Sahel Region

Sahel Region has become largely ungovernable as jihadist groups control territory that government forces cannot secure. The May 2025 assault on Djibo—one of the region's largest towns—demonstrated that even major population centers are vulnerable to sustained attack. With capital Dori under siege and supply routes interdicted, the region functions as a humanitarian emergency zone rather than an administered territory.

Before crisis intensification, Sahel Region's economy centered on pastoralism suited to its semi-arid climate. Cattle, sheep, and goats provided livelihoods for populations who practiced transhumance—seasonal movement following water and pasture. This mobile economy has collapsed as violence makes movement deadly. Herders who cannot migrate cannot sustain animals; those who attempt movement risk attack by armed groups from multiple factions.

The Oudalan Province contains gold mines that armed groups now tax or control directly. Mining revenue that once flowed to government coffers now funds insurgent operations—a pattern where resource extraction sustains conflict rather than development. Sahel Region represents the crisis's epicenter, the source from which violence spread southward and continues to radiate.