Publication of the 3rd Sahel-Europe Dialogue Forum
May 14th, 2024
The third Sahel Europe Dialogue Forum was held in Madrid (Spain) on the 10th and 11th July 2023. Organized by the Centre for International Security of the Francisco de Vitoria University’s Centre for the Global Common Good, the Forum served as a platform for dialogue between actors from the Sahel, West Africa, and Europe. It provided an opportunity to analyze the main risks and challenges regarding the current security, diplomatic and humanitarian crises, and challenges in governance across the region, and to propose practical solutions to these issues. The first roundtable, was titled "The evolution of the security context in West Africa: new dynamics of the main actors, regions presenting new challenges and regions representing new opportunities", and the second assessed “How the international community can help the governments of the Sahel to place the protection of civilians at the center of the security strategy? This article is written in collaboration with 2r3s (Réseau de Réflexion Stratégique sur la Sécurité au Sahel) and its founder Jérôme Pigné. This article aims to summarize the key analysis and recommendations made during the debate whilst also capturing some of the contextual changes that have occurred since the Forum, in particular the coup d'état in Niger which took place two weeks later, on 26 July 2023.
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Sahelian states have been experiencing a highly volatile security and political situation for several years, and it is increasingly worsening. The continuous rise of armed terrorist groups, the increase in trafficking, the strengthening of territorial footholds of armed militias, the emergence of sophisticated disinformation and fake news propagation strategies, and the reconfiguration of the geopolitical landscape further complicate the Sahelian equation. This critical situation, with no short-term solution, plunges the Sahel into an uncertain future, with an increased risk of the spread of violence to the neighboring Gulf of Guinea and even beyond, to West Africa.
Lead researchers
Jérôme Pigné, President & Co-founder of the Réseau de Réflexion Stratégique sur la Sécurité au Sahel (2r3s)
Beatriz de León Cobo, Director of the Sahel-Europe Dialogue Forum (Francisco de Vitoria University).
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