Jihadist expansion destabilizes West Africa

Jihadist groups are moving south from the Sahel, exploiting weak governance, local grievances and illicit economies.

West Africa’s coastal states are undergoing a fundamental transformation as the crisis that has long defined the landlocked Sahel expands southward. With direct, porous borders with key Sahelian states such as Mali and Burkina Faso, as well as a range of domestic vulnerabilities that extremist groups have historically exploited, the West African region seems poised to become the next jihadist-related conflict hotspot.