Islamists in the Sahel

{
  "authors": [
    "Anouar Boukhars"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "menaTransitions",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
  "programs": [
    "Middle East"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "North Africa",
    "Algeria",
    "Southern, Eastern, and Western Africa",
    "Mali"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Political Reform",
    "Security"
  ]
}

In The Media

Islamists in the Sahel

The conflict in northern Mali cannot be solved by a military solution alone. Any effort to end the violence will have to utilize diplomatic and political components to address the grievances of the groups that have taken up arms.

By Anouar Boukhars

Published on Jan 17, 2013

Source: WBEZ's Worldview

The turmoil in northern Mali and southern Algeria may be an unpleasant harbinger of things to come. Speaking on WBEZ’s Worldview, Anouar Boukhars suggested that it is likely that there will continue to be incidents like the recent kidnapping of 45 hostages from an Algerian gas field. “This is something we should get used to,” noted Boukhars. Indeed, following the French intervention in northern Mali a host of terrorist groups vowed revenge and reprisal against not just the French, but the West in general and any African countries sending troops into Mali, he added The United States and other Western allies would have preferred a consortium led by west African forces, said Boukhars. However, the French intervention escalated the violence and provided a rallying point for the various disparate terrorist groups in the region. Ultimately, Boukhars argued that there can be no military solution to the conflict, suggesting that the conflict is political in nature and will need to be addressed through political and diplomatic measures.

About the Author

Anouar Boukhars

Former Nonresident Fellow, Middle East Program

Boukhars was a nonresident fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program. He is a professor of countering violent extremism and counter-terrorism at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University.

Recent Work

Research
Islamic Institutions in Arab States: Mapping the Dynamics of Control, Co-option, and Contention
- +6
  Yasmine Farouk, Nathan J. Brown, Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, …
Article
Islamic Authority and Arab States in a Time of Pandemic
- +3
  Frederic Wehrey, Nathan J. Brown, Bader Al-Saif, …

Political Reform Security North Africa Algeria Southern, Eastern, and Western Africa Mali

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Paper
Egypt’s Military Landlord Economy and its Limitations
The armed forces champion a form of capitalism that is generating revenue, but its reliance on rent faces diminishing returns, leaving the country with massive sunk costs and deferred returns, deepening dependency on external borrowing.
Yezid Sayigh
Article
From Hormuz to the Maghreb: The Geopolitical Reach of a Gulf Crisis
Morocco and Algeria, each in its own way, are having to navigate the global economic fallout of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
Yasmine Zarhloule
Commentary
Diwan
World Cup 2026: A Middle East and North Africa Primer
This will be the region’s most representative tournament, amid broad changes in its footballing landscape.
Issam Kayssi
Article
Climate Pressures in Algeria: The Crisis in Rural Kabylie
Understanding how farmers in the Oued Sahel-Soummam Valley grapple with climate change is essential for addressing the paradoxes through which adaptation, operating at both individual and institutional levels, deepens the region’s vulnerability and erodes the social fabric and agrarian identity that once defined life.
Ilyssa Yahmi
Paper
“Greening” the Maghreb or Exploiting It?
Unless the European Union-led energy transition provides economic development to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the process may be perceived as a new form of extraction.
Yasmine Zarhloule

More Work from Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Paper

Egypt’s Military Landlord Economy and its Limitations

The armed forces champion a form of capitalism that is generating revenue, but its reliance on rent faces diminishing returns, leaving the country with massive sunk costs and deferred returns, deepening dependency on external borrowing.

Yezid Sayigh

Article

From Hormuz to the Maghreb: The Geopolitical Reach of a Gulf Crisis

Morocco and Algeria, each in its own way, are having to navigate the global economic fallout of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

Yasmine Zarhloule

Commentary

Diwan

World Cup 2026: A Middle East and North Africa Primer

This will be the region’s most representative tournament, amid broad changes in its footballing landscape.

Issam Kayssi

Article

Climate Pressures in Algeria: The Crisis in Rural Kabylie

Understanding how farmers in the Oued Sahel-Soummam Valley grapple with climate change is essential for addressing the paradoxes through which adaptation, operating at both individual and institutional levels, deepens the region’s vulnerability and erodes the social fabric and agrarian identity that once defined life.

Ilyssa Yahmi

Paper

“Greening” the Maghreb or Exploiting It?

Unless the European Union-led energy transition provides economic development to Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, the process may be perceived as a new form of extraction.

Yasmine Zarhloule