Terrorism In The Sahel: The Case Of Mali

For decades terrorism is giving serious problems to humanity because it keep plunging the whole world into an indescribable horror. Paradoxically it remains impossible to define exactly what terrorism is. This is not a lack of definitions but a problem of definitions because scholar thinkers have already given several definitions .In other words, there is no universal definition that can be unanimous among all people or,all the Countries. This is why terrorism is generally described and not defined because there are an infinite number of definitions and the concept of terrorism is also ambiguous.We could not recognize the terrorist action if we don't know the meaning of terrorism.But in a general view terrorism is the use or manifestation of terror for political and religious purposes. In the Sahel in West Africa, the phenomenon of terrorism manifests itself through several activities: recruitment of child soldiers, banditry, drug and child trafficking, hostage taking, bombing. Because of it weakness, the Sahel has become the new land of religious fanaticism, radical Islamism, Jihadist Salafism and terrorism in West Africa. This is one of the main reasons for the disquiet time and one of the issues that has prevailed for several years in the Sahel Saharan region and particularly in northern Mali since the coup d'etat of 22 March 2012. In general in the Sahel and in Mali in particular terrorism is caused by the inefficiency of the international strategies but also by the bad governance of the Sahelian countries, the ideological causes the lack of their commitment and even cooperation, the weakness of the African Union's instruments and the geopolitical causes. Facing the current situation in this region we must know that it is so far from one of the conclusions drawn only seven years ago on the fact that the Sahel is not an area of terrorist activity. This idea tends to relativize the reality of the threats;unfortunately this is different to the situation that is prevailing today. However, one reality is so clear: Africa is one of the regions in the world which is constantly characterized by the expansion of terrorist threat.In Mali this violence is based on the application of sharia law, rape of women,flogging, stoning and traffic. The Sahel's terrorism, therefore, is not synonymous with"guerilla warfare" even if there are groupings with objectives and methods. Guerrilla is a military strategy that approximates the principles of regular warfare. On the contrary,terrorists are still clandestine and maintain their character as a small secret group.To combat terrorism several strategies were undertaken by international partners of the Sahelian Countries. We have for example: the financing of the M.CA (Millennium Challenge Account) the P.SI (Pan Sahel Initiative) the T.SCTP (TransSaharan counterterrorism partnership).African Countries have undertaken the adoption of certain laws and related mechanisms. In the Sahelian Countries including Mali, the multiplicity of strategies fuel terrorism as a disease of the century. Despite of these actions taken against terrorism it still growing day after day in the Sahel region and the occupation of the northem Mali by the terrorist groups remains the reason that the counter terrorism strategies in the Sahel must be revised. At the same time we must know that the international strategies are very limited and less effective.That is why we recommended that the Sahel states must rethink their security systems and in particular their counterterrorism strategies because terrorism is one of the consequences of the weakness of States. "Jihadists are stronger only because States are weak .They must get and develop their own strategies to fight against terrorism. In the light of geopolitical and geostrategic considerations, the international strategies do not take into account all the realities in Africa. In the case of Mali we need a powerful military base capable to defend the whole Country. The State must take care of the terrorism victims and Controller of the humanitarian organizations and the banks should also be well monitored to prevent terrorist groups from financing their activities through banks. If the context of banking security, China would be a good example and we suggest to our officials to get help from China. We think that one of the best ways to fight against terrorism is to teach students nationalism and values that help them to love more and more their Countries.