The Sahel Belt: In Search of a ‘Positive Peace’ Formula

Russia in Global Affairs. 2025. Vol. 23. No. 1. P. 104–122.

Degterev D. A.

The Sahel Belt’s contradictions have brought about a multidimensional and lasting security crisis. The conflicts were triggered partly by climate change’s disruption of seasonal pastoral migration in the western Sahel, and partly by the disruption of nomads’ natural symbiosis with sedentary farmers in the south. This has led to the politicization of ethnic and religious differences between pastoralists and farmers, and to the spread of jihadism (e.g., the JNIM) and Tuareg separatism (e.g., the CSP-DPA). The conflict has drawn in a growing number of extra-regional players, both state actors and various proxies. This article analyzes their interaction and the prospects for achieving long-term positive peace as interpreted by Johan Galtung (i.e., the elimination of direct, structural, and cultural violence), focusing on the role of Russia, the Sahel Alliance’s members, and other non-Western countries.

Keywords: терроризм, Африка, terrorism, Africa, climate, климат, security, джихадизм, jihadism, Sahel, Сахель, безопасность, water access, proxy, positive peace, доступ к воде, прокси, позитивный мир