War in the Sahel

War in the Sahel
	Part of the war on terror, spillover of the Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) and the War against the Islamic State
	; Map showing areas where the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was active in 2021
Date	16 January 2012 – present; (14 years, 2 months)
Location	Sahel (mainly Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger), with spillovers in Benin, Togo, Mauritania, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Spain
Status	Ongoing Mali War: Tuareg rebels and allied Islamists overrun Northern Mali in 2012 until pushed back by a French intervention; Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso: Mali War spills over into Burkina Faso by 2015 as Islamists capture about 40% of Burkinabé territory; Islamist insurgency in Niger; Boko Haram insurgency arises and extends in Chad, Niger, and Cameroon; French and American intervention on behalf of governments; Al-Qaeda–Islamic State conflict and the JNIM-ISGS war; Jihadist insurgency in Northern Benin; Rise of the Coup Belt;
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Casualties and losses
	68,933+ people killed; 46,859+ killed (2023—present); 3 million displaced

A war in the Sahel region of West Africa has been ongoing since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.

The conflict is generally seen to have begun during the early stages of the Mali War, which itself was seen as a spillover conflict of the Insurgency in the Maghreb. As Islamist Tuareg rebels overran Mali in 2012, a concurrent insurgency in Nigeria, led by Boko Haram, began to spread to nearby countries. By 2015, the Mali war had spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, which led to heavy fighting and humanitarian crises in both countries.

The conflict in Nigeria also reached a climax before a 2015 coalition offensive forced insurgents into remission. By 2019, the effects of the region-wide conflict began to accelerate as popular rage over the government ineffectiveness led to a series of coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Sudan, Chad and Guinea, which became known as a 'coup belt'.