An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
The conflict is generally seen to have begun during the early stages of the Mali War, which itself was seen as a spillover conflict of the Insurgency in the Maghreb. As Islamist Tuareg rebels overran Mali in 2012, a concurrent insurgency in Nigeria, led by Boko Haram, began to spread to nearby countries. By 2015, the Mali war had spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, which led to heavy fighting and humanitarian crises in both countries. The conflict in Nigeria also reached a climax before a coalition offensive forced insurgents into remission. By 2019, the effects of the region-wide conflict began to accelerate due to resentment within the populace and due to alleged inability to handle the conflict. These views led to a series of coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, Chad, and Guinea, which led to the region being labeled a 'coup belt'.
Background
Since 2007, the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have been engaging the Algerian government in an insurgency campaign in the Maghreb. AQIM fighters are mostly drawn from the Algerian and local Saharan communities (such as the Tuareg and the tribal clans of Mali). After the First Libyan Civil War in 2011, south-western Libya has offered sanctuaries to AQIM fighters, which dispatched cells to be established in the region.
Western Sahel
Mali
Tuareg rebellion and Malian civil war
After the end of the 2011 Libyan Civil War, an influx of weaponry led to the arming of the Tuareg in their demand for greater autonomy and independence of their homeland in northern Mali, which they called Azawad. In Libya, the Tuareg people largely supported Gaddafi during the war, Tuareg areas such as Ghat remain Gaddafi loyalist strongholds. Tuareg fighters who fought for Gadaffi began to return from Libya after war ends, citing discrimination from the new government.
In October 2011, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) was formed from rebels of previous Tuareg rebellions and fighters who have returned from Libya. Another Tuareg-dominated group, the Islamist Ansar Dine, also fought against the Malian government. However, unlike the MNLA, it does not seek independence but rather the impositions of sharia across united Mali.
In March 2012, Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted in a coup d'état over his handling of the conflict. Following the coup, Northern Mali's three largest cities: Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu were overrun by the rebels.
On 6 April 2012, the MNLA said that it had accomplished its goals and proclaimed Azawad to be independent from Mali.
The MNLA were initially backed by Ansar Dine. However, Ansar Dine and other Islamist groups, including Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), a splinter group of AQIM, began imposing strict Sharia law in conquered territories. They soon came into conflict with the MNLA. By July 2012, the MNLA had lost control of most of northern Mali to the Islamists.
By January 2013, Islamist forces advanced to 600 km from the capital and were closing in to capture the major town of Mopti. The MNLA began peace talks to realign with the Malian government while the French military launched Opération Serval on January 11, intervening in the conflict. French air campaign helped Malian government to push back Islamist advances, allowing them to take back major cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. By the end of May 2013, Islamist and Tuareg forces have to retreat to the desert of northeastern Mali.
Foreign interventions
Opération Serval ended in July 2014. Operation Barkhane commenced shortly after on 1 August 2014 to "assure the Sahel nations' security, and in effect France's security".
In the first days of January 2022, after several months of rumors and negotiations, several hundred Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group were deployed in Mali, as well as soldiers from the Russian regular army. At the same time, Turkish intervention had intensified.