Sahel Region: New Battleground For International Coalitions, Terror Groups

The Sahel region, stretching across Africa from Senegal to Djibouti, has become a hotbed of terror groups in the past decade. The conflict-ridden Sahel belt connects Africa’s Atlantic coasts eastward through Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Sudan. The Al-Qaeda and ISIS/Daesh affiliated groups carry out attacks that kill a large number of civilians every year in the Liptako-Gourma region of the Sahel, which includes portions of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. These terror groups generate revenue from drug and fuel smuggling. Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, which are considered to be among the poorest countries in…