Can AU Tackle Security Challenges in the Sahel?

African leaders meeting in Mauritania last week pledged to redouble efforts aimed at curtailing and defeating extremist groups on the continent, especially in the Sahel region.

The pledge followed a rash of attacks by jihadi terrorist groups in two Sahel countries, including an attack that killed 10 Nigerien soldiers in the country’s southeast and an attack on the headquarters of the regional anti-jihadist G5 Sahel Force in Sevare and two other attacks in Mali.

But some experts are warning that there is not much the African Union can do to enhance the capabilities of the G5 force that was established last year.

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Originally published on VOA News

WAPSN Workshop: New Thinking on West African Security Challenges

The West Africa Peace and Security Network’s annual workshop “New Thinking on West African Security Challenges” will be held at the University of Portsmouth on the 17th-18th of May 2018. The workshop will discuss new approaches on security challenges in West Africa including highly relevant topics such as the role of foreign powers for West African peace and security; the AU and ECOWAS’ approaches to address peace and security on the continent; non-state actors, violent extremism, security and knowledge production in West Africa. Participants include academics and experts from West Africa, the UK and Europe.

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For more details, please see the workshop programme on the WAPSN website http://www.westafricasecuritynetwork.org/events/forthcoming/