IntelBrief: The Sahel Continues to Burn as the World Focuses Elsewhere

Bottom Line Up Front

• Global hotspots like the Sahel have lost the attention of international media and policymakers to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
• Sahelian states’ movement away from Europe and toward Moscow has accelerated over the past year.
• After being pushed out of some Malian towns and villages by Islamic State Sahel Province, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin has set its sights on areas within coastal West Africa.
• More than half of Burkina Faso’s territory is beyond the control of the government, which has concentrated on cracking down on civil society, journalists, and political opposition rather than combating jihadist groups.