The Briefing Paper from the Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project examines the capacities of different actors to monitor illicit arms flows in the Sahel region. Monitoring illicit arms flows is critical to measuring states’ progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—especially Target 16.4, which calls for a significant reduction of illicit arms flows by 2030.
Although Libya's estimated rate of violent deaths is still far below those of Syria and several Central American nations, it remains significant, ranking eighth globally for 2016. This unenviable situation is symptomatic of the ongoing turmoil and instability facing the country since 2011.
This Report from the Small Arms Survey’s Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project examines insecurity, terrorism, and trafficking in Niger.The Sahel hosts multiple conflicts with myriad armed actors destabilizing the entire region. Positioned at the heart of this region, Niger sits at the crossroads of terrorism, trafficking, and conflict.
An unprecedented and complex Islamist insurgency has raged in Egypt since the 2013 military coup that overthrew the government formed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Salafi-Jihadi attacks of Islamic State – Sinai Province (IS-SP) are well known. But another strain of pro-violence Islamist armed action aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has recently evolved in the Nile Valley, home of 97 per-cent of the country’s population. This new strand of Jihadi belief represents what can perhaps best be described as a type of MB-Jihadism, or Ikhwani-Jihadism.
In April 2014, someone discovered a ‘gift from God’ in northern Niger: large quantities of gold, easily accessible using basic equipment. The gold rush began, and with it came a transformation of the security, political, and socio-economic dynamics in this vast and sensitive region. The population suddenly increased fifty-fold, and the number of vehicles circulating in the region grew even more than that.
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Ubari, an oasis town in southern Libya’s Fezzan region, is home to members of both the Tuareg and Tubu tribes. These two tribes dominate this corner of Libya and contiguous desert regions in neighbouring countries. For over a century, relations between these tribes were peaceful, governed by an 1893 treaty known as the ‘Midi Midi’. The 2011 revolution in Libya did more than simply bring down the Qaddafi regime; it also brought down the intricately structured relationships of patronage and power that had kept the region firmly under central government control.
The conflict in Syria has become a rallying point for jihadists from around the world. More than 20,000 foreign fighters are fighting or have fought in Syria, and most are part of jihadist groups, including Jubhat al Nusra (JAN) and Islamic State (IS). North Africa has provided a large portion of these foreign fighters, from countries as diverse as Morocco and Libya. Who are these North African fighters, and why are they going to Syria? What do they hope to accomplish there, and do they want to return to their home countries?
The looting of Libya’s massive stocks of weapons and ammunition was one of the most significant arms proliferation events of the 21st century. Anti-government forces seized tens of thousands of small arms, light weapons and other munitions, and thousands more were left unguarded in abandoned storage facilities. These weapons have fuelled crime and conflict in Libya and throughout North Africa.
Insecurity, armed groups, and firearms are issues that still dominate news reports on Libya today, three years after the armed conflict that swept the country in 2011. The ongoing instability is a stark reminder that Libyans’ aspirations for freedom and prosperity will require more time and effort to realize. Despite the media attention, however, there is comparatively little focus on the Libyan population’s own interpretation of what is happening in their country.