This policy brief examines the consequences of the withdrawal of USAID from migration-related activities in Mauritania in 2025. Although USAID was not the country’s largest donor, its exit weakened several key programmes supporting youth resilience, social cohesion, refugee protection and food security. The sudden suspension of funding led to the interruption of flagship projects such as Nafoore and Tamkeen, with significant impacts on local NGOs, UN agencies and municipalities, particularly in migration hotspots like Hodh El Chargui. The analysis highlights that USAID’s withdrawal occurred alongside strengthened European migration control policies, increasing the risk of human rights violations against migrants. While other donors (European Union, KOICA, Italian cooperation) have partially filled the gap, coordination remains limited and fragmented. The policy brief calls for diversification of funding sources, stronger national institutional capacities, and an integrated migration–development–protection approach to ensure the sustainability of migration governance and support mechanisms in Mauritania.

Economic Development, Migration, Natural ressources, Security, Justice, Education, Gold, Human security, Social, Funding

The Pastoral Surveillance Bulletin of Mauritania No. 36 examines agropastoral conditions during October–November 2025, a transition period between the rainy season and the dry season. Overall, pasture availability remains satisfactory in monitored areas (Hodh Chargui, Guidimakha, Brakna, and Gorgol), despite the gradual drying up of temporary water sources and an increase in bushfires, which threaten rangeland sustainability. Livestock body condition is generally good, although suspected animal diseases persist, prompting the launch of the 2025–2026 national livestock vaccination campaign. Markets remain supplied, but high cereal prices continue to limit favorable terms of trade for pastoral households. The bulletin also highlights growing pressure linked to the continuous arrival of Malian refugees, particularly in eastern Mauritania, increasing competition over natural resources and heightening the risk of social tensions.

State, Economic Development, Livestock, Natural ressources, Security, Education, Gold, Human security, Knowlege production, water

This regional report by Action Against Hunger assesses vegetation biomass production in the Sahel during the 2025 growing season using satellite imagery and climatic data. It finds that the 2025 rainy season was generally normal to above average across Sahelian countries, resulting in good to very good biomass production, exceeding the 25-year average, though remaining below the exceptional levels observed in 2024. Central Sahel areas, particularly in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, recorded significant positive anomalies, while localized deficits persist in western Senegal, south-western Mauritania and the Lake Chad basin. In coastal countries, biomass production remains below average despite slight improvement compared to 2024. The report indicates that pastoral vulnerability for the 2026 dry season is generally low; however, insecurity, restrictions on transhumant movements and livestock concentration significantly constrain access to grazing resources, increasing the risk of early and difficult pastoral lean periods in several zones.

Pastoralism, Natural ressources, Security, Development, Gold, Poverty, Human security, Vulnerability, Knowlege production, water

Issue 34 of the Sahel Pastoral Surveillance Bulletin highlights an overall improvement in pastoral conditions across the region during August–September 2025. Pasture and water availability is generally satisfactory, contributing to good livestock body condition. However, significant spatial disparities remain, with some areas experiencing low vegetation cover while others face excess water and flooding risks. Livestock markets are mostly accessible, yet rising animal prices combined with fluctuating cereal prices continue to negatively affect terms of trade for pastoralists in several locations. From a health perspective, outbreaks of animal and human diseases have been reported, requiring increased monitoring. Security conditions remain fragile in parts of the region, marked by recurrent livestock theft and increased pressure on pastoral resources due to the presence of displaced and refugee populations.

State, Livestock, Natural ressources, Security, Education, Gold, Human security, Health, Information, Marché, water

The report demonstrates a sharp deterioration of Mali’s security situation since the military junta seized power in 2020. Violence by militant Islamist groups has surged and now covers every region, including areas close to Bamako. Maps throughout the report (pp. 1–4) show the rapid geographic expansion of attacks. In 2023, Mali is on track to exceed 1,000 violent events, nearly triple the level recorded when the junta took power. Focused on consolidating its rule, the junta alienated regional and international security partners and demanded the withdrawal of the 15,000-strong UN mission (MINUSMA), pushing northern Mali to the brink of renewed civil war. The arrival of Russia-linked Wagner forces has worsened abuses, with more than 320 human rights violations documented. In the center and south, FLM, JNIM, and ISGS have strengthened their operations. State authority is collapsing as civilians face escalating attacks, instability, and governance breakdown.

Political party, State, Natural ressources, Security, Justice, Political Violence, Gold, Human security, Violence, Threat

The report describes a structured child-trafficking system moving children from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal, where they are forced to beg under the guise of religious education. Historically, talibés travelled to Senegal to study the Qur’an, supported by community almsgiving. However, since the 1970s, poverty, drought, and urban migration have turned this tradition into widespread exploitation. Marabouts now recruit children from vulnerable families—often through deception—and smuggle them across porous borders. Once in Senegal, children live in overcrowded, unsafe shelters and must deliver daily quotas of money. Forced begging has become a profitable criminal activity, linked to money laundering through the cashew and charcoal trade. While Senegal and Guinea-Bissau have ratified international conventions and adopted anti-trafficking laws, enforcement remains weak due to limited resources, strong cultural tolerance, and well-organized trafficking networks.

Security, Poverty, Human Rights, Vulnerability, Insécurité, Enfant, Trafic

This policy brief examines why The Gambia, despite being ranked among Africa’s safest countries, remains vulnerable to violent extremism. Regional insecurity—especially Mali’s crisis, Sahelian instability, and porous borders—creates significant exposure risks. Internal vulnerabilities amplify these threats: growing religious radicalization within some madrasa systems, the influence of reformist preachers, rising sectarian tensions, and severe youth unemployment. The brief stresses the need for a multisectoral approach combining security reform, stronger governance, regulation of religious education, community mediation, youth engagement, and empowerment of women and local leaders. Efforts led by the Gambian government, ECOWAS, civil society, and youth organizations—such as security sector reform, counterterrorism strategies, peace education initiatives, and the Youth, Peace and Security Action Plan—highlight progress. However, coordination remains weak, institutions operate in silos, and rural communities face structural marginalization and limited state presence, which heighten their vulnerability to radicalization and extremist narratives. Strengthening resilience requires sustained, integrated, and community-centered interventions.

Governance, Security, Youth, Extremism, Vulnerability, Violence, Radicalisation

According to the 13 October 2025 report, this study examines the political, social and technological dimensions of civil registration systems in Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritania, and Chad. It highlights civil registration as a core infrastructure of citizenship, enabling access to rights but also functioning as a mechanism of exclusion. The report details the “social life of documents,” showing how identity papers are used strategically, how administrative inequalities persist, and how bureaucratic violence at service counters reinforces marginalisation. It also warns against the politicisation of civil registry systems, especially when civil registration, nationality, and elections become entangled. The study analyses the rise of biometric technologies, which promise efficiency but create new vulnerabilities, including surveillance risks and technological dependency. Finally, it outlines reform pathways: depoliticising civil registration, expanding citizen access, increasing transparency, fostering universal inclusion, and strengthening digital sovereignty.

Politics, Political party, State, Governance, Natural ressources, Justice, Gold, Public Administration, Social, Inclusion, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), water, Biometrics, Identity

The article examines the expansion of Jama’at Nasrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) into western and southern Mali, marked by seven coordinated attacks launched by the Macina Liberation Front (FLM) on July 1, 2025. These operations targeted Kayes and Nioro du Sahel—two strategic economic and religious hubs—opening a new front far from the group’s traditional strongholds in central and northern Mali. JNIM’s strategy aims to isolate Bamako by attacking key trade routes, fuel convoys, and industrial sites, causing shortages, rising prices, and severe disruption of commercial activity. Despite strengthened military checkpoints, ambushes continue, resulting in kidnappings, destroyed tankers, and population displacement toward Senegal and Mauritania. The FLM’s growing reach, combined with the junta’s increasing political repression and its break with international security partners, deepens Mali’s fragmentation and heightens risks for neighboring coastal states.

Politics, Political party, Natural ressources, Security, Justice, Political Violence, Gold, Human security, Violence, Threat