Ongoing Local governments: Mali  Burkina Faso Niger[1] Nigeria Cameroon Chad[2] Togo[3] Ghana[4] Ivory Coast[5] Benin[6]

Ansaru Assimi Goïta Choguel Kokalla Maïga Ibrahim Traoré Apollinaire J. Kyélem de Tambèla Abdourahamane Tchiani Ali Lamine Zeine Bola Tinubu Paul Biya Joseph Ngute Mahamat Déby Succès Masra Faure Gnassingbé Victoire Tomegah Dogbé Nana Akufo-Addo Alassane Ouattara Robert Beugré Mambé Patrice Talon Total armed forces: Mali: 7,350

Al-Mourabitoun: Fewer than 100[32] Ansar Dine: 300[33]–10,000[7] Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring.

As Islamist Tuareg rebels overran Mali in 2012, a concurrent insurgency in Nigeria, led by Boko Haram, began to spread to nearby countries.

[41] After the end of the 2011 Libyan Civil War, an influx of weaponry led to the arming of the Tuareg in their demand for greater autonomy and independence of their homeland in northern Mali, which they called Azawad.

[44] In October 2011, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) was formed from rebels of previous Tuareg rebellions and fighters who have returned from Libya.

The MNLA began peace talks to realign with the Malian government while the French military launched Opération Serval on January 11, intervening in the conflict.

On 21 January 2025, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali decided to create a joint armed force of 5,000 soldiers to fight regional jihadism in the Sahel.

[53] Having cooperated and trained alongside AQIM in the Sahel since 2006, the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram began expanding into Chad and Niger in 2014 after successfully seizing territory in the insurgency in Nigeria.

[22] By then controlling a significant area around Lake Chad, a coalition of Western African countries launched an offensive against the group in January 2015.

By the end of 2015 Boko Haram had been largely pushed to retreat into the Sambisa Forest in Nigeria, although attacks have continued including in Niger.

Burkina Faso also saw its government being overthrown twice within a year, with coups occurring in January and September, both of which caused by poor management of the conflict against Islamists.

[372] Although not affected as much, countries nearby like Ghana, Benin, Guinea, Togo and the Ivory Coast have been under constant threat of either full-on insurgency or severe destabilization internally.