The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) are jointly implementing the project “The Deteriorating Security Situation in West Africa” from November 2022 to early 2024. The project analyzes the various aspects of the complex security environment and develops policy options to mitigate these challenges for regional as well as international policymakers, including at the European Union level.

West Africa and the Sahel region have experienced a steady decline in stability in parallel with a growth in terrorism threats for several years. The key regional terrorist networks—the al-Qaeda affiliated coalition Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin' (JNIM) and the two affiliates of the Islamic State (ISIS), IS West Africa Province (ISWAP) and IS in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)—have grown significantly since the destruction of ISIS’s so-called califate in Iraq and Syria and the significant reduction of territorial control of the terrorist group in both countries. In West Africa and the Sahel, terrorist groups and networks exploit ethnic differences, exacerbating intercommunal violence, and are intertwined with transnational organized crime complicating an already fragile situation.

The CEP-KAS project includes the production of 12 policy papers, which are co-authored by African and Western experts, as well as monthly and weekly social media analyses, which monitors and evaluates the activities of relevant actors and terrorist networks in West Africa.