employed in the Libyan security apparatus, returned to Mali after the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 and took part in organizing the insurrection that lead to the partial state collapse in 2012–2013.

Subsequently, the Malian security concerns became a central issue in the Maghreb when the French-led UN-sanctioned intervention in Mali further undermined Algerian and Libyan counterinsurgency policies.

The policy brief proposes a series of broad policy guidelines for European leaders. In particular, it suggests that Europe should play a constructive role in containing regional great power competition in Libya and Mali and actively push for socio-economic and political development as a way to generate long-term stabilisation. The brief was published along the seminarLibya, Mali and Danish military intervention: how the fall of Gaddafi impacted a region on 13 November 2015.