Europe in danger

Sahel region: new hotbed of jihadist terror

The Sahel has become a war zone, with jihadists and military governments fighting bloody battles.(Bild: Michael Runkel / imageBROKER / picturedesk.com)

The situation in the Sahel is coming to a head. Islamist terrorist groups are threatening the population and destabilizing a region shaken by hunger and coups. The West is withdrawing, Russia and China are filling the gap. What does this mean for Europe? Krone+ knows more.

In the slipstream of headline-grabbing crises, the Sahel has degenerated into a hotspot of Islamist terrorism. Some of the world's deadliest terrorist groups are wreaking havoc in the barren belt of land that stretches 7,000 kilometers from Mauritania to the Red Sea. Jihadist organizations such as JNIM, Boko Haram, the Islamic State and various splinter groups of Al Qaeda have taken advantage of the power vacuum created by several military coups in the region and unleashed a brutal war against governments and the civilian population.