Thomas Jaye Work-in-Progress Series
The Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research (FAAR) at KAIPTC held an internal ‘Work-In-Progress Seminar’.
Topic: From the Sahel to the Coast: Assessing Security Implications of Violent Extremism on Coastal West African States.
Speaker: Ms. Sheila Naade Tetteh
Chairperson: Ms Ruth Adwoa Frimpong
Venue: Webinar
Date: Thursday 08th July 2021
Time: 1000hrs
Abstract: Advancing the agenda of institutionalizing peace and security by countering violent extremism has been an exclusive priority of Sahelian, neighbouring, and western governments. Indeed, the escalating violence in the Sahel has resulted in the death of tens of thousands, forced migration of more, and ignited adverse humanitarian catastrophes. This situation has created a growing security concern for coastal West African States especially with an increase in violent attacks after the March 2016 jihadi attack in Burkina Faso. Burkina serves as a strategic position likely to be exploited by jihadist in the region. Linking the Sahel to the coast, it borders Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo. Unfortunately, these countries have a shared weakness which jihadi groups are known to capitalize on in order to thrive. This paper seeks to qualitatively analyze the preparedness of coastal states in countering violent extremism in a timely manner. Primarily, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the security implication of increasing extremist attacks in Burkina Faso, assess the efficacy of current regional CVE mechanism and propose effective recommendations to curb the spread of VE towards frail coastal West African states.
