European security is increasingly at risk from spiralling jihadist violence in the Sahel, the EU’s envoy to the region said Thursday.
The Sahel has become the world epicentre of “terrorism,” according to the latest Global Terrorism Index, as jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State wage long-running insurgencies in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
“One thing we know about terrorist organizations… is that they don’t stay where they are. They are a curse not only for the populations immediately affected, but they are a threat for others,” EU diplomat Joao Cravinho told reporters in the Ghanaian capital Accra.
“European security is threatened by the establishment of terrorist organizations in the region.”
Cravinho also warned about “unregulated migratory flows,” which he called “a matter of concern for a number of countries in Europe.”
He said Europe should cooperate with countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast and Mauritania, which have received an influx of people fleeing conflict, “working out how, in the relationship in west Africa and Europe, we can work together on migratory flows.”
A recent Human Rights Watch report on Mauritania — a major departure point for migrants making their way toward Europe — accused the country’s EU- and Spanish-supported security forces of using “racial and ethnic profiling, extortion, mass arrests” and “torture” against migrants and asylum seekers.
Cravinho praised Ghana’s efforts “to be a bridge” to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — all run by juntas that have turned away from the West.
The European Union, he said, will keep engaging with the junta-led nations, noting he had visited all three and had plans to do so again next year.
“What they say is they want to turn the page. They want to establish a new kind of relationship. And we also want to establish a new kind of relationship.”
