Backgrounder on Peace in the Sahel Initiative
In December 2019 Alioune Tine, a UN Independent Expert of Human Rights, reported, “I am gravely concerned at the continuing deterioration of the overall security situation, which has now reached a critical threshold.” This crisis has grown despite a peace agreement signed between the government of Mali and two coalitions of rebel groups in 2015. The agreement was supposed to end an insurrection that began in 2012 which resulted in the virtual rebel takeover of the northern half of Mali and almost resulted in the fall of the capital Bamako. The French army with logistical help from the United States halted the attack before it reached the city. Today, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies reports that violent attacks involving extremist groups based in Mali have spread to central Mali and into Burkina Faso and Niger. These attacks have doubled every year since 2015 while fatalities increased from 225 to 2,000 and 900,000 people have been uprooted from their homes.