Women, Peace and Security Strategic Context of Civilian CSDP

Prospects for Dialogue in the Central Sahel

Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) Reports, articles, briefs Public 2025

This report by Folke Bernadotte Academy examines the potential for conflict resolution in the Sahel, with a key focus on three areas: regional interstate dialogue, dialogue between governments and jihadist insurgents, and women's participation in conflict resolution.

Following the coups d'etat in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, national politics has shifted away from a liberal approach, with high levels of cooperation with international actors to a more sovereigntist approach. In the field of regional diplomacy, long-building resentments between the three post-coup governments and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has broken international-level dialogue, but local officials, traditional leaders, and communities maintain ties in border regions as a force against total isolation. Dialogue with national governments and jihadist central leadership remains at a standstill, but local pragmatic arrangements continue to occur between communities and jihadist groups due to the pragmatic resource management responsibilities allotted to local jihadist commanders. Finally, women's participation in the region was hurt by a reduction of international funding since 2022, but women continue to participate in municipal peacebuilding efforts, and made of 20% of the steering committee of a 2024 Malian national dialogue programme.

The authors include policy recommendations for international actors in the conclusion. These are useful for determining where civilian CSDP missions can play a helpful role.

To support regional diplomatic dialogue: refrain from patronising language, clarify political objectives, and be prepared for future volatility in the Sahel.
To support dialogue with jihadists: support high-level dialogue for durable conflict resolution, consider back-channel dialogue with jihadists to gauge interest in high-level dialogue, and provide technical support if dialogue materialises.
To support women's participation in conflict resolution: financially support women's civil society organisations, support community-level dialogue, and support women's leadership in alignment with causes that benefit the whole community.

Reference: Guichaoua, Y., Lorentzen, J. & Mariko, S. (2025). Prospects for Dialogue in the Central Sahel. Folke Bernadotte Academy.

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Prospects for Dialogue in the Central Sahel

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