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Paper short abstract:

The Sahel is the area of Africa where the phenomena of coups and terrorism are most intertwined, engendering consequences including endemic poverty and chronic insecurity. My paper proposes a deep analysis of the viewpoint of one of the greatest specialists of these phenomena in the Sahel.

Paper long abstract:

The Sahel band is a strategic area that attracts all kinds of interest, ranging from that of the West to that of the Gulf countries, including that of terrorist movements and traffickers from all kinds who see the Sahel as an ideal environment for carrying out their evil activities.

After independence, the formerly colonized states were mainly led by civil intellectuals. They were overthrown in almost all Sahelian countries by the military. Under pressure from the international community, sovereign national conferences were organized to establish democratic regimes. However, democracy has been quite often compromised by coups and rebel movements. Thus, these countries find themselves in an endless cycle of interruption and restoration of constitutional order.

Terrorism is a phenomenon linked to political instability. Indeed, insecurity due to political instability inside the Sahel or in neighboring countries, among other factors, fuels more than one terrorist group.

Several analysts and specialists on the Sahel examine the above phenomena through various approaches. Among these, the Nigerien Seidik Abba attracted our attention by his books, articles, interviews and conference appearances. His idiosyncratic reading of these phenomena that plague the Sahel convinced us of the necessary study of his thought, in order to determine to what extent his points of view impact on the way that these phenomena are handled in the Sahel and elsewhere.