Originally Written: October 9th, 2022 By Anna Kim
Sahel: a region spanning more than 3,600 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. This dry land consists of parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Eritrea, and Sudan. After countless years of violence, unemployment, and poverty, the United Nations continues to try to help. The Sahel region has been a place for many violent crimes and neglect, especially over the past years. The Macina Liberation Front (FLM) and the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara (ISGS) have been two groups taking the lead in violent events. Groups like these are causing increasing fatalities and crimes, taking up 60% of all violence in the continent of Africa. Because of this, more than 2.4 million people have been displaced. Conflicts between the groups like FLM have also gone up and the amount of armed people have increased as well. With millions of refugees, unbearable conditions, and skyrocketing violence, the people living in this region are desperate for help. This past Saturday, an independent panel was announced at the General Assembly in New York. This assembly is part of the United Nations and took place from September 20, 2022, to September 26, 2022. This panel was held with the concerns of the United Nations, the African Union Commission, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Group of Five for the Sahel. Last week, the Secretary-General stated that the rising of terrorist and other non-State armed groups will create a global threat with political instability. He said, “…if nothing is done, the effects of terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime will be felt far beyond the region and the African continent.” Now, this crisis is not just affecting the Sahel region, it may impact the entire world. There is already a plan, specifically the UN Support Plan for the Sahel. This plan highlights the opportunities that are available in Sahel and how we can help support collaboration and potential in the region, but it no longer covers all details. During this last assembly, challenges like a fragile economy were highlighted, calls for all scales of effort were made, decisions to upscale resources to the region were made, and support was reaffirmed. Progress will be made with supporting international engagement, acknowledging challenges, and determination. Sources: UN Affairs. “High-level independent panel on security and development in crisis-torn Sahel region launched at UN.” United Nations News. Published September 25, 2022. Accessed on September 25, 2022. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1127931
Strategic Studies, Africa Center for. “Surge in Militant Islamist Violence in the Sahel Dominates Africa’s Fight against Extremists.” Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Published January 24, 2022. Accessed September 25, 2022. https://africacenter.org/spotlight/mig2022-01-surge-militant-islamist-violence-sahel-dominates-africa-fight-extremists/#:~:text=Militant%20Islamist%20group%20violence%20against,and%202.2%20million%20internally%20displaced.
Renewal, Africa. “The Sahel: Land of Opportunities.” Africa Renewal. Accessed September 25, 2022. https://www.un.org/africarenewal/sahel Council, Norwegian Refugee. “Sahel: The world’s most neglected and conflict-ridden region.” Accessed September 25, 2022. https://www.nrc.no/shorthand/fr/sahel---the-worlds-most-neglected-and-conflict-ridden-region/index.html
Коментарі