Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa | Sahel Region of Conflicts

RISK Bulletin 4 (2022) is titled
Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa

The fourth issue of the Risk Bulletin of Illicit Economies in West Africa focuses primarily on the Sahel region, an area suffering from high levels of violence, conflict and instability. This issue leads with a story on the surge in cattle rustling since 2021; in Mopti region (central Mali), the number of cattle stolen rose threefold, from an average annual figure of approximately 42 000 to almost 130 000 in 2021. The 2021 uptick in cattle rustling has occurred in parallel with Mali’s growing political isolation and linked shifts in the country’s security tectonics.

Note the maps included in the Bulletin, that may be categorized as Transborder RISK, Safety & Security, Early Warning, Situational Maps, Crime & Conflicts Maps etc.

  • Cattle-rustling routes in the Liptako–Gourma area
  • Cattle-rustling hotspots and the presence of armed groups and international forces.
  • Areas of intensifying bandit attacks in northern Niger

Risk Bulletins are regular outputs of Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime regional observatories, which draw on civil society networks to provide new data and contextualize trends related to organized-crime networks, illicit trade and state responses to them.

https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/weaobs-risk-bulletin-4

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Remarks: 

In RISK_List  we are still mainly dealing with natural disaster first aid situations.

According to the available open knowledge and data available on Natural and Technical Disasters as well as all CBRN-E situations, urban, national, transborder security etc. especially in RISK_List the comprehensive view on RISK issues of all kind is expected, documented, analyzed and published for broad information awareness and decision support.

You and colleagues may decide to support humanitarian crises situations much broader in the future (in your department, faculty, institution, nationally, transborder, international, global).
Maybe you can be successful to put “humanitarian issues” in a special priority for your short-term, mid-term or long-term R&D planning and budgeting procedures.

The region of conflict under investigation in the Bulletin mentioned is of course of much broader need of support.
You may like to view my presentation “RISK Information Management in Support of UN Humanitarian Missions” which I presented last December at the International Cartographical Conference of the International Cartographic Association, Florence (Italy)
https://horst-kremers.de/2211215_ICC_Florence_Session_EW_CM__Humanitarian_Missions___KREMERS____.ppsx
(in case you prefer the .pdf version of that presentation for ease of use of Links and References, please contact me)

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Horst Kremers, Engineering Management and Information Sciences
Senior Engineer, Information Systems Strategy Advisor

Risk Information Management - Community of Experts