Coast, the consequences of the civilian population in their situation

Beatrice Garra – Vatican City

More than thirty million people are affected by a complex and interconnected crisis network, supported by political instability and violence of jihadist groups. People who do not have space in the world’s major newspaper records. We are talking about those who live in the Sahel region, the sub -region of Africa, which extends between the desert desert to the north and Sudanese savanna to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Red Sea to the east.

“The Coast – Luka Riniri, a researcher in security studies at the Santa Anna de Pisa School – explains an area characterized by very dangerous weakness. First, it is the region of the world that includes the poorest countries on this planet. It is also an area that is deeply affected by climate change, in an area that is subject to global warming and the gradual drought of the soil.

Crisis tankers

In this context, a very serious security crisis continued for more than fifteen years, which can be tracked many vectors, which relate to the presence of jihadist groups, but also with generalized corruption, with criminal groups and merchants of all kinds.

“The security request, for a greater authority for the states, continues Renneri – led the military strikes that deprived the democratically chosen civil authorities.”

Even if the democratic standards in this context differ from the criteria, for example, Europe, they are in any case “military councils that were initially appreciated by the population, and in fact, they were able to maneuvering the popular consensus, also by virtue of a skilled communication strategy.” However, “they have shown an increasingly authoritarian and dictatorial figure, for example, is the authoritarian solution to all political parties in Mali.”

These governments are officially called “transition”, but in reality they still have the end date. “Therefore – the researcher notes – we are in serious human rights violations, enforced disappearance, and the imposition of increasing specializations from civil society and free media.”

Countries concerned

The countries concerned mainly are the Central Coast countries, such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, although the crisis threatens all neighboring countries at the present time, such as Penin and Togo, but there were also attacks in the past in Ivory Coast and Mauritania.

News of recent months indicates the increasing fears and tensions also on the borders with other states such as Senegal, Guinea, Ghana and Nigeria, and this makes the effect of four tools infection, we are used to calling Boko Haram, but today they enter the attractiveness of the Islamic State.

Jihadist groups

It must be remembered that the insecurity in the region is largely related to the presence of jihadist groups that can be classified into two large acronyms, explained by the researcher. The first is among the groups that declared its loyalty to al -Qaeda, and therefore, it descends directly from what was previously called al -Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or Jinim.

It is a radical Salvista group “calls for a rebellious jihadist belief and is present throughout Mali, especially in Burkina Faso – that this year is qualified again as a country in the world that is more affected by international terrorism – and that from Burkina Faso also extends its impact on Togo and Benne.”

Second, as we mentioned earlier, the Islamic State is also present in the region. “Since the defeat of its regional garrison in the Middle East in 2019, the Islamic State has adopted a strategy to enhance its repercussions in provinces and the growing global integration of these regional repercussions.”

“In this strategy, Africa plays a central role, especially West Africa. Thus, we find two groups in West Africa. One is the boycott of the coast in the Islamic State (ISSP), which has gained force in recent years in the border region between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The second group comes from the Lake Chad area inherited what was the dynamics of Boko Haram. “These two provinces of the Islamic State in recent months seem to join their offspring in the northwestern region of Nigeria.”

Political interests

In this context, according to the researcher, the economic interests at risk are much less important than political, military or strategic interests, because coastal countries are among the poorest of the world and do not comply with the extraordinary mineral and oil wealth.

“Of course, they are gold -producing countries, moderately, they also produce energy resources such as oil and uranium, and recently, the important lithium deposits have been discovered in Mali.”

However, it is interesting to note that “the new military councils installed in Saheel countries adopt a new economic policy aimed at increasing high royalties for international companies that benefit from the exploitation of these natural resources.”

The consequences of the civilian population

Of course, the civilian population in the Sahila states is the first to suffer from the consequences of this increasingly unstable situation. In countries governed by military councils, restrictions on freedom of expression, communication and information are usual. In addition, “do not hesitate to adopt repressive policies against some of the collective ethnic groups collectively from being the partners of jihadist groups – Reniree – who suffer from strong repression, violence, enforced disappearance, and in some cases, by government forces.”

On the other hand, jihadist groups are the same barbarian tactics against the civilian population suspected of its cooperation with the government. “The most harmful consequences in those countries that decided to recruit the civilian population in the ruling militias are strongly. These paramilitary bodies have been delivered on more than one occasion for the amendments to races, which have been issued only a greater escalation of violence. ”

Thus, Renneri concludes that “jihadist groups have a good game that presents themselves as a sheet of people who suffer from harassment of their governments and paramedical ethnic groups regularly for governments.” The glowing situation in many contexts is the risk of an explosion, with more dramatic consequences for the inhabitants of the Sahila states.