Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which make up the central Sahel, have become the epicenter of conflict and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the region. The countries involved, including Canada, must review their approach in order to better protect local populations.
More than 15 million people, half of whom are children, are in need of life-saving assistance today. Almost 2.5 million of them have been forcibly displaced; that’s 1 million more than in 2019. And around 8 million people are acutely food insecure, an increase of over 150% from the previous five years.
If climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have something to do with it, it is above all the multiplication of conflicts in the region that is the cause, as well as the unconvincing results of the international coalition for the Sahel, in which joined Canada in June 2020.
This coalition, which brings together the countries of the region concerned, the European Union and other bilateral partners, aims to fight against the armed terrorist groups present in the Sahel (including the Islamic State in the Great Sahara, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Ansaroul Islam and the Support Group for Islam and Muslims), to strengthen the capacities of the armed forces of the States of the region, to restore the presence of the State and of basic services, and to accelerate official development assistance.
Faced with the inability of this coalition to protect populations, observers rightly recommend the implementation of a new strategy centered on the needs of the populations and which does not have as its main measure of success the number of suspected terrorists neutralized. Under this approach, there are three priorities.
PHOTO ISSOUF SANOGO, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Thomas Sankara University near Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Promote respect for the law
The behavior of armed actors in the Sahel, whether they are state forces belonging to the international coalition or the many armed groups to which they are opposed, is governed by rules of humanitarian law and human rights, the objective of which is is to guarantee the protection of those who are not or no longer taking part in hostilities. Respect for the resulting demands of humanity would help reduce the suffering of populations and create conditions conducive to the establishment of lasting peace.
Several schools and health centers in the region are now non-operational, depriving thousands of people of education and health care. At the same time, the massive displacement of populations to areas where they have access to these basic social services exert pressure on the resources of the host areas and often lead to violence between these displaced populations and the host communities. This situation could have been avoided if the ban on attacking civilian objects, such as schools, was respected by the protagonists.
The first challenge is therefore to make these rules better known to belligerents and to ensure that they are respected in all circumstances by them. Populations should also be made aware of the protections to which they are entitled, so that they can avail themselves of them.
Adequately assess humanitarian needs
Although alarming, the statistics available on the situation in the Sahel do not reflect the full complexity and scale of the crisis. Comprehensive and centralized data is still lacking due to the intensification of conflicts, difficulties in accessing vulnerable populations, gaps in data collection mechanisms and the lack of synergy between the relevant mechanisms.
However, without a complete mapping of needs, initiatives aimed at providing answers cannot be effective. Likewise, in the absence of clear and conclusive figures, the crisis in the Sahel cannot generate and receive all the attention it deserves. This is part of the reason why this crisis continues to be among the 10 most neglected crises in the world, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Build and build on local capacities
Local communities in the Sahel are showing remarkable resilience. Despite their scarce resources, they develop ingenious survival and self-protection strategies. They are also the ones who often provide the first and sometimes even the best humanitarian responses to the most vulnerable.
Humanitarian action must think outside the box to identify, strengthen and exploit these local solutions. This implies keeping a proximity with the communities and local organizations, placing the understanding of the needs and the existing local protection strategies at the center of the activities, while giving the populations a leading role in the decision-making, the follow-up. and the evaluation of protection and assistance activities.
If these three priorities are implemented with sufficient prudence and sensitivity, this approach will not only help to strengthen local capacities for action, but also to inform and improve the interventions of international organizations.
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