For eight years now, we have heard about the Sahel as the theatre of a war on terror. Sparked in Mali with the Tuareg rebellion of 2012, the conflict, largely waged by jihadist organisations, quickly spread beyond the borders. Islamist groups have constantly been striving to expand their influence. They have built up their power by exploiting state weaknesses in the face of deeply rooted economic issues and socio-ethnic tensions already amplified by climate change. [1] However, a key ingredient of their success lies in the dangerous potential of organised crime and trafficking networks in the Sahel. This piece will first look at the criminal rings that have contributed to turning the Sahel into a powder keg, and for which the conflict has played a catalyzing effect. [2] Then, it will develop the argument that those trafficking practices nurture each other, which makes them even more arduous to overcome.
Overview of a region hustled by its criminal plurality
War and instability, combined with weak and corruptible states, have stirred the development of criminal trafficking routes and their overlap with terrorist networks. [3] Indeed, the Sahel, the boundary between Africa’s desert north and savannah south, and traditionally a land of passage with its caravan routes, is a valuable transit hub for licit and illicit trade today. Among the scourges that consume the Sahel, organised crime appears at the forefront, with its transnational trafficking networks. While a variety of illicit activities take place, migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, arms, and drugs prove the most profitable. [4]
Migrant smugglers lead a very lucrative activity in a region with porous borders and severe violence. In the G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Niger) alone, the conflict has caused over 19,000 deaths. [5] With 2,000 attacks registered since 2012, [6] the armed efforts of jihadist groups led to the displacement of 900,000 people. [7] The addition of economic, political, and environmental concerns results in fluxes of over seven million international migrants per year, [8] creating great opportunities for smugglers. Exact figures are obviously hard to find due to the unlawful character of those activities, but the profit generated only through smuggling routes from the Sahel to Europe is estimated around $300 million per year, without mentioning considerable amounts of intra-regional migration. [9]
Furthermore, while migrant smuggling and human trafficking should be clearly distinguished from each other, they often end up being coupled as one issue. The purpose can differ depending on the population targeted. For instance, Nigerian women are the most common victims of sexual exploitation in Africa, [10] while men are mainly used for criminal activities or as workforce in fields and mines. Children, mostly coming from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, have been victims of the sex industry. [11] However, in the last decade, there has been an unfortunate resurgence of the soldier children phenomenon, especially among terrorist groups. [12]
Regarding weapons circulating in the region, they mostly come from previous local conflicts or from arms trafficking. The most sought-after products are assault rifles and ammunition. [13] They can be sold or leased by corrupt members of security forces or imported from abroad. Since the Cold War, they were mostly issued in Warsaw Pact countries. However, since the outbreak of the conflict, Chinese-made weapons seem to dominate the market. [14] Eritrea and Djibouti, as the “African gateway”, play a key role in supplying arms to the Sahel. [15] More locally, the leading actors are terrorist groups.
Those organisations also play a central role in trafficking drugs. [16] It is not a recent development that literature on the involvement of terrorists in criminal activities is dominated by references to the drug trade. [17] The practice has a twofold purpose: it generates income, but can also weaken enemies through its addictive nature. [18] While non-state actors in West Africa have been playing a solely logistical role for years, providing a corridor from Latin America to Europe, the last decade has even allowed local drug production to appear in the Sahel. [19]
Complex nexuses between trafficking networks allow mutual consolidation
The major challenge is nonetheless the combination of all these criminal phenomena. They cannot be faced separately. Indeed, while Edmund Burke taught us that “slavery is a weed that grows on every soil”, certain soils might be more fertile – when shared with drug plantations for example. As a matter of fact, drug trafficking, with the addiction, financial issues, and community conflicts it causes, makes people more vulnerable to human trafficking. Additionally, it goes without saying that drugs, with their inhibitory effects, are valuable for people’s exploitation. [20]
On the other hand, trafficking in persons provides financial means, human resources, as well as networks for all sorts of criminal activities like weapons trafficking. An analysis of the organized crime index reveals a proportional evolution of arms and human trafficking in Africa and in the Sahel (cf. Appendix). [21] Weapons provide criminals with the necessary coercive power they need to subdue their human trafficking victims.
Besides, a dense and armed criminal network contributes to creating the proper environment to trigger violence and thus, exploit people’s weaknesses. Indeed, the growing black market in conventional weaponry has parallelled the escalation of violence in the region. [22] This relies in part on the supply available for rebel and terrorist groups, who disrupt an already unstable environment and further weaken national governments. They do so by damaging their territorial integrity, which hinders state-centric responses and allows a reinforcement of all the above-mentioned criminal phenomena. [23] Additionally, they induce financial losses by forcing the states to concentrate their efforts and resources on this asymmetric fight.
The direct outcome is thus the government’s failure to protect and provide for its citizens, leading to popular dissatisfaction. People can then deduce that they either need to provide for themselves – which can lead to an increase of the demand for light weapons – or to seek help from alternative groups. This is how the vacuum left by state authorities, if taken advantage of, can lead to considerable gain in legitimacy for criminal and terrorist organisations. [24]
These nexus are simply an illustration of how multiple aggravating factors can converge, leading to the vicious cycle for the Sahel security question. The region has been facing a diversity of geopolitical and humanitarian challenges that have not successfully been tackled despite five years of cooperation of local governments through the G5 Sahel, the French military intervention since 2013, and efforts of the international community. [25]
As shown, a major obstacle is the interconnection of multiple criminal activities which cannot be solved individually. Furthermore, a strictly regional response is not sufficient since the Sahel is not a closed-off area and constitutes a pivotal international hub for illicit markets and a central platform for drug trafficking [26]. Lastly, the financial fluxes and incomes generated by these trades cannot be ignored, especially in light of the role of the underground economy in Africa.
To conclude, in the last decade, the Sahel has been a puzzle of security challenges aggravated by humanitarian crises. As illustrated in this piece, the issues are deeply rooted and intertwined, which makes the bigger picture appear inextricable. Yet, the new decade began with further threats weighing in on the region: climate change and the coronavirus. On one side, the reduction in trafficking they caused is a reason to be hopeful. On the other, a more structured response is needed urgently, now that light has been shed on states in increasingly weak and precarious positions, therefore creating new opportunities for crime.
Appendix 1
Sources
[1] Le Monde Afrique (2020), ‘Comprendre la guerre au Sahel ( Les cartes du Monde Afrique, épisode 1)’ [online] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1tLiD6yjXM
[2] Enhancing Africa’s reponse to transnational organised crime (2019) ‘Organised Crime Index Africa 2019’ [online] Available from https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2019-09-24-oc-index-2019.pdf
[3] Ibid.
[4] US Aid, Bureau for Africa (2020), ‘Strengthening Rule of Law Approaches to Address Organized Crime Criminal Market Convergence’ [online] Available from https://globalinitiative.net/strengthening-rule-of-law-approaches-to-address-organized-crime-criminal-market-convergence/
[5] ACLED (2020), ‘The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project’ [online] Available from https://acleddata.com/dashboard/#/dashboard
[6] Ibid.
[7] Le Monde Afrique (2020), ‘Comprendre la guerre au Sahel ( Les cartes du Monde Afrique, épisode 1)’ [online] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1tLiD6yjXM
[8] Ibid.
[9] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006), ‘Organized Crime and Irregular Migration from Africa to Europe’ [online] Available from https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/bibliography/organized-crime-and-irregular-migration-from-africa-to-europe_html/Migration_Africa.pdf
[10] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2013) ‘Criminalité Transnationale Organisée en Afrique de l’Ouest : Une Evaluation des Menaces’ [online] Available from https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/bibliography/2013/transnational_organized_crime_in_west_africa_a_threat_assessment_html/FRANCAIS_West_Africa_TOCTA_2013_FR.pdf
[11] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2006), ‘Organized Crime and Irregular Migration from Africa to Europe’ [online] Available from https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/bibliography/organized-crime-and-irregular-migration-from-africa-to-europe_html/Migration_Africa.pdf
[12] RFI (2020), ‘Sahel: le chef de Barkhane alerte sur le recrutement d'enfants soldats par les jihadistes’ [online] Available from https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20200710-barkhane-bilan-inquietude-emploi-enfants-soldats-jihadiste
[13] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2013) ‘Criminalité Transnationale Organisée en Afrique de l’Ouest : Une Evaluation des Menaces’ [online] Available from https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/bibliography/2013/transnational_organized_crime_in_west_africa_a_threat_assessment_html/FRANCAIS_West_Africa_TOCTA_2013_FR.pdf
[14] Ibid.
[15] Hansrod, Zeenat (2018) ‘Djibouti emerges as arms trafficking hub for Horn of Africa’ [online] Available from https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20180915-djibouti-emerges-arms-trafficking-hub-horn-africa
[16] Labrousse, Alan and Laniel Laurent (1999), ‘The world geopolitics of drugs’ Geopolitical Drug Watch [online] Available from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bfm%3A978-94-017-3505-6%2F1.pdf
[17] McCarthy, Deborah (2003) ‘Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate, Washington DC’
[18] Enhancing Africa’s reponse to transnational organised crime (2019) ‘Organised Crime Index Africa 2019’ [online] Available from https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2019-09-24-oc-index-2019.pdf
[19] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2013) ‘Criminalité Transnationale Organisée en Afrique de l’Ouest : Une Evaluation des Menaces’ [online] Available from https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/bibliography/2013/transnational_organized_crime_in_west_africa_a_threat_assessment_html/FRANCAIS_West_Africa_TOCTA_2013_FR.pdf
[20] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2013) ‘Criminalité Transnationale Organisée en Afrique de l’Ouest : Une Evaluation des Menaces’ [online] Available from https://sherloc.unodc.org/res/cld/bibliography/2013/transnational_organized_crime_in_west_africa_a_threat_assessment_html/FRANCAIS_West_Africa_TOCTA_2013_FR.pdf
[21] Enhancing Africa’s reponse to transnational organised crime (2019) ‘Organised Crime Index Africa 2019’ [online] Available from https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2019-09-24-oc-index-2019.pdf
[22] Antoine, Jean-Charles (2015), ‘Trafic d’armes, l’étude des filières est une démarche majeure dans la compréhension des crises géopolitiques’ Diploweb [online] Available from https://www.diploweb.com/Trafic-d-armes-l-etude-des.html
[23] Enhancing Africa’s reponse to transnational organised crime (2019) ‘Organised Crime Index Africa 2019’ [online] Available from https://enact-africa.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2019-09-24-oc-index-2019.pdf
[24] Natale, Fabiana and de Valk Gilles (2020), ‘Conversing COVID - Part II, with Mikel Irizar’ The Security Distillery [online] Available from https://thesecuritydistillery.org/all-articles/conversing-covid-part-ii
[25] Athénaïs Porret, Anastasia (2020) ‘Les déplacés du Sahel : une urgence humanitaire’ Les Yeux du Monde [online] Available from https://les-yeux-du-monde.fr/actualite/43802-les-deplaces-du-sahel-une-urgence-humanitaire
[26] US Aid, Bureau for Africa (2020), ‘Strengthening Rule of Law Approaches to Address Organized Crime Criminal Market Convergence’ [online] Available from https://globalinitiative.net/strengthening-rule-of-law-approaches-to-address-organized-crime-criminal-market-convergence/