The Sahel Archipelago: New Earthworks and Fading State Authority

Across West Africa, the landscape is changing in a way that echoes a distant past. New trenches, sand berms, and defensive barriers are rising across the region—not as monuments to expanding empires, but as signs of governments struggling to hold their ground. In this episode, we explore the resurgence of fortifications in the Sahel, tracing the parallels between the legendary earthworks of the Benin Empire and the modern defenses built against increasingly mobile insurgent groups. As cities and critical infrastructure become fortified enclaves, we examine what it means when states retreat behind walls, leaving vast rural areas beyond their reach. The story reveals a striking reversal of history, where the architecture of security reflects not growing power, but the fragmentation of authority—and a region where the battle for control is reshaping both the map and the lives of the people who inhabit it.https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/06/25/medieval-style-fortifications-are-back-in-the-sahel