Jihadist Militancy in the Sahel: State of the Art and Prospective Scenarios

On April 23, 2024, the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University hosted the first of a series of two online events aimed at examining the situation of jihadism in the Sahel twelve years after militants took control of northern Mali. To do so, the Program hosted an online discussion with a threefold objective: establishing the state of the art among jihadist organizations in the Sahel, explaining why they have substantially grown in size, range of action, capabilities and impact, and finally trying to address the existing challenges and the different plausible scenarios in the region.

In order to discuss these matters, the Program on Extremism was honored to host:

• Mr. Dahane Ahmed Mahmoud, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Mauritania, and Director at the Mauritanian Institute for Strategic Studies
• Mr. Wassim Nasr, France24 Journalist and Soufan Center Senior Research Fellow
• Dr. Andrew Lebovich, Research Fellow at the Clingendael Institute

The event was moderated by Program on Extremism Senior Research Fellow Sergio Altuna.