This week, a meeting brought together experts, civil society actors, administrative authorities, elected representatives to discuss the security situation in Liptako Gourma. For the organizers, the objective of the meeting was to come to an understanding of the security situation in the border area of Liptako Gourma, and to develop appropriate solutions and mitigation measures.
In the face of rising insecurity due to terrorist attacks and the increasing number of extremist groups in Liptako Gourma, a border area between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, a meeting of exchanges of experiences and analysis brought together in Ouagadougou, from July 26 to 28, the civil society, parliamentarians, security and diplomatic actors and experts from the concerned countries
“Creating a network of actors”
About 60 participants from the Liptako Gourma region took part in this meeting organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the G5 Sahel, the Integrated Development Authority of Liptako Gourma and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS, Dakar). For the organizers, the objective of the meeting was to come to an understanding of the security situation in the border area of Liptako Gourma, and to develop appropriate solutions and mitigation measures. “People were happy, which is very rare, but they found it really helpful. This means that something has happened”, says an organizer, interviewed by Sahelien.com.
Through this meeting, the organizers intend to identify the issues related to common security in the region, make recommendations and create a network of the different actors intervening in the border area of Liptako Gourma.
In this border region, the situation is characterized by the exacerbation of the circulation of arms, the emergence of armed terrorist groups, a degraded regional environment, the porosity of the borders that promotes organized crime and illicit trafficking as well as illegal migration. In addition to this, there are inter and intra-community conflicts. All in the context of resource and workforce constraints at the country level. “Faced with this situation, it is necessary to pool efforts,” says this elected official from Niger.
Sahelien.com