Jihadist threat deepens across West Africa's Sahel
West Africa's Sahel is facing an intensifying jihadist insurgency, as the al-Qaeda-linked group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, expands its reach across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
In 2026, JNIM and allied fighters carried out one of the largest offensives in Mali since the 2012 rebellion, striking government targets in and around the capital, Bamako, as well as towns including Kati, Sévaré and Mopti. The scale of the coordinated assaults underscored the group's growing operational reach.
JNIM has also shifted strategy, opening new fronts to isolate southern cities from economic centres and supply lines. It has targeted the mining region of Kayes and towns linking Mali to Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea and Ivory Coast — key routes for the country's fuel imports — and imposed a damaging blockade on transport corridors.
The violence has spilled across borders. Burkina Faso has endured waves of coordinated attacks, and analysts warn the militants are pressing toward coastal West African states, raising fears of a wider regional crisis.
The military governments that seized power in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger came to office promising to restore security, and have expelled Western forces while turning to partners such as Russia. Yet the deteriorating situation suggests the insurgency is gaining ground, displacing communities and deepening one of the world's most severe and neglected security emergencies.
