In recent years, the Sahel region has undergone major upheavals in politics and security, marked by a series of military coups, a major increase in extremist violence, France’s withdrawal from operations (Barkhane) and from the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA), as well as growing geopolitical instability. These complex dynamics are the result of an intricate interaction amongst political, economic, social and environmental factors, both at the national and regional levels. These structural changes are often studied through the lens of their impact on their “Western partners,” now more marginalized than ever in a region increasingly sought after by new foreign role-players (Russia, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Iran, etc.).

Raouf Farrah’s conference will highlight the human, security-related and geopolitical implications of these changes and developments for North African nations and the bordering regions which link them together. He will also be examining the rise of sovereignism in the Central Sahel region and what that could mean for countries like Mali and Niger.

The operation by Mali’s Armed Forces (FAMa) to “reconquer” northern Mali as of 2023, with the support of the Russian Wagner Group, and the instability that continues to exist in northern Niger have created direct challenges for North African states, especially Algeria and Libya. These dynamics are also fueling rivalries and repositionings among Maghreb countries, all of which has deep roots found in long-standing political competitiveness and fragmentation. Farrah will also be briefly addressing the advancement of smuggling and illegal economic structures, mostly involving hashish smuggling and trafficking, in the central Sahara-Sahel region.

Organized with the cooperation of the UCM Bachelor’s degree in International Relations (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), the Bachelor’s degree in International Studies at the University of Castilla La Mancha (UCLM) and the Master’s degree on the “European Union and the Mediterranean: Historical, cultural, political, Economic and social foundations, given at the UCM. Representing both programs, there will be participation in the conference by Laurence Thieux, a professor of International Relations and Global History at the UCM, who will be introducing the speaker, and Bárbara Azaola, a professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the UCLM, as well as Alfonso Casani, a professor of Political Science and Administration at the UCM, who will be taking part in the debate afterwards, to be moderated by Olivia Orozco, Casa Árabe’s Training and Economics Coordinator.

The conference will be broadcast live on our YouTube channel.

Raouf Farrah
Raouf Farrah is a geopolitical researcher working as a senior analyst for the Global Initiative on Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), a think tank on illicit economies and organized crime. He has published several reports and articles on migration, human smuggling, drug trafficking and border dynamics in the Maghreb, as well as their interaction with local economies and geopolitical dynamics in the Sahel-Saharan region. Farrah has conducted research in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Morocco. He was a co-founder of the independent media outlet Twala and an activist in several civil society initiatives in Algeria, North Africa and across the African continent, including the Pan-African Palestine Solidarity Network (PAPSN). He is a regular contributor to international and African media and has worked with several international organizations such as the UNDP and OECD. He has recently edited the collective work Algérie: l’avenir en jeu. Essai sur les perspectives d’un pays en suspens (“Algeria: The future at stake. Essay on the prospects of a country in suspense,” KOUKOU, 2023).