EU security strategy in the Sahel

The Sahel, a band of desert stretching across Africa – from Senegal in the West to Eritrea in the East, is a crisis-shaken region where frontiers blur. Poverty and the fragility of state infrastructures have given free rein to parallel powers, militias, arms-runners and drug dealers.

Added to the food crisis, political instability and insecurity here, almost at Europe’s back door, have made the Sahel a particular concern for the European Union. In 2011, the European Union set up a new 'Strategy for Security and Development in the Sahel', which has been confirmed and renewed in 2015. EU missions are currently deployed in Niger and Mali, alongside UN, French and African Union forces, a mix which makes a streamlined approach somewhat difficult.

This bibliography of key sources is by Eric Pichon.