The draft state of emergency decree for the Savanes Region (far north border with Burkina Faso) adopted on June 13, 2022 by the Togolese authorities is the latest addition to the defense arsenal that Togo has put in place. in the face of terrorism. The threat became clearer in 2019 for this small West African state, on its border with Burkina Faso. Insecurity in Mali, which has spread to its neighbors such as Burkina Faso and Niger, has largely spread to the countries of the Gulf of Guinea in recent years.
On February 15, 2019, reports a publication by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), “an attack against a mobile customs post, in Nohao, in the province of Boulgou in Burkina, close to the savannah region of Togo” − border zone which is located in the north of the country and in the east of Burkina − fact “five victims including four customs officers and a Spanish priest”. This incident will be at the origin of the establishment of the Interministerial Committee for the Prevention and Fight against Violent Extremism (CIPLEV) installed on May 15, 2019. This “non-military mechanism” complements the measures taken by Togo since 2017 to prevent violent extremism on its territory”then specified the article of the ISS.
Two years later, the terrorist threat will be truly embodied on Togolese territory with the attack “by a group of heavily armed individuals”, on the night of November 9 to 10, 2021, of a “outpost of the defense and security forces (FDS)” deployed in Kpékpakandi (Kpendjal prefecture), in the Savanes region. According to the official portal of the Togolese government, “the attackers from Burkina Faso were repelled thanks to the Operation Koundjoare system, set up in the region”. At the time, the Togolese authorities pointed out that for “better fight against the terrorist threat from the Sahel, Togo (had) deployed forces in this sensitive area”.
Six months later, almost to the day, the jihadists again struck this same outpost in the Savannah region. This time, the attack claimed by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, linked to Al-Qaeda) is deadly: “eight dead and thirteen wounded on the side of the military. A first for Lomé.
Following the terrorist attack on the night of May 10 to 11, 2022 in #Kpekpakandi in the #Kpendjalthe @GouvTg condemns this cowardly and barbaric act.
He offers his condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured in this press release pic.twitter.com/K39X9Dd4Me
— Togolese Government (@GouvTg) May 11, 2022
According to the Togolese authorities, the state of emergency aims to strengthen “the speed of decision-making and will facilitate greater agility of public services and defense and security forces”, we read on Republic of Togo, the pro-government information site. Lomé wants to be reassuring when it also stresses that “the state of emergency should not be interpreted as a sign of aggravation but as an action to strengthen the protection of the country against the terrorist threat”.
On June 16, Republic of Togo reported that a new jihadist attack had been “repelled” in “the cantons of Gnoaga and Gouloungoushi, on the border shared by Togo, Ghana and Burkina Faso”.
Still, the speech is intended to be measured to describe a situation that alarms all of West Africa and the international community. Togo, which has to meet major socio-political challenges, particularly related to its democratic life, must now face a security challenge whose human and financial cost remains heavy for this small country. While visiting the soldiers of Operation Koundjoare in February 2021, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé recalled that the Community of West African States (ECOWAS), i.e. fifteen States, had adopted an action plan for the period 2020-2025 worth one billion dollars. By way of comparison, Operation Barkhane, which Mali has demanded an end to, has cost France around one billion euros each year.
Finding a way out of the Malian and Sahelian crisis is perhaps the reason why Togo is getting more involved. Its leader agreed to be the mediator of the Malian crisis, at the request of the military junta in power in Bamako, with ECOWAS. An indirect way for Lomé to find a solution to its security problem by seeking a way out of the political instability that reigns in Mali, still unable to fight effectively against jihadism on its lands where more than fifteen Togolese soldiers have already perished. And also to settle that of the displaced persons who arrive at the Togo, which has become the refuge of hundreds of Burkinabè fleeing terrorist violence in their country.