Sahel Crisis Goes Coastal as Insurgents Push Toward the Atlantic

At a market in Tougbo, a small town in northern Ivory Coast, the smell of dried fish and fried dough filled the air. Children ran around the bustling stalls where women sold the corn and cassava they had carried on their heads for miles in the countryside. Muslim elders watched the crowds on the sandy main street, while Christian worshipers poured out of church after Sunday mass.

Yet the bustle belied an insidious threat.

About half of terrorism deaths worldwide in 2023 were recorded in the Sahel, the arid region in West Africa known for its seminomadic tribes and ancient trade routes. Emboldened by their success in the landlocked nations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are moving south toward the Atlantic and into coastal nations such as Ivory Coast.

As the insurgents push toward the Atlantic, fears are growing that an area with one of the world’s youngest populations and high levels of poverty will soon fall under jihadist rule.

“One of the terrorists’ new objectives is gaining access to West Africa coasts. If they secure access to the coastline, they can finance their operations through smuggling, human trafficking and arms trading,” Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley, the head of U.S. Africa Command, said last month. “This puts not just African nations at risk, but also increases the chance of threats reaching the U.S. shores.”