Organised crime in Africa / Illicit economies: fueling armed groups’ expansion in the Sahel

This seminar explores the nexus between armed groups and illegal economic activities, focusing on Benin and Mali.

As armed groups increase their operations across the Sahel region, it has become clear that illicit economies play an important role in providing their operational resources, financing and legitimacy.

This seminar explores these linkages, focusing on kidnapping in northern Benin and the expansion of armed group activity into southern Mali. The role of illegal ‘accelerant markets’ that play the largest part in fuelling instability in the ECOWAS region will also be discussed.

Simultaneous English-French-Portuguese interpretation will be provided.

Moderator: Dr Maurice Ogbonnaya, Senior Fellow, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Nigeria

Opening remarks: ECOWAS, European Union, Germany and GIZ representatives

Panelists:

  • Flore Berger, Senior Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC)
  • Dr Aziz Mossi, Laboratory for Studies and Research on Social Dynamics and Local Development (LASDEL), Benin
  • Dr Ndubuisi Christian Ani, Senior Researcher and Project Coordinator, ENACT, Institute for Security Studies
  • Colonel Hassane Kone, Senior Researcher, Sahel, ISS Dakar
  • Hamidou Diallo, Executive Director, Bureau of Studies on Extremism and community Conflicts in Africa, Mali

Image: © THOMAS SAMSON/AFP

This seminar is funded by the European Union and the German Federal Foreign Office under the OCWAR-T project. The ISS is also grateful for support from the members of the ISS Partnership Forum: the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the European Union, the Open Society Foundations and the governments of Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
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Event Details

Date: 2023-11-29

Time: 13:30 to 15:00 (GMT+2)

Venue: Online via Zoom (register to attend online) or in person, African Regent Hotel, Accra, Ghana (register to attend in-person)

Event Enquiry: Christian Ani, Email: [email protected], Phone: +23 48 14 397 3712

Attend via webcast

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Organised crime in Africa
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ENACT is implemented by the Institute for Security Studies in partnership with
INTERPOL and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.