Responding to Security Threats from the Sahel: What Role for External Security Partnerships

Beginning at the border of the Sahara, they have spread across the central part of Sahel and onwards to the northern regions of several countries of the Gulf of Guinea, including Ghana, Benin, Togo and Côte d’Ivoire. [...] Nigeria joined the Accra Initiative as an observer during the 8th session of Ministers in April 2022 with the initial objective of linking the area of operation of the G5 Sahel joint force and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). [...] These three countries grouped in the newly established Alliance of Sahelian States have also announced their decision to withdraw from ECOWAS citing amongst others the failure by the organisation in combatting the spread of jihadism in their countries.29 Nevertheless they remain involved in intelligence sharing, one of the key pillars of the Accra Initiative framework. [...] Yet, the question of budget and financing and how to bring external partners to the table without them meddling in the decision-making process will turn out to be key, since the members of the Accra Initiative want to set up a dedicated intervention force. [...] In the case of France in the Sahel, security assistance was considered to serve French interests more than those of the host countries.40 France’s military behaviour was often considered by the military in Burkina Faso and Mali to be too present and at the heart of the countries’ military strategies, hence constraining the exercising of their own agency in the fight against terrorism.41 The EU lau.