Introduction
The transformations of armed conflicts in the Sahel, combined with the inability of both national and international armed forces to resolve them, have, in recent years, sparked growing interest in academic literature. The proliferation of armed groups, the escalation of violence, and the weakening of state institutions have led many researchers to analyze the causes and evolution of instability in the region (Olivier de Sardan, 2023; Sambou, 2021). Beatriz Mesa’s essay, The Sahel: Tribes, Jihad, and Trafficking, contributes to renewing the study of conflict dynamics in northern Mali by highlighting the structuring role of the criminal economy.
Beatriz Mesa is a researcher specializing in international security, violence, conflict, and security issues in West Africa and the Sahel. She is currently an associate professor at the College of Social Sciences at the International University of Rabat (UIR) and is affiliated with the Center for Global Studies, as well as the Laboratory for the Analysis of Societies and Powers/Africa-Diasporas (LASPAD) in Senegal.
Published in 2024, The Sahel is a monograph devoted to the transformations of armed groups in Mali and the Sahelian region. The book is based on a political and strategic analysis of the conflict and offers a multidimensional reading of the dynamics of violence. It forms part of a growing body of literature that studies African conflicts through the interactions between political economy, governance, and security (Diariso, 2019; Kohnert, 2022).
Mesa goes beyond traditional approaches that analyze violence in the Sahel exclusively through the lens of jihadist ideology or identity-based grievances (Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2016; Amselle, 2022). She demonstrates that the expansion of armed groups in the Sahel stems from the destabilization of local economies, the marginalization of populations, and the expansion of transnational illicit trafficking.
While situating her works within the framework of Paul Collier, Mesa introduces a fundamental nuance regarding the application of his theory of “greed” among fighters in the Sahelian context. Although she agrees with Collier on the predominant economic dimension of conflicts, Mesa challenges the idea that this factor is the primary cause of the crisis in Mali. Contrary to strictly economistic theories that place the pursuit of profit at the origin of rebellion, Mesa argues that the economic parameter only emerges at a later stage. She emphasizes that the roots of the insurgency in Mali, whether secessionist or jihadist, are first grounded in grievances such as injustice, marginalization, or political exclusion. However, refocusing the analysis on the economic dimension is not arbitrary. It is grounded in empirical observations, which highlight that grievances explain neither the structuring nor the durability of the conflict. This research shows that religious ideology is not the cornerstone of the conflict, but rather a variable that adapts to an extremely lucrative “economy of terror” (p. 115). Behind the black flag, the real issue is territorial control of transit routes (drugs, weapons, hostages).
The book also align with contemporary studies on the transformations of African spaces under the effects of globalization (Howard, 2021). By highlighting the interactions between local conflicts and transnational criminal networks, Beatriz Mesa shows how transformations in the Sahel are embedded in global dynamics. The Sahel region thus appears as a space where multiple actors intersect (armed groups, states, international organizations, and criminal networks), whose connections reshape power relations at both regional and global levels.
The empirical material of the study conducted by Beatriz Mesa is based on long-term fieldwork carried out between 2009 and 2020 in Morocco, Mauritania, and Mali. This research is structured around interviews with a wide range of actors involved in the Malian conflict: traditional and customary authorities, fighters from secessionist movements and jihadist groups, political and security officials, and direct victims of the conflict.
The essay is organized into six chapters, grouped into two parts addressing the origins, transformations, and operational logics of armed groups in the Sahel region. According to Mesa, the initial political motivations of insurgent groups have gradually given way to logics of economic accumulation: “the objective of armed groups is the control of a territory that enables the accumulation of economic power, leaving behind the struggle to implement a project defending political or religious causes” (p. 33). War thus becomes an instrument for controlling resources and trade routes.
This approach is part of a broader reflection on new forms of conflict. Mesa notably argues that “war can also be understood as a means of economic production” (p. 35). This thesis builds upon work on war economies and protracted conflicts in fragile states (Amou, 2021; FATF, 2023; Gaye, 2017).
The first part of the book explores the historical roots of conflicts in northern Mali. It highlights the importance of intertribal conflicts, colonial legacies, and regional political transformations in structuring violence. Mesa insists that “the equation of tribe, power, and economic and territorial control is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of violence in northern Mali” (p. 66).
In light of this initial analysis, it becomes clear that conflicts in northern Mali cannot be understood only through exclusively ideological, identity-based, or strategic frameworks. Mesa highlights the gradual entanglement of political, economic, and criminal logics that are transforming the nature of armed violence. While the initial claims of Tuareg rebellions are rooted in historical and political frustrations, their evolution reveals a growing centrality of economic dynamics linked to the control of territories and trafficking routes. At the same time, the emergence of jihadism in the region follows these same logics of opportunity, where local alliances, internal rivalries, and the pursuit of resources play a decisive role. Thus, far from being exclusively ideological, conflicts in the Sahel appear as hybrid configurations in which political claims, power strategies, and criminal economies are intertwined.
In the second part, Mesa examines the “beginning of the incursion of organized crime into West Africa and the expansion of this phenomenon […] in northern Mali” (p. 114). She explains how criminal networks have gradually co-opted both non-state armed actors and certain state actors, in a context marked by the transnationalization of organized crime. This dynamic notably took the form of “a verbal non-aggression agreement between armed groups and state forces [which] allowed NSAGs (Non-State Armed Groups)[1] to move freely […] provided they did not constitute a threat to their stability” (p. 116).
The author also highlights the social and security effects of this criminal economy: “in northern Mali, the social impact […] has been particularly strong, with unprecedented levels of violence […] linked to the trafficking of hashish and cocaine as well as the kidnapping of Westerners” (p. 199), in a context of increasing militarization of individuals facilitated by the widespread circulation of weapons. Finally, drawing on qualitative interviews conducted in the field with various actors involved in the conflicts, Mesa recalls that engagement in armed groups largely follows utilitarian logics, insofar as the marker of economic interest systematically prevails in the recruitment of fighters, to the detriment of identity-based, nationalist, or religious considerations.
The expansion of the illicit economy has profoundly disrupted traditional social balances. The rapid enrichment of previously marginalized groups has challenged established hierarchies and intensified rivalries for control of resources and trafficking routes. In this context, engagement in armed groups appears for many individuals as a strategy for social mobility or survival; armed violence in northern Mali is embedded in a complex system in which political logics, social transformations, and economic opportunities intersect.
One of the main contributions of the book lies in the centrality it attributes to the economic dimension of conflicts in the Sahel region. By highlighting the links between organized crime and political violence, Mesa offers a renewed and well-documented reading of the Malian crisis. She explains the longevity of Sahelian conflicts despite international interventions and ongoing peace processes. The author thus argues that “the causes of the conflict and their perpetuation originated in political claims before later shifting toward the economic factor as the driving force” (p. 38).
However, it is important not to overlook ideological and religious factors in the mobilization of fighters, including in the prolongation of the conflict (where, according to Mesa, the economic factor becomes predominant). Jihadist discourses do, in fact, play a decisive role in legitimizing violence and in constructing militant identities. Moreover, the book pays relatively limited attention to the strategies of civilian populations in response to violence and to local transformations in governance, such as initiatives led by organizations like the Think Peace Sahel think tank in Mali. These dimensions could enrich the understanding of mechanisms of social resilience in conflict areas.
The Sahel: Tribes, Jihad, and Trafficking sheds light on the structuring role of the criminal economy in the dynamics of armed groups. The essay offers original analytical perspectives for understanding the patterns of violence in the Sahel region and opens avenues for research on armed conflicts, security governance, and African geopolitical restructuring beyond the Sahelian case alone.