Violence, terrorism making lives of West Africans worse

Ahmed Adel

Terrorist groups step up their activities in western Africa, which complicates the security situation in the region.

The same activities caused the displacement of close to 240,000 people in Mali. Over 54% of these internally displaced people are women.

In Niger, 489,000 people had to flee growing violence because of these activities.

Some African communities have formed their own militias to defend themselves. This coincides with increased counterterrorism operations by the multinational force, known as G5.

Meanwhile, human rights groups express fears that the aforementioned militias and multinational force can commit human rights violations.

Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, warned on July 9 against possible communal violence and potential attacks by extremists.

He said this violence continues to undermine the chances of peace and security in western Africa.

Ibn Chambas called for dialogue among the different partners in the region with the aim of formulating a comprehensive vision for the achievement of peace.

The extremists continue to stage attacks against security forces and civilians, despite concerted efforts by concerned states, Ibn Chambas said.

He added that children continue to be recruited by extremist groups in countries like Burkina Faso; Mali; Niger, and Nigeria.

Ibn Chambas described security conditions in the region as strongly turbulent.

He revealed that until June 2020, over 921,000 people had been displaced in Burkina Faso alone because of growing violence in the country.

He said this is 92% of the number of people displaced in the country all through 2019.

Ibn Chambas pointed to strong links between inter-tribal violence, organized crime and terrorism.

He said the terrorists exploit growing hostilities between the different tribes in gaining more ground and implementing their own agenda.