The evolution of violence across the Sahel and West Africa - with Olivier Walther and Steven Radil

In this podcast, the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat is pleased to welcome Olivier J. Walther and Steven M. Radil, two authors of a recent book published by the Sahel and West Africa Club called "The Geography of Conflict in North and West Africa". African governments are increasingly confronted with new forms of political violence by organised non-state actors. The situation is particularly worrying in the Sahara-Sahel where violent extremist organisations and secessionist rebels have recently thrived on the inability of states to fully control their own territories. This degrading security situation has prompted African countries and their partners to intervene militarily to stabilise the region and to prevent the spread of extremism and violence against civilians. However, these initiatives face many obstacles due to the transnational nature and geography of violence. Launched at the Munich Security Conference in 2020, the report maps the evolution of violence across the region, with a focus on Mali and Central Sahel, Lake Chad and Libya. It asks two fundamental questions for the political stability of the region. First, which regions have experienced the highest levels of political insecurity? Second, do conflicts tend to cluster in one location or spread, potentially across national borders? To learn more about our work on security, please visit: www.oecd.org/swac