Refugee crisis in Sahel belt of Africa reaching critical level, UN says

A decade of violence in the arid region has displaced some 2.5 million people

Policemen of the UN Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma), patrol in front on the Great Mosque in Timbuktu. AFP

The UN called on Friday for tougher international action in the turbulent Sahel region of Africa, where armed extremists have waged a decade-long insurgency that has forced 2.5 million people to flee their homes.

Boris Cheshirkov, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, described a “surge” of some 800 violent attacks by armed groups across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last year, displacing an additional 500,000 people.

“UNHCR calls on the international community to take bold action and spare no effort in supporting the countries of the central Sahel to bring about the urgently needed peace, stability, and development to the region,” said Mr Cheshirkov.

The UN warning came as Sweden announced plans on Friday to withdraw its troops from a European special forces counter-terror mission to the Sahel and to review its contribution to UN peacekeeping operations in the region.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said the country was pulling its 150 soldiers out of the European Takuba force and was considering what to do with 250 military personnel deployed in Minusma, the UN blue helmet operation in Mali.

Takuba was established as a partial successor to Barkhane, France's counter-terrorism operation in the West African Sahel region that President Emmanuel Macron has started to reduce from its initial 5,000-strong force.

Mali, a landlocked nation of some 20 million people, has struggled to suppress a brutal insurgency that began in the north in 2012 before spreading to central regions and spilling over into nearby Burkina Faso and Niger.

Large parts of Mali’s vast territory lie outside of government control, and the worsening insurgency and instability have claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Several military operations have been launched to counter the threat, including the French Barkhane operation and the G5 Sahel force, which involves units from Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mauritania.

UN experts say Africa was the region hardest hit by terrorism in the first half of 2021 as ISIS and other extremist groups expanded operations in the Sahel, boasting gains in both supporters and territory while inflicting large numbers of casualties.

Addressing the UN Security Council this week, the UAE's ambassador, Lana Nusseibeh, pushed for “redoubled” efforts against ISIS and Boko Haram across the Sahel before the terrorist groups made further gains in the drought-stricken region.

Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE ambassador to the UN, called for tougher counter-terror operations against armed extremists in West Africa and the Sahel. AP

She said the “fragile security situation in West Africa and the Sahel is worsening” and called for tougher counter-terror operations against armed extremists who were trying to “establish a foothold for their terrorist activities”.