Question

Identify the problems/issues facing Mali and the Sahel. *Identify which of the stability functions and activities outlined in JP 3-07 are most appropriate to solve/mitigate the issues/problems identified facing Mali and the Sahel. *Develop Lines of Effort linking the multiple tasks and missions that focus efforts toward establishing the operational conditions needed to solve/mitigate the issues/problems you identified facing Mali and the Sahel.

Answer 1

Solution :

Maintaining a delicate stability in Mali’s neighbouring states may require significant long-term responses to the root causes of fragility that underpin the region. The coming year will reveal whether efforts to democratize and stabilize the Sahel will progress or become ensnared in archetypal traps. On the one hand, elections could allow more diverse and representative local leadership a notable trend for post-conflict African countries over the past 25 years. On the other, campaigns by their very nature intensify political debates, which can bring grievances to the fore, tribalize conflict and foment antagonisms especially if election results are not considered transparent and fair. Dialogue platforms between populations and the state on political and security matters can help engage people productively in politics and smooth transitions of power during turbulent times.

Various factors account for the Sahel’s environmental crisis. “Over the last half century,” UNEP notes, “the combined effects of population growth, land degradation (deforestation, continuous cropping and overgrazing), reduced and erratic rainfall, lack of coherent environmental policies and misplaced development priorities, have contributed to transform a large proportion of the Sahel into barren land, resulting in the deterioration of the soil and water resources.”

The international community and the region must confront some of the political realities that have undermined efforts to advance peace in Mali in particular and the Sahel in general. While not as easy as dispatching envoys and distributing resources, there are opportunities to influence domestic politics and grow local and regional champions to press for a robust response.

In Mali and the Sahel, armed Islamism is a serious and obvious security threat. The activity of armed Islamists has increased since the early 2000s and up to 2013 there were three main organisations operating in the area. The establishment of these groups can be linked to e.g. a tradition of state neglect, constant poverty and underdevelopment, lack of state territorial control and ethnic tensions. Furthermore, the lack of functioning judicial and law enforcement institutions means that the risk of repercussions from the state is virtually non-existent.

The main regional cooperation organ in West Africa and the Sahel is ECOWAS153. Within ECOWAS, several programmes and initiatives have been established to deal with regional challenges. These include control of small arms and cooperation against organised crime.154 Other regional initiatives include a joint Mali, Niger, Algeria and Mauritania intelligence bureau and anti-terror command in Tamanrasset155 , talks between, among others, Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco and Niger to cooperate on transnational issues156 and the establishment of what has been dubbed the G5 of the Sahel with the goal of strengthening cooperation on development and security in the Sahel.