Paper short abstract:

The paper aims to study the perception of security among populations living in 6 regions of Mali and Niger. It will discuss their adaptation techniques to insecurities, their relations to national and international security actors and the discrepancies that can be observed in those shifting contexts

Paper long abstract:

Based on our perceptions studies conducted since 2021 in Mali and Niger, this proposal aims to present the population's main expectations regarding security and relations with the national armed forces (Army, National Guard, Police and Gendarmerie).

With insight from Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao regions in Mali and Tillabéri, Tahoua and Maradi regions in Niger, we will discuss the population’s daily change of habits to curtail the evolving insecurities they are facing that relate to both armed violence and socioeconomic distress. We will see how in the areas studied, daily insecurity crosses the geographical, gender, age and social categories to become an object of global concern.

We will also discuss the high levels of trust expressed toward the forces and their meanings in yet degrading security environments. We will try to understand how the national security forces remain, in the individuals’ eyes, the most legitimate actor in an entanglement of armed actors.

Finally, we will refer to the local perceptions of international actors (MINUSMA, G5 Sahel, former Barkhane operation) to assess the discrepancies experienced between the local reception of their presence and the ongoing political and strategic discussions around their mandates.

Our data is based on a bi-annual sampling of around 800 individuals and journals from the field collected by local research teams.