The security challenges are linked to the rise of violent extremism and the proliferation of armed non-state groups, such as Boko Haram, which has spread from Nigeria across the Lake Chad region. The armed conflicts in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria all worsened in 2019. The number of personnel deployed in the region (97 519 on 31 December 2019) decreased for the fourth year in a row and reached the lowest point since 2012.Ī worsening crisis in the Sahel and Lake Chad region There were 20 multilateral peace oper-ations active in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019 (two fewer than in 2018), including several large-scale operations in countries that were experiencing armed conflict such as the CAR, the DRC, Mali, Somalia and South Sudan.

Two other cross-cutting issues continued to shape regional security: the ongoing internationalization of counter-terrorism activities, and the growing impact of climate change-with water scarcity being a particularly serious challenge.Ĭonflict-related deaths in high-intensity armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, 2013-19

The conflict dynamics and ethnic and religious tensions were often rooted in a combination of state weakness, corruption, ineffective delivery of basic services, competition over natural resources, inequality and a sense of marginal-ization. Almost all the armed conflicts were internationalized, including as a result of state actors (whether directly or through proxies) and the transnational activities of violent Islamist groups, other armed groups and criminal networks. Eight were low-intensity, subnational armed conflicts, and seven were high-intensity armed conflicts (Nigeria, Somalia, the DRC, Burkina Faso, Mali, South Sudan and Cameroon). There were at least 15 countries with active armed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.

Current active armes conflicts